I love any recipe that starts with a pound of bacon! I also love bacon and eggs with potatoes for breakfast. This recipe combines all that goodness and turns it into a salad for dinner. I don’t eat potatoes since I stay away from the nightshade family so I just substitute white sweet potato for myself. This makes four salads (for children, haha). I must confess that my husband and I split this recipe between the two of us. Shocking! 😉
I buy my bacon from Hanson Family Farms at the Concord Farmers Market. They have no added nitrate and no sugar bacon that can be used for this recipe.
Spinach and Arugula Salad with Bacon and Poached Eggs
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1-pound bacon
- 1 medium shallot, peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup sherry vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Pinch of ground black pepper
- ½ pound baby spinach (or other greens)
- ½ pound baby arugula
- 2 avocados, sliced
- 3 cups potato, cut into small dice (use peeled white sweet potato if avoiding nightshades)
- 4 eggs
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bacon: Place the bacon on a cooling rack set over a rimmed sheet pan. Transfer to the oven and cook the bacon until crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove the cooling rack from the pan and let the bacon cool. Turn up oven heat to 475 degrees. When the bacon is cool enough to touch, cut or crumble it into ½-inch pieces. Set aside 2 tbsp. of the bacon fat for the dressing.
3. Toss the remaining bacon fat (minus the 2 tbsp. for dressing) with the potatoes. Place back in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning occasionally, until the potatoes are golden brown.
4. Dressing: Put the shallot, vinegar, honey, olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper into a blender. Blend for 1 minute.
5. Eggs: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Reduce heat and when the water is just simmering, crack the eggs, one at a time, into a bowl and add to the water (be quick so that all eggs get into the water at roughly the same time). Poach the eggs for 3 minutes, until the eggs are set but the yolk is still runny. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Salad: Toss the salad with half the dressing, or more if desired. Divide greens among four plates. Divide the avocado slices, bacon, and potatoes among the plates. Add one egg to each plate and serve.
