Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

My twin sister Krissie and I have decided to turn a new leaf (pun intended) and go on a salad diet.  It sounds extreme, but it’s really not since we’re limiting it to weekday dinners.  It’s an initiative to incorporate more vegetables into our meals and eat less processed foods. Of course, we have to find some sort of loop hole… which is to find something ridiculously fatty to add to the salad to make it bearable. Last night’s lipid choice came in the form of bacon and lots of it.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Adapted from Alton Brown – we cut the bacon down a bit and decided to saute the mushrooms

Ingredients

• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 2 large eggs
• 5 pieces thick-sliced bacon, chopped
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 large white mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced

Directions
Wash the spinach, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Hard or soft boil your eggs. I like to hard boil my eggs. I’ve found the best practice for hard boiled eggs is to add eggs to a pot of water, which should cover the eggs by at least 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil and immediately turn off the heat. Leave the eggs in the water for 10-12 minutes. Remove and run under cold water. Peel off the shell. Slice each egg into 6 wedges and set aside.

While the eggs are cooking, fry the bacon and remove to a paper towel to drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the rendered fat for the salad dressing and 2 tablespoons to saute your mushrooms . Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Transfer the 3 tablespoons of fat to a small saucepan set over low heat and whisk in the red wine vinegar, sugar and Dijon mustard. Season with a small pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper.

Remove the remaining fat from the frying pan until you have approximately 2 tablespoons of fat to saute your mushrooms.  Add the mushrooms and saute until golden brown.

Add the mushrooms and the sliced onion to the spinach and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Divide the spinach between 4 plates or bowls and evenly divide the egg among them. Season with pepper, as desired. Serve immediately.

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If you’re a fan of bacon, you will obviously be a fan of this salad.  It’s crisp, tangy, salty, porky.  It may have just been the salad of my dreams.  This isn’t helping my overall lose weight diet, but I’m taking baby steps toward healthy eating.  I can’t just go cold turkey on all unhealthy fats.  Please.