Low Country Love

Even though I have only spent a few days of my life there, Charleston, SC is one of my favorite cities. Beautiful, charming, fashionable, and a foodie paradise, Charleston is a place I want to visit again and again.

If you have been reading since the beginning, you may remember one of my earliest posts about High Cotton, one of the best meals I have ever had. It was so different than food I was used to, and I vowed to return someday.

Recent sightings of green tomatoes at the Siena Farms stand at the Copley Market and a post by Megan from Delicious Dishings had me thinking about High Cotton’s fried green tomatoes, so I finally took the plunge. For the record, Megan’s looked much better than mine 🙂

Frying scares me a little. Whatever I coat in crumbs or flour usually falls apart and makes a burnt, crummy mess. However, I will consider last night a success.

I started with firm green tomatoes which I sliced in fairly thick slices.

I mixed corn meal with pepper and salt.

And one by one I coated the tomato slices in egg and cornmeal and pan fried them in just a bit of olive oil until the cornmeal looked a little brown. I probably could have cooked them more, but I was afraid of burnt crumbs 🙂

They came out delicious, and didn’t look too bad.

The green tomatoes I had at High Cotton were topped with a red onion jam, so I tried to create something similar. I simmered a whole red onion in several cups of white vinegar until the vinegar was almost all boiled away. I added a tiny bit of sugar, and topped the tomatoes. It was nice and tangy and went so well with the savory tomatoes.

We paired this with a 2007 Venge Gladys’ Vineyard Syrah, a nicely spicy red with some great dark fruit flavors and a lovely softness to it. This is a special wine, and I decided surviving a hellish work week was occasion enough!

I am off to Turner Fisheries and then to Newport Winefest for the day. Have a great one, and if you get a chance, please go on over to CRAVE Boston’s website to check out my guest post on Catherine Stanton Schiff, the host of Cocktails for Everyone!