BLT Salad with Fried Green Tomatoes

If you've ever been in the Southern U.S. States, you know that fried green tomatoes are huge. Every time I'm in Georgia or South Carolina I see them on every single menu. During a road trip to Florida, we stayed in a random hotel overnight to break up the drive and ordered takeout from a nearby place that had this awesome BLT Salad that I fell in love with and had to recreate to share with you guys! It was served with ranch dressing but I opted to add goat cheese instead. You could go either way!

What you need:

• 1 large green tomato (ends up being enough for two salads)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 egg
• Kale - as much as you want to eat
• 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 slices of bacon
• Either Goat cheese crumbles or ranch dressing 

What to do:

1. ​Cut the green tomato up into pieces, think of them as the croutons to your salad so around that size.
2. Heat up about an inch of vegetable oil in a small but deep skillet or pan.
3. Assemble the frying station next to the oil. So, three bowls, one with the egg wash (scramble it), one with the flour and one with the panko.
4. Dip each piece of tomato into the flour, then egg, then panko. Don't be afraid to really coat it in the egg so that the panko can stick properly and the whole thing is coated and covered. After the panko, shake off any excess crumbs and then drop into the oil and cook until golden brown. (Every stove is different but I use a medium heat setting for this.) Set aside on a paper towel once they are done.
5. Wash and dry off the kale. Rip off the large stem in the center and discard. Add the leaves to a bowl and rip them into bite sized pieces. Pour the olive oil salt and pepper on the leaves and then "massage" the kale by squeezing it in your hands over and over until it's not rough anymore. More enjoyable to eat that way! You could add a simple salad dressing here if you want too but I like just the EVOO and s + p.
6. Cook the bacon, I like to chop it into squares before cooking it, but you can cook/separate it however you want.
7. Now that you have all the pieces and parts, assemble the salad. Mix the goat cheese and bacon pieces in with the kale and then top with the fried green tomatoes. If you don't like goat cheese, top with ranch dressing and then eat!