Oh, just fry it

Some people are inspired by a farmers' market bounty to create something healthy and delicious from all of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs on display. I mean, you're surrounded by things that are inherently healthy for you - just think about all of the prominently displayed naturally occurring vitamins and cheery summer colors:

I, however, am a person that's inspired to fry things or cover them in brown sugar and sauté away. We'll call it a nod to my Southern roots.

I had a much better stop at the Penn Quarter Farmers Market last Thursday than I did back in April when there were zero vegetables to be found. It's kinda remarkable that I actually haven't made it back there until...well, almost August. Where is the summer going, anyway? I found superstar onions (I'm going to nickname them narcissistic onions) and pattypan squash and green tomatoes this time around, and of course the first thing that comes to mind (to my mind, anyway) when faced with green tomatoes is...fried green tomatoes! For some of you this may bring to mind the film version, which is based on the book version, which actually does include a recipe for fried green tomatoes. I suppose it's the Southern in me that immediately jumps to the "fried" when it comes to vegetables, although I can think of several perfectly acceptable substitutes that basically involved smothering everything in cheese. Oh, that's rather Southern, too, isn't it?

I was proud of myself for winging it somewhat and throwing together several different recipes to create the taste I was going for instead of following one recipe ingredient by ingredient, line by line -- I am an accountant, after all, and it's just in my nature to follow the rules. However, The Great Fried Chicken Adventure of 2004/2005 came to mind as I was testing the oil temperature - as it spit angrily at me, I made the wise decision to take it off the heat and cool it down just a smidge before dropping what could have been spattering oil bombs (that should have turned into beautiful fried green tomatoes) into its midst. The tomatoes turned out completely delicious and entirely unhealthy, which is just the way I prefer my vegetables. Although it's actually a fruit. Hmmm, fried fruit...I wonder what I can do with peaches...

Oh, and the squash and onions were a total experiment that turned into squash and onions with brown sugar, which is actually quite tasty. The accompanying write-up suggests that this combination "would be a success with a vegetable-averse child," so perhaps this is one way to get Trinity to eat his veggies. Cover them with sugar.