Sometimes I think the main reason I love going to Europe is the food.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the history, the art, the beauty.  Oh and the wine.  Can’t forget the wine!  But I could just eat my way through Europe.  Good thing we walk everywhere.  🙂

A couple of years ago we took our kids to Paris for a couple of days.  It was such a joy as they really are open to new experiences.  They loved going to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, walking in the parks, etc.  And nary a complaint traipsing everywhere in 98F/36C weather.  Thought I was going to melt!

We all had a blast with the food.  They discovered duck, I mean how many kids do you know at ages 7 and 10 request seared duck?  I love it.  One of the best dishes I had was a steamed artichoke topped with smoked salmon, poached egg, and a mustard sauce.  Let me tell you that smoked salmon was the best I’d ever had.  As you know from a previous post I decided to recreate it and it went very pear shaped.  It took weeks to reclaim that pot!  If you run out of water steaming an artichoke it is not pleasant.

Walking home from Pilates class today I was looking for inspiration as how I could make that wonderful dish mine.  There it was in my garden, lovely green tomatoes.  I thought perfect, I’ll do fried green tomatoes instead of the artichoke.  This is a very easy dish to put together.  It took me about 15 minutes or so.  And after working out it is a very light lunch.  And I behaved myself and didn’t pour myself a glass of white wine which would be perfect for this.  🙂

As this is a dish for one I sliced two small green tomatoes.

Next I seasoned them with salt and pepper then coated them in egg and panko bread crumbs.  Normally I do a beer batter for these but this is just a quick lunch.

For the mustard sauce I used a couple spoonfuls of stone mustard.  The latest one I’ve tried was a local one with garlic.  Very nice.  I mixed in a bit of olive oil and a few splashes of white balsamic vinegar.

In a small frying pan I get the olive oil nice and hot and pan fry the tomatoes.  You want to soften them as raw green tomatoes will make you sick.  As the Unorthodox Epicure pointed out in one of his posts recently.  The things you learn!

While these are cooking you want to prep the poached egg.  While it is poaching layer the tomatoes and smoked salmon and place the egg on top.  Drizzle with the mustard.

The runny yolk really brings all the components together for a delicious lunch.

Paris has been good to me.  😉