Nothing screams summer in the South like plump, juicy tomatoes! Take advantage of summer’s vibrant bounty from farmers’ markets, local farm stands, or even your own backyard if you happen to have a husband with a green thumb like my Jonjon. Me... I'm just in charge of decorating our rustic garden and finding new recipes to make with our yummy, fresh ingredients.
We recently made another trip back to Pepper Place Market with lil C in tow to meet up with a good friend to take in a cooking demo, book signing and shop for our ingredient of the day - green tomatoes! Newlyweds Brooke Parkhurst and James Briscione (two-time champion of the Food Network's Chopped) wrote a new his-and-her cookbook "Just Married & Cooking", in hopes of helping young couples learn their way around the kitchen, which was right up our alley. Our signed copy now sits in on an easel in our kitchen :)
You can check out Brooke & James' website at http://justmarriedandcooking.com/. We'll def. be making something from their book soon, maybe this weekend if we can sneak in a trip to Pepper Place between all lil C's baseball games and Jonjon's studies :) In the meantime, enjoy this recipe from one of our favorite Food Network stars, Claire Robinson of 5-Ingredient Fix! The green tomatoes we purchased at Pepper Place that very day star.
Green Tomato and Vidalia Onion Gratin
Ingredients
1/4 pound bacon - 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (we cheated & didn't use fresh bread crumbs... won't make that mistake again! Go for the fresh if you can)
- 2 large Vidalia onions, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
- 4 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 6 ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated, about 1 1/2 cups
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Render bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add the bread crumbs to a small bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet and stir into the bread crumbs. Add the onion rounds to the skillet in batches and cook, without breaking the round slices apart, until there is some golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.
To assemble the gratin, overlap the green tomato slices in 1 row in a large baking dish, about 9 by 11 inches. Next, make a row slightly overlapping of the partially cooked onion rounds, being careful to keep the slices intact. Repeat steps until all tomatoes and onions are used. Season tomatoes and onions lightly with salt and heavily with pepper. Crumble the bacon over the vegetables; sprinkle the grated Cheddar over the top followed by the bread crumbs. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover with foil.
1/4 pound bacon Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Render bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add the bread crumbs to a small bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet and stir into the bread crumbs. Add the onion rounds to the skillet in batches and cook, without breaking the round slices apart, until there is some golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.
To assemble the gratin, overlap the green tomato slices in 1 row in a large baking dish, about 9 by 11 inches. Next, make a row slightly overlapping of the partially cooked onion rounds, being careful to keep the slices intact. Repeat steps until all tomatoes and onions are used. Season tomatoes and onions lightly with salt and heavily with pepper. Crumble the bacon over the vegetables; sprinkle the grated Cheddar over the top followed by the bread crumbs. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover with foil.
