Fried green tomatoes with creamy egg salad, pickled shrimp, petit mustard greens, and piccalilli at Big Jones
Fried green tomatoes with creamy egg salad, pickled shrimp, petit mustard greens, and piccalilli ($8)
Fried green tomatoes are one of those dishes our regular customers look forward to every year, and so do we. We get really nice fruit from Growing Power and give it a quick dip in a mixture of buttermilk and Crystal hot sauce before breading it in Henry Moore cornmeal from Spence Farm. It gets a fairly quick flash fry at 425, we're looking for toothsome tomatoes, not breaded mush. The highly acid tomatoes naturally have an affinity for acid is why most people dress them in mayonnaise-based sauces or other acidic concoctions, but we go a different route here, looking to play on the flavors of a summer picnic, going for richness with a mustard-laden creamy egg salad and use golden frills mustard greens also from Growing Power to add piquancy, and pickled shrimp are both rich and have that refreshing acidity. Shrimp are actually one of my favorite ingredients with green tomatoes, working really well with their natural fruitiness. Finally a little drizzle of picalilli echoes both the flavor and acidity of the tomatoes while also contributing a little sweetness.
Pairing: Cold draft cider, or a Mosel riesling
tomatoes (local/specialty), dairy (local), farm-raised, farmer (local/regional), farmers' market, heirloom ingredient, and Henry Moore corn
Posted 06/15/12
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Special Dining Event: May 20, 2013 - May 20, 2013
Big Jones to host Trash Fish Dinner with Chefs Collaborative, featuring the best seafood you’ve never tried
On Monday, May 20, executive chef Paul Fehribach in conjunction with Chefs Collaborative will be joined by nine of Chicago’s premier chefs to present a Trash Fish Dinner at Big Jones. The event benefits Chefs Collaborative, a national network of chefs working to make sustainable practices second nature in restaurant kitchens. The dinner will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. followed by an eight-course, family-style dinner at 7 p.m. Seafood for the evening will be provided by event sponsor Fortune Fish and Gourmet. The cost of the dinner is $125 per person, inclusive of tax, gratuity and alcohol. Tickets are required and can be purchased by calling 617-236-5200 or online at chefscollaborative.org/events.
The featured chefs will showcase lesser-known fish species in each course, like dogfish, smelt, speckled trout and triggerfish. These sustainable fish, often known as “trash fish,” have traditionally been left off the menu by chefs, discarded by fishermen as bycatch, and are virtually unknown to the general public.
The Trash Fish Dinner chef lineup is as follows:
Hosted by chef Paul Fehribach – Big Jones
Erling Wu-Bower – Avec
Paul Kahan - Blackbird
Bruce Sherman - North Pond
Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris - Prairie Grass Café
Laura Piper - Trattoria No. 10
Michael and Patrick Sheerin - Trenchermen
Paul Virant – Vie; Perennial Virant
The Trash Fish Dinner sponsors are as follows:
American Harvest Organic Spirit
Big Jones
Environmental Defense Fund
Fortune Fish and Gourmet
Monterey Bay Aquarium and Seafood Watch
http://chefscollaborative.org/events/
Posted 04/22/13 - Share this entry
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