I’m lucky this week to have an extra taster for my French Friday posting: my mom is visiting from Wisconsin. This week’s recipe took very little adjusting to make it our own. We love the smoky salty flavor of bacon in anything, and including a perfectly hardboiled egg topped with a bit of mayo? Brilliant. Mom and I loved the salad with its peppery arugula, light vinaigrette, tomatoes (both bright fresh grape tomatoes and the deeper flavor of sundried) and of course the bacon. Mom surprised me by eating eggs for both breakfast and lunch: she’s not an egg fan, so that gives you some idea of how good the salad is. D’s only criticism was that the vinaigrette took away from the creaminess of the mayonnaise topped eggs: D is a creamy or mayo based dressing fan. The contrast between the two things, sharp and creamy was an essential part of the dish for me.
My notes:
- I used Trader Joes’ uncured applewood smoked bacon ends and pieces which I chopped first, then cooked until crisp. The ends and pieces are a bit thicker and tend to be meatier, which we love. And let’s just say there may be a bit more bacon on that salad than called for in the recipe.
- There are no croutons in our salad. Great way to use up leftover bread, but since we don’t eat bread we skipped this ingredient.
- We used mostly arugula and a small handful of leftover baby spinach as the salad greens.
The French Friday with Dorie group is not publishing recipes. I’m enjoying my copy of Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan and hope you pick one up and enjoy it too!
Tasty Mayhem 
It looks beautiful, too, doesn’t it? I had to sub the argula as Mark won’t eat that, but it was fine with the sub as well. I made it a couple of weeks ago as I just could not resist the thought of it…we love BLTs around here (since you don’t eat bread you probably don’t, but your salad looks terrific!).
LikeLike
I loved BLTs back when I ate sandwiches. And it looked much more beautiful prepared than I imagined it would. I’m lucky in that way – D will eat any type of greens, just not fruits in savory dishes, and cinnamon.
LikeLike
What a pretty salad! And, the platter looks great as well!
LikeLike
You’re right – it’s the contrast between the different flavours that makes this salad great. Just like the sandwich, I suppose.
LikeLike
I loved the mix of the mayonnaise and the vinaigrette. You’re a strong woman to be able to go with out bread. I have to give it up when I’m pregnant, and it’s probably the worst part of my pregnancies!
LikeLike
This sounds and looks delicious. I think the mayo and vinaigrette combination sounds fantastic!
LikeLike
we put in avocado slices and it made it taste great! But we would rather have a sandwich BLT than a salad. I love your bowl – how neat!
LikeLike
Never apologize for too much bacon. The salad looks just perfet.
Glad you have an extra taster – enjoy your visit.
LikeLike
Personally I wouldn’t want EVERY sandwich I loved turned into a salad…but this one was ok.
LikeLike
Agreed. Reuben salad: perhaps not. But I have made a good Reuben casserole.
LikeLike
There is no such thing as too much bacon! Your salad is beautiful and how fun to have your mom there to taste.
PS – I love your plate, it is beautiful.
LikeLike
Very pretty salad!
LikeLike
Gorgeous salad! Enjoy your visit with your mom.
LikeLike
Lovely salad! I loved the combo of flavors in this salad…delicious! Hope you and your mom enjoy the visit!
LikeLike
Your salad is very pretty! I would have loved to eat it again for breakfast too!
LikeLike
Mmmm, love the sound of smoked bacon in this. Glad your Mom approved too!
LikeLike
Beautifully composed! Glad your mom got to enjoy this, too~
LikeLike
Lovely salad! I love that you used the uncured bacon (and perhaps a bit more than the recipe called for)! I can attest that it tastes good because I did the same thing.
LikeLike
How fun to have your mom for a visit and to enjoy your cooking. You made a lovely salad and I’m sure your mom will have great memories which will bring her back soon.
LikeLike