What do you do when you crave a salad, but it's cold out? Create a warm salad!
The inspiration for this dinner was the Escarole Lyonnaise, published in the February-March issue of The Food Network Magazine. It was created by Andy Liang. Who could resist a warm salad with a dressing made from bacon drippings?
Of course, I had to work in some short cuts, otherwise the meal would have taken me two hours to put together. Firstly, there was the chore of making croutons from a baguette. No baguette presented itself to me, so I rummaged in my freezer and drew out some mini-cornmeal muffins. Three of them went into my little toaster oven and were beautifully browned and crisped in about 10 minutes.
Then, there was the chopping of the escarole. Since no escarole was on offer at my local Kroger's store, I found a "chopped" Mediterranean salad kit that contained not only escarole but other interesting greens and veggies (carrot, broccoli stalk) as well. Its dressing and condiment packs went into my fridge to be incorporated into other salads.
I had most of the ingredients for the vinaigrette. After sauteing the bacon, you pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the drippings and add one shallot (minced) and one plum tomato (chopped). After they have softened, you remove the pan from the fire and add Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and there you have it! A wonderful warm Lyonnaise dressing!
Then, assemble the salad. Toss the escarole mix in the dressing, add the croutons and the bacon, and if you want to "gild the lily", add a poached egg. Cover the salad with snipped fresh parsley. Winter salad, we salute you!
In one of Rick Steve's travelogues, Lyon is called "the Capital of Food." The Good Food blog lists typical recipes from this gastronomical center of the world.
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