The world outside the kitchen window is a medley of autumn colors, shades of green, yellow, orange, and brown all enveloped by an opaque gray sky, like in a fuzzy blanket. With the trees standing mostly naked, the brilliantly hued leaves rest on the ground. Dead, they will enrich the soil, enabling next spring’s new growth. Nothing is wasted in nature. We tend to believe that our parents’ ‘clean-your-plate’ mentality is a ‘depression mentality.’ Yet, it is rooted in an old-world sensibility, one example of which is the commandment prohibiting waste (Bal Tashkhit/Do not Destroy) found in the Bible.
This kind of frugality was once a way of life in the kitchen. Cooks used all parts of the animal, including internal organs. Vegetable peelings were used to make a stock. I have been entertaining this thought when I challenged myself to cook dinner without wasting any beneficial ingredient.
When we went pumpkin picking in mid-October, I was delighted to find miniature Italian eggplants and green tomatoes amongst the farm’s market offerings. Ahh…, fried green tomatoes. The thought activated my culinary imagination, as well as my saliva glands. Fried green tomatoes is a perfect example of past generations’ ‘no waste’ ingenuity. These are the late bloomers of tomatoes that will never blush. So fry them instead of eating them raw. I did not grow up eating fried green tomatoes, but I loved the movie! Even though I was neither born nor raised in the U.S.A., I have an unexplained affinity to Southerners. Could it be my cherished childhood possession that made it over the Atlantic, the copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin I got as a moving-away gift from Mrs. Levi, my beloved Fourth Grade teacher.
A few days later after we picked pumpkins, the cold and rain made me want to hold on to summer a bit longer, and, anyway, the eggplants and the tomatoes had to be used before we left for a weekend visit with our son. I was not sure that I wanted to fry the tomatoes the traditional way, and I was too busy to look for other recipes. But, as I was preparing green tahini to take to my son, an idea formed. I love these flashes of creativity, as my mind composes a recipe, bouncing from one idea to the other. So, as I like to mix traditions, I ended up pairing the tomatoes with something I know very well: green tahini. Eventually, it became the common ingredient in all of the foods on the dinner plate.
The meal included items I had in the pantry and in the refrigerator, so they will not go to waste while we were away. While four small eggplants and one red sweet pepper were roasting whole in the oven, I prepared what I needed for the green tomatoes and marinated defrosted tuna steak. I cut each of the two tomatoes into four even slices. In a flat pan, I mixed tahini with an egg white, reserving the yolk for the wash for the loaves of Hallah I was to bake the next morning. In a separate pan, I mixed a bit of salt and black and white sesame seeds with coarse Matzah meal, which I had made from leftover Matzah after Passover. The tuna steaks were put in a marinade of tahini and lemon juice. The leftover quinoa in the refrigerator found new life when I sautéed it with what was leftover from the fish marinade, the tahini and egg white, and the Matzah meal mix. It turned out flavorful with a texture full of tiny bursts of crunch from the Matzah meal and sesame seeds.
OK, these turned out to be sautéed, not quite fried, green tomatoes. Who wants to waste all that oil! Nothing, other than the charred skin of the eggplants and the red pepper was discarded. Nothing was wasted.
For the food ingredients as for the leaves, it was an end of a life cycle, yet it was also a time of promised renewal.
See recipes below.
Green TomatoesEgg White and TahiniMatzah Meal and Sesame Mix.
Fried Green Tomatoe, Roasted Eggplant, Roasted Sweet Red Pepper with Green Tahini Sauce
For the most efficient use of your time, follow these steps:
1.Start with broiling the pepper and the eggplant on a sheet of aluminum foilforabout 10-15 minutes.
2.While the peppers and eggplants are broiling, prepare the tahini;
3.Marinade the fish;
4.Bread tomatoes;
5.Take out broiled vegetables and seal them to sweat inside the aluminum foil for about 10 minutes before peeling the skin;
6.Cut vegetables;
7.Broil fish; and
8.While fish is broiling, sauté tomatoes.
Tahini Preparation:
There are many ways to prepare tahini. The essential ingredients are raw tahini, cold water, garlic, and salt. Some add lemon juice or lemon salt. Green tahini includes herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, and/or mint. There are some who like to add dill. I prefer cilantro. As a general rule, the ratio of tahini to water is 1:1. However, because the consistency of raw tahini varies from brand to brand, I like to first mix in the lemon juice and then mix in one half the of the cold water, and add more incrementally, as needed, to achieve a creamy consistency. Sauteeing the herbs with the garlic will increase the shelf life of the tahini. I also like to add lemon peel, when I use organic lemon.
1 cup tahini
juice from 1 lemon
6 cloves garlic, pressed
¼ cup of parsley or cilantro, or a mix
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
ground coriander
Fried Green Tomatoes
4 Servings
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 green tomatoes
1 egg white
2 Tbsp. green tahini
1 cup Matzah meal with salt to taste
1 tbsp. sesame seed
1.Cut each tomato cross wise into four equal slices;
2.Bit with a fork the egg white with the green tahini and place in a shallow pan;
3.Mix Matzah meal with salt and sesame and place in a shallow pan;
4. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a frying pan;
5.Coat both sides of each tomato slice with egg and tahini blend;
6.Coat both sides of each tomato slice with Matzah meal mixture;
7.Sauté tomato slices on each side till golden, 4-6 min. per batch.
Construction:
Use some of the tahini as a sauce for the vegetables. I like to thin out about one half a cup of the tahini with a bit of water. Place a slice of tomato in a pool of two tablespoons of tahini, place the eggplant and then the roasted pepper on top and drizzle some more tahini on the top. See photograph above.
Don’t hesitate to ask me questions.
Enjoy!
Inspire and Be Inspired!
