Spinach salad with bacon, cherries, and a fried egg
(UPDATE 12/2/05: Looking for fried egg gender? Click here.)
I wish my French were good enough to give this one a cool name. I'm great with nouns but I would put them together all clumsy, with preposterous prepositions and more than a little gender confusion. English will have to do.
In general I am sympathetic with the Slow Food movement but lately I prefer fast and dirty. This salad was made with prewashed spinach out of a plastic bag. (I don't mind washing lettuce, but fresh spinach can be a bitch.) I cut four strips of excellent thick-cut bacon that I bought at a farmer's market into lardons and cooked them in a pan until a bit short of crisp. I like it not quite well done. When I was happy with them I removed the lardons and sauteed some red onion slices in the drippings. Meanwhile, I over-easied an egg.
When it came time to assemble, I spread the green leaves out on a plate, topped them with bacon and sprinkled on some dried tart cherries. I added a small spoonful of whole grain mustard and a drizzle of sherry vinegar to the pan, stirred just to warm it all up and mix it together, and then dumped it on top of the spinach, etc. Then I topped this all with my egg. The best bites were the ones with lots of yolk, a piece of bacon, a slice of onion, and a cherry, just one. I ate forkfuls of salad in rapid alternation with buttered bites of a surprisingly good baguette from the spanking new Milwaukee Public Market, about which I will have more to say another time. For now, here's a pair of pictures.
I wish my French were good enough to give this one a cool name. I'm great with nouns but I would put them together all clumsy, with preposterous prepositions and more than a little gender confusion. English will have to do.
In general I am sympathetic with the Slow Food movement but lately I prefer fast and dirty. This salad was made with prewashed spinach out of a plastic bag. (I don't mind washing lettuce, but fresh spinach can be a bitch.) I cut four strips of excellent thick-cut bacon that I bought at a farmer's market into lardons and cooked them in a pan until a bit short of crisp. I like it not quite well done. When I was happy with them I removed the lardons and sauteed some red onion slices in the drippings. Meanwhile, I over-easied an egg.
When it came time to assemble, I spread the green leaves out on a plate, topped them with bacon and sprinkled on some dried tart cherries. I added a small spoonful of whole grain mustard and a drizzle of sherry vinegar to the pan, stirred just to warm it all up and mix it together, and then dumped it on top of the spinach, etc. Then I topped this all with my egg. The best bites were the ones with lots of yolk, a piece of bacon, a slice of onion, and a cherry, just one. I ate forkfuls of salad in rapid alternation with buttered bites of a surprisingly good baguette from the spanking new Milwaukee Public Market, about which I will have more to say another time. For now, here's a pair of pictures.
posted by mzn at 1:18 PM
3 Comments:
I am headed to Milwaukee for Thanksgiving and I am expected to cook the big dinner. I would LOVE to know where the Public Market is. From the picture, it looks like it is downtown near the I94 spur/viaduct.
Looks like my kind of place!
The Public Market (here's their website) is at the northwest tip of the Third Ward, adjacent to I-794, at 400 N. Water St.
Thanks!
Just a quick trip over the bridge from my in-laws place! I am Soooooo there.
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