Recipe: Viking’s Fried Green Tomatoes & Carnival's Ice Pick Cocktail

Welcome to our new series, Tasty Tuesdays! Each Tuesday this summer, we will bring you different food and drink recipe combinations that have been curated from your favorite cruise lines. For our first installment, it’s all about the summertime tomato harvest with a twist, and a refreshing iced-tea based cocktail to wash it down!

Ice Pick — Carnival Cruise Line

Ingredients:

• 1½ oz. vodka
• 6 oz iced tea
• Lemon juice
• Sugar (optional)

Instructions:

• Put vodka in glass, fill with iced tea.
• Stir in lemon juice (and sugar if using) to taste.

Rustic Fried Green Tomatoes with Cajun Beurre Blanc - Viking

Tomato Ingredients:

• 6 med green tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Peanut or canola oil for frying

Crawfish Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp water
• Dash Worcestershire
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 lb crawfish tails (or small shrimp)

Cajun Beurre Blanc Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp dry white wine
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 4 black peppercorns
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp heavy cream
• 8 oz unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Dash Worcestershire
• Dash Crystal Hot Sauce
• Kosher salt to taste

Garnish: 

• Cajun spice

Instructions:

Tomatoes: Preheat oven to 200˚F (93°C). Slice tomatoes ¼ inch (6 mm) thick; sprinkle with salt and pepper; set aside. Wash and drain crawfish; refrigerate. Stir together buttermilk and eggs in a shallow bowl; place flour in another bowl; stir together cornstarch, cornmeal and garlic powder in a third bowl. In a large frying pan, heat ⅛-inch-deep layer of peanut oil to 350˚F (177°C) over medium heat. Lightly coat each tomato slice in flour; dip in buttermilk, then cornstarch mixture. In batches, gently cook tomatoes until golden brown, approximately 1-2 minutes; turn gently and cook another 1-2 minutes. Drain on paper towels; keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

Crawfish: Combine water, Worcestershire and lemon zest in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Slowly whisk in butter until incorporated. Bring to a simmer; add crawfish, tossing gently until cooked through, 5-7 minutes.

Cajun Beurre Blanc Sauce: Place wine, vinegar, peppercorns, shallots and bay leaf in a small saucepan over medium high. Bring to a boil; cook until very thick and reduced by ¾, about 3 minutes. Stir in cream; cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. Reduce to low; add butter, one cube at a time, whisking constantly until two pieces of butter remain. Remove from heat and continue whisking in last two cubes of butter. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce and salt to taste, stirring to combine. Pass through a fine sieve.

Plating: Place 3 or 4 slices of tomato on each plate. Spoon crawfish and sauce over the top, and dust entire plate lightly with Cajun spice.

Serves six.

Iced tea photo by Jutta M. Jenning on Flickr.