Laurel Farmers’ Market – Now Serving!

On a hot summer’s day it is refreshing to take in a new fresh fruit salad, but finding all the ingredients at a reasonable cost is often not the easiest thing to do.

But if you wait until Thursday, you can always stop by the Laurel Farmers’ Market to see what new offering are available. This week the pickings were pretty good if you like black berries, blue berries and strawberries. Unfortunately, there were no cherries, but there were loads of peaches. That was enough for me to make a nice sweet fruit salad to quench my thirst on such a warm morning.

The farmers are friendly and the produce fresh – no better combination liven an early morning stroll down Main Street. Having grown up in Southwestern, PA I am partial to fried green tomatoes. Luckily, there was one tub left when I arrived. After negotiating with a young mother shopping fresh produce with her kids, I walked away with several good sized oddly shaped fruits. The recipe I decided upon was a mixture of that with which I am familiar from my youth and my newly acquired adult palate. A few minutes in a hot pan was well worth the wait for this crispy Southern treats!

Find your own treats at the Laurel Farmers' Market open Thursdays from noon to 4:00 p.m. along the 300 block of Main Street.

Fried Green Tomatoes

4 medium green tomatoes

2 egg whites

½ cup lactose free milk

½  cup Bookbinders’ Bread Crumbs

½ cup Aultery House’s Medium-Hot Breader

½ cup Ian’s Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice tomatoes ½ inch thick keep the ends if you want
2. Fluff up egg whites and milk in a medium size bowl. Mix bread crumbs together with Old Bay and pepper. Soak tomatoes slices in milk and egg mixture. Generously paint each slice with bread crumb blend.
3. In large skillet pour vegetable oil and heat over a medium flame. Arrange tomatoes slices in pan. When slices become brown flip and fry them on the other side.  Drain excess oil on plate lined with paper towels.