Fried Oysters w/ Green Tomato, Sweet Corn, Pickled Okra and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

If you are looking to make a truly Southern dish in your own home then this is it!  This is a recipe from Hank's Seafood Restaurant Cookbook.  Hank's is on list after list of a must-see restaurant if you head down to Charleston and this salad is on their current menu.  I saw this recipe about a year ago in Southern Living magazine and I have been dying to try it out so I finally bit the bullet.  My husband, who isn't a huge oyster fan, absolutely loved it -- although pretty much anything is good when it's fried.  

The recipe calls for green tomatoes, but I used regular red tomatoes because I simply couldn't find green tomatoes anywhere!  How is that possible? 

So what I love most about this salad is the pickled okra.  If you haven't had pickled okra before then good Lord, get to the store and buy a jar immediately!  It is so fantastic I could die.  I ate the entire jar in one day.  Yummy!

Fried Oysters with Green Tomato, Sweet Corn, Pickled Okra and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (makes 4 salads)

2 c. cracker meal
1 c. cornmeal 
1 c. all purpose flour
salt and pepper
peanut oil
2 large handfuls arugula
16 oysters
4 to 8 halved pickled okra

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
2 ears fresh corn
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 c. diced green tomato
1 1/2 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped mixed herbs
3 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1. For vinaigrette: cut corn from cobs, reserving cobs.  Heat oil in saute pan, add corn and cook 1 minute.  Cool.  Combine stock and corn cobs in saucepan.  Boil then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.  Pour mixture through fine wire mesh strainer.  Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.  Stir green tomato into corn and stir into stock.  Just before serving, add in herbs and blue cheese.
2.  Pour 1 and 1/2 inches oil in a cast iron skillet; heat over medium high until temperature reaches 350.  
3.  Whisk cracker meal, flours, 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in shallow bowl.  Dredge oysters in mixture, shaking off excess.  Fry in batches 2 to 4 minutes or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels; sprinkle with salt and pepper.  
4.  Spoon vinaigrette onto 4 serving plates.  Top with oysters and okra.