I don’t know about you but I wait with baited breath for tomato season to start.  By June the weather is warm and I’ve already started my summer cooking, but tomatoes fresh from the farm are not quite ready.  So I turn to the not-yet-ripe and juicy green tomato.  Though tasty, green tomatoes need to be cooked and dressed up a little to fully enjoy them.

While taking in our late spring bounty at the produce table with my buddy and BKK grocery manager Lila, we started talking about the best way to feature a fried green tomato.  We are suckers for anything on a Martins potato roll and the Meat Hook lamb bacon is on my list of things that must be served to me at my last meal. From there the LBGT Sandwich was born and now I give it to you!

LBGT Sandwich
Lamb Bacon Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches

Ingredients:
For the Fried Green Tomatoes:
1          farm fresh egg
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup  Cayuga brand cornmeal

1 tsp   kosher Salt
2          green tomatoes –Sliced ¼ inch thick
¾ cup peanut oil for frying

Everything Else:
½ Lb   Meat Hook lamb bacon
4 Martin’s Potato Rolls
4-6      leaves of lettuce  (I used Gotham Greens Red Oak Leaf Lettuce)
Kewpie brand mayonnaise
Texas Peat hot sauce

-In a large skillet fry lamb bacon until it is just crispy. Remove and cool on a paper towel. Pour out most of the fat from the pan, leaving a small amount to toast your rolls in later.

- Fill a large cast iron skillet with peanut oil so it is just under ½ inch deep.  Heat till shimmering.

- Beat together in a shallow bowl the egg and buttermilk. Mix cornmeal and salt in another shallow dish.

- Dip tomatoes in egg mixture then dust each side with cornmeal.

- Carefully lower in tomatoes and fry till golden brown on both sides. Cool on a rack while assembling the rest of your sandwich.

-Toast both sides of each bun in the pan you fried the bacon in.  Then spread a healthy layer of Kewpie mayo on both sides of the roll and sprinkle as much hot sauce as you want on either side of the buns.  Stack two tomatoes, lamb bacon, and lettuce, then top with the top bun.  Assemble the rest of the sandwiches.

-Serve with a cool drink (I prefer a Brooklyn  Brewery Summer Ale)

Enjoy and stop in to Lab 1 and tell me how it went!