This time of year, late August, the farmer’s market in West Lafayette, Indiana is brimming with delicious fresh and colorful things. It was a rare Saturday morning without any plans and perfect for a farmer’s market stroll. The vegetables and herbs were so enticing that I didn’t get any baked or cooked things. That may have been a first for me.  I was uncharacteristically satisfied with our bag of reds, yellows, and greens (and purples). This was the colorful afternoon snack we made:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Dip slices of green tomatoes (about 1/4 inch thick) into a combination flour and cornmeal, salt, pepper, and paprika. Then dip into an egg wash mixture and back into the cornmeal mix. Shallow fry in a pan into golden. I like it with sriracha mayonnaise.

Ripe Red Tomato Sandwiches

Basically, slices of tomato between two slices of bread, with or without butter or mayonnaise.

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

Really good stuffed with goat cheese. Sadly the goat cheese waiting in my refrigerator drawer, shall we say, had seen better cheese days. No goat cheese. So my filling was “minimal,” composed of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and pepper. It was a bit disappointing.  The cheese melts into the flower and builds a creamy center and crusty edge.  On the other hand, without the goat cheese stuffing, I could taste the delicate blossom itself better. Either way, I was eating flowers. I imagine that’s what fairies eat after a rainbow unicorn ride through fluffy white clouds, a bouquet of fried flowers (okay maybe not fried but I bet the edgy fairies eat fried flowers, I don’t know……)

I still have my purple eggplants to eat tonight. May the color fest continue. I love summer and it’s bounty of  juicy, colorful, sweet and yummy things. Sigh. I miss it already as I write in late August sparkling morning sunshine. Soak, soak, soak, summer.  Did we finish all the fried tomatoes?

Wishing you all happy summer sunshine soaking (even if Monday),

Hungryphil