Salade lyonnaise

Eastside Road, May 19, 2016—

ANOTHER OF THE Hundred Plates, which is to say, indispensable.

A new supermarket opened in our town today, with a very big section of organic produce, and what should I find there but a head of frisée. Naturally one of my favorite salads suggested itself.

I bought some local bacon, and cut a few slices into smallish squares and browned them fairly slowly in a bit of olive oil. With them, an unpeeled but slightly smashed clove of garlic.

That done, I removed the bacon and browned a good handful of cubes of bread in the bacon fat. I made a mustard vinaigrette, using red wine vinegar, adding a finely minced shallot to it, and tossed the frisée in it with the bacon and the croutons.

I poached two eggs to set on the individual plates of salad, and set stalks of steamed asparagus on the side. A very nice hot-day supper!

Carignane, Preston of Dry Creek, 2013: it's hard to find a good wine to go with this salad, let alone with asparagus; this was a perfect companion.

☛RESTAURANTS VISITED, with information and rating:  2016   2015