Who says salad has to taste like bland leaves and twigs, or even be low-calorie for that matter? Each serving of this recipe has all the bacon and eggs of a country breakfast, and the dressing is sweet and sassy. Bonus: You can brag to your weight-loss-enthusiast friends you just had a salad for dinner!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Fresh Spinach
- 8 Large Eggs
- 8 Pieces of Thick-Sliced Bacon
- 4 tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
- 1-1/2 to 2 tsp. White Sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
- 4 Thin Slices of Onion (about 1/8-inch thick)
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
Directions
- In a large pot, hard-boil eggs for about 10 minutes.
- Place cooked eggs in a bath of cold water with ice cubes, and set aside.
- Wash, dry, and remove stems from spinach, and place in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cut onion slices into quarters, and separate into individual pieces.
- Using sharp, washable kitchen shears, snip bacon into small pieces.
- Cook bacon in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat until well-browned and crispy.
- Remove bacon pieces from skillet, and reserve about 4 tbsp. of bacon grease in the pan.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add vinegar, 1-1/2 tsp. sugar, and mustard to the bacon grease.
- Whisk until well combined and hot.
- Taste, and add up to another 1/2 tsp. of sugar if dressing is too acidic.
- Add bacon pieces and onion to spinach, and toss to combine.
- Pour dressing over spinach mixture and toss until all spinach is well coated.
- Remove eggs from cold water bath, peel, and slice.
- Serve spinach mixture on salad plates, and place slices of hard-boiled egg on top of each serving.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Addendum: Spinach Salad traditionally has sliced, raw mushrooms as well. Feel free to add them if you’re into that sort of thing, but I only like mushrooms when they’re sauteed in butter and garlic, or swimming in red wine sauce.
