Salad with Egg Yolk Dressing in a Bacon Basket
There is a beautiful restaurant in Chicago called the Blackbird. They have this amazing little salad that they serve in a crispy basket made out of potatoes. So brilliant. This got me thinking about other foods that would make great crispy edible baskets…bacon.Of course.
It really doesn’t matter what kind of salad you serve this on top of, because the bacon and egg yolk are clearly the star. I just used what I had on hand.
Ingredients:
2 cups of chopped fresh spinach
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
2 tbs shredded fresh parmesan
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs balasmic vinegar
1 tsp crouse ground mustard
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
2-4 strips of bacon (depending on thickness)
1 egg yolk (or two, if you’re like me and pop the first on when trying to separate it from the whites)
Start with the bacon. Preheat oven to 350. Take one or two strips and line the inside walls of a muffin pan. I had really thick bacon so that’s what I used, but I think the next time I make this, super thin bacon would work really well. Cut a second strip in half and use it to line the bottom of the pan, overlapping with the sides.
Bake until its stable enough to hold together on its own, about 15 minutes, but again, this will depend on your bacon thickness. Transfer to a baking dish and continue to cook until its crispy.
(At this point, you may want to add a pot of water to the stove to boil.)
While your bacon basket is crisping, assemble your salad veggies on a plate. Add the oil, vinegar, and mustard to a bowl and stir it up
Then add the lemon and stir some more.
Top the salad with the dressing, salt and pepper and toss a bit. Add the beautiful bacon basket to the top.
Separate your egg yolk from your white and flash poach. I’m not completely sure if “Flash Poach” is an actual term, but in Fits Land it means to poach for one minute in rapidly boiling water until the yolk is slightly encapsulated so that it doesn’t break apart upon entering afore mentioned crispy basket.
Add the egg yolk to the basket and stand back and revel in the beauty of a salad that you can’t wait to eat.
Comments
chinmayie@lovefoodeat June 2, 2011 um 9:20 pm
beautiful photos! that looks yummy! i am a vegetarian so just the salad for me 😉
Jaxie June 2, 2011 um 9:34 pm
Haha! It would still be lovely with veg bacon…and you’re just the girl to give it a try!
Tiffany June 3, 2011 um 9:42 am
How fun!
sheryl June 3, 2011 um 10:08 am
Love the bacon basket. Very innovative, and great visual presentation. Bet it tasted good too!
Jorie June 3, 2011 um 2:59 pm
The bacon basket is genius!
gao June 7, 2011 um 2:23 am
yah looks very delicious
Lindsey@Lindselicious June 9, 2011 um 1:35 pm
LOVE THIS! The presentation is so cute too.
Sia June 22, 2011 um 8:28 am
This is amazing 😀
Egg Yolk October 17, 2011 um 2:41 am
This is really amazing! It made me crave for it just by looking. Bacons are my favorite and the way how this food was prepared makes it so appetizing. =)