Spring Salad

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

This beauty has got to be one of my favorite spring meals which, like a tomato salad with basil in August, is a natural fit to spring produce in the Delaware Valley. It has become something of a weekly ritual for Lindsey and I to pick up produce at the Saturday Clark Park Market, followed by a lunch salad paying homage to whatever season we’re in. This one, while firmly rooted in the optimistic green of Spring, keeps the not-so-distant winter in sight with the rich underpinnings of smoky bacon and tangy shallot.

Spring Salad with Asparagus, Bacon and Hard-Cooked Egg
-serves two as a meal, four as an accompaniment

two good handfuls of lettuce mix, mesclun, or young spinach
one shallot, thinly sliced
one pound asparagus, tough ends snapped off
1/2 pound smoked bacon, sliced
4 eggs
salad dressing- spicy, mustardy vinaigrette is great with this rich salad

1. Begin by laying strips of bacon on a rimmed baking sheet. Place bacon in a cold oven and turn on to 350ºF*. Check on your bacon periodically as you prepare your eggs and wash your greens. It is ready to come out when it has little white bubbles on top. Drain bacon slices on paper towels or torn up paper bags.
2. Submerge eggs in water in a small saucepan. Place pan over high heat. Just as water begins to boil, turn off heat and cover pan. Time ten minutes and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.
3. While you wait for your eggs and bacon to cook, wash your salad greens. Fill your salad spinner or a large bowl with cool water and swish the greens around gently to allow any grit to settle to the bottom of the bowl. Drain by pulling handfuls of greens into the basket of your spinner (or into a clean pillowcase). Dump out water (look at all that grit!) and either spin dry, or take your pillowcase outside and swing gently overhead to fling water from the greens. Set aside however many greens your would like for this salad and store the rest in an airtight container in the fridge.
4. Rinse your asparagus and snap off tough stem ends that have a purple or white appearance.
5. Once your bacon is cooked and happily draining away, pour off your expertly rendered bacon fat into a jar for later use. Spread asparagus on the same baking sheet and give it a shake to distribute the residual bacon grease. Pop them back into the oven to roast for 8-10 minutes.
6. Peel and thinly slice your shallot and peel your now-cooled hard-cooked eggs.
7. Remove asparagus from oven and allow to cool slightly on the pan as you finish readying your ingredients.
8. Customize each bowl of greens with a sprinkle of shallot, several stalks of asparagus, crumbled bacon and egg.
*Starting the bacon in a cold oven allows the bacon fat to render instead of sear and you’ll be able to use it as a nice [local] cooking fat later.