Renovate Brooklyn! What It Looks Like When We Eat Vegetables...

I thought this was particularly funny, since I promised in my last recipe posting that the health-component of our meals was going to improve following our gluttonous weekend in Atlantic City. And what do we do? We come home and make a (so-called) salad that involves bacon, poached eggs, olive oil, and only a tiny smattering of greens. (If I could have squeezed butter into this recipe, I would have.) Hopeless. Clearly, this is the English-heritage at work...


Here's how it went down: For dinner last night,  I started by making our regular French Lentils Recipe (be still my beating heart! I LOVE LENTILS!) and then whipped together a Salade Lyonnaise to go with them. Salade Lyonnaise, also called Frisée aux Lardons on occasion, is basically bacon or pancetta, sauteed with olive oil, sherry vinegar, and shallots, and then tossed together with mixed greens, or frisée if you're feeling posh (because frisée is not easy to find in most parts of the world, and is never cheap regardless.) Then you poach a couple of eggs, throw them on top of the salad, and you're in business. It never occurred to me before, but basically it is an excuse to eat breakfast for dinner, and call it a salad. Leave it to the french! No wonder I love it there!


Here's the recipe for la salade, bon appetit! 

Salade Lyonnaise

4 cups torn frisée or other strong-tasting greens, washed and dried

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

About 1/2 pound good slab bacon or pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 shallot, chopped, or 1 tablespoon chopped red onion

2 to 4 tablespoons top-quality sherry vinegar (*or just red wine vinegar if you don't this...)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Salt

4 eggs

Black pepper

1. Put frisée or other greens in large bowl. Put olive oil in skillet over medium heat. When hot, add bacon and cook slowly until crisp all over, about 10 minutes. Add shallot or onion and cook until softened, a minute or two. Add vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring, then turn off heat.

2. Meanwhile, bring about an inch of salted water to a boil in a small, deep skillet, then lower heat to barely bubbling. One at a time, break eggs into a shallow bowl and slip them into the bubbling water. Cook eggs for 3 to 5 minutes, just until the white is set and the yolk has filmed over. Remove each egg with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on paper towel.

3. If necessary, gently reheat dressing, then pour over greens (they should wilt just a bit), toss and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top each portion with an egg and serve immediately. (Each person gets to break the egg.)

Yield: 4 servings
Originally found here...
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/dining/23minirex.html?ref=dining 
Thanks again Mark Bittman! 

I have a feeling that it is "unconventional" to put a lentil salad onto a Salade Lyonnaise, but we'll all just have to get over it, because it was delicious, and considerably more nutritious with this addition. And rules are made to be broken, right?!

Check back soon for our next adventure!

Ps. Something wiggy is going on with my formatting, thanks to the NY Times Recipe, so sorry if this posting looks a little wonky. Hopefully we'll get straightened out tomorrow...