Green Tomato Salad with Chicken Fried Steak

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade and when given green tomatoes, you make green tomato salad! I'm not giving up on my green tomatoes, there are still sunny warm days left. But now and then, I snatch one off the vine and I'm disappointed as its' slightly citrusy bitter taste overwhelms my tongue and the back of my throat feels slightly tingly. But I've found the solution to enjoying green tomatoes by lightly pickling them. In the mean time, I thought why not make chicken fried steak with an Italian Japanese flair? (I used Italian seasoned panko crumbs.) It was delicious, especially when topped with a basil cream and enjoyed with the salad! The steak is great served warm and the salad, room temperature!

For the chicken fried steak & basil cream you will need:

• 1 pound top round steak, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 eggs beaten
• flour for dredging
• Italian seasoned panko crumbs
• canola oil
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• a few basil leaves, minced
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper

For the salad you will need:

• 6 small good tomatoes, (small plum size)
• 12 cherry size green tomatoes
• 1 to 2 radishes
• a tablespoon sliced shallot
• 1/4 cup pear infused white balsamic vinegar plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• juice of one lemon, 1/2 for shallots the other half for the vinaigrette
• 1 1/2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
• pinch Vegeta or any all purpose seasoning you like
• fresh ground pepper
• sea salt
• a few green or purple basil leaves cut in half lengthwise and then cut thin

To made the salad, you want to cut the tomatoes, radishes and shallots thin. (Save the rounded edges of the tomato for egg omelettes or another use.) Get a little pickling liquid going by combining the 1/4 cup vinegar, sugar and a little sea salt. Let the green tomatoes sit in the liquid for 1 hour. Squeeze 1/2 of the lemon juice on the shallots and let that also sit for 1 hour. They can both sit at room temperature. I used what I had on hand but if you are using big tomatoes, I would use 1 green to every 2 red tomatoes. Begin by placing the red tomatoes down in one layer, on a big platter. Spread the radishes around, followed by the drained shallots and drained green tomatoes. Spread the basil on top. Make the vinaigrette by combining the olive oil, juice of half the lemon, 2 tablespoons vinegar, Vegeta and the ground pepper. Adjust the seasonings as needed. Spoon over your salad. For the chicken fried steak, pound the pieces of meat very thin, until about three to four times its' original size, using the spiky side of the meat mallet. Dredge in flour followed by coating the steaks in the beaten eggs and then into the panko crumbs. Have all of them done and ready to go into the oil. Heat up your canola oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat until sizzling hot. (Enough to coat the bottom of the pan.) Place one by one in the pan and turn over after about one minute, once browned flip over the fry on the other side for about a minute.They fry up pretty quickly. Repeat with the other steaks, allowing to dry on a paper bag or paper towels. To make the basil cream combine the heavy cream, basil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Pass the basil cream around so everyone can spoon it over their steaks. Serve with the green tomato salad and enjoy! Serves 4