Cook: Southern Supper - Collard Greens, Fried (Red) Tomatoes

On Sunday, we teamed up with our friends S and A for a fun day of cooking (brunch recipes will be posted later this week, in time for you to make next weekend!). For dinner, we decided on a Southern theme, centered around A's mac and cheese. Since his recipe is proprietary, we will share the recipes that we cooked.

First of all, we grilled some ribs (Tony Roma's) and sausages (bratwurst) from Costco. This is as easy as it gets - take out of the package and grill! The results are fantastically tasty. We also heated some homestyle baked beans.

For sides, J whipped up two things from scratch. Recipes below:

Southern Greens with Red Onion and Bacon (Serves 8), adapted from epicurious

Ingredients:

1/2 pound sliced bacon, cut crosswise into fourths

3 medium red onions, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 lbs (or 2 bags) of Ready to Use "southern greens blend" from trader joe's

(If you can not find prepared ready to use southern greens, you can use 4 pounds collard greens (preferably small leaves), coarse stems and ribs discarded and leaves and thin stems washed well, drained and chopped coarse )

Directions:

In a deep heavy pot cook bacon in 2 batches over moderate heat until crisp and transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but about 3 tablespoons drippings and in drippings remaining in kettle cook onions, stirring occasionally, until browned slightly and softened. Transfer onions with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Add broth, vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and about half of bacon to the pot, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add about half of collards, tossing until wilted slightly, and add remaining collards, tossing until combined. Simmer collards, covered, 30 minutes. Stir in onions and simmer, covered, 30 minutes more, or until collards are very tender.

Serve collards topped with remaining bacon.

Fried (Red) Tomatoes: (Adapted from Best Fried Green Tomatoes @ allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

4 large unripe tomatoes (preferably green but you can use firm red ones)

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. Slice tomatoes 1/2 in thick, discard the ends.

2. Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium sized bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate

3. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs, salt and pepper on another plate

4. Dip tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to comletely coat.

5. In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan), heat over medium heat.

6. Place tomatoes in the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on size of skillet. Do NOT crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other.

7. When tomatoes are browned, flip and fry on the other side.

8. Remove from oil with slotted spatula. Drain on paper towels

Serve HOT!