Time to build a dinner around garden-fresh green tomatoes! I decided to fry the tomatoes according to two different recipes: one from Lost Kitchen, the other from On Vegetables (tl;dr: Lost Kitchen wins even though it is easier.) For the main, I decided on a whole Sea Bream, which is available at New Deal Fish Market and feels appropriate for the dog days of summer. Finally, I got ahold of some fresh blackcurrants at The Mushroom Shop and decided to take a stab at a strained ricotta dessert from Nopi.

Whole Sea Bream (Polpo): This dish is super straightforward and delicious! Make extra herb-garlic oil and salt generously. Cook the fish to 135F-140F. Grill if possible. I roasted in the oven in preheated cast-iron at 435F; I’d recommend going even higher to crisp the skin next time.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Buttermilk and Dill (Lost Kitchen): I’ve made this recipe before and know that it is excellent! The recipe is straightforward. Just make sure you get/keep your oil hot enough so that it doesn’t get soggy and oily. I needed to move the oil to a larger burner to accomplish this.
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Difficulty: 4

Fried Green Tomatoes, Burrata & Green Tomato Preserves (On Vegetables): This recipe features a spiced green-tomato-raisin compote that takes 2-3 hours to make (it only took me about 2 hours) and is served with burrata, basil, and a cornmeal breading. Opinions were divided on whether the grittier cornmeal improved the dish. I also thought the spiced compote was more of a fall flavor than a mid-summer one (although it was delicious.) I’d recommend adding a hit of acid to the compote and salting all components generously.
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 6.5

Strained Ricotta with Blackcurrant Compote and Rhubarb (Nopi): The strained ricotta is sweetened and folded together with sweetened whipped egg whites (so an unbaked meringue) and then strained for two days. I can attest that quadruple-layered cheese cloth works but is a poor substitute for the muslin cloth here. We also found the strained-ricotta to be overly sweet. In the future, I would add more ricotta and cut the sugar. Serving with good vanilla ice cream was very appealing and outshone the ricotta. My rhubarb (not pictured) ended up stringy and chewy because I left it unrefrigerated for a couple of hours; it needs to remain super fresh and crisp for this to work.
Joe’s Rating: 6
Difficulty: 7.5