The Dixie Grill in Wilmington has a breakfast dish so rich and delicious it melts in your mouth. It involves an open face, buttermilk biscuit (soft, warm, and buttery) topped with fried green tomatoes (slightly salty, fried, and even a tad sour), scrambled eggs (soft but substantial), and vidalia onion gravy (savory, warm, and so delicious you want to lick the plate in public). It's called, if I remember correctly, the Dixie Benedict. I recently attempted to recreate that dish, vegetarian style, with a few twists of my own.
For fried green tomatoes:
Ingredients
3 or 4 large firm green tomatoes
Salt
2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
Directions
Slice the tomatoes 1/4-inch thick. Lay them out in a shallow baking pan and sprinkle with salt. Place the tomato slices in a colander let drain for 30 minutes (the salt pulls the water out of the tomatoes).
In a skillet, heat the oil medium-high heat.
Thoroughly mix flour and black pepper.
Dip the tomatoes into buttermilk, then dredge them in flour mixture. Deep-fry until golden brown and drain excess oil on paper bags or paper towels.
Keep warm.
Roasted Red Pepper-and-Vidalia Onion Gravy:
1 large Vidalia onion, diced
2 oz. roasted red bell pepper, diced.
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable or mushroom broth
Black pepper
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and saute 10 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Stir in flour; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes, or until flour mixture is caramel-colored. Stir in broth and red pepper. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Season to taste with black pepper.
Finally, slice a fresh, warm buttermilk biscuit and lay open face on a plate. Add one slice of fried green tomato to each half. Top with scrambled eggs. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of gravy over the entire dish. Add a sprinkling of chopped chives or scallions and serve warm.
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