I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'd rather not eat salad, and vegetables are better cooked than raw. Eating lettuce wastes valuable stomach-space that would be better filled with something delicious. However, this week's French Fridays With Dorie selection--Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad (pg 130)--is forcing me to eat lettuce. If I must, I guess coating it in bacon and eggs is a good way to go, though it seems to eliminate any health benefit to be gained from eating the dreaded leaves in the first place. Might as well just eat bacon and eggs, sans lettuce.
Not only is the salad topped with bacon and eggs, but the eggs themselves are rolled around in the hot bacon fat. Sounds good, but if I die of a heart attack one of these days, you can trace its roots back to this salad.
The recipe calls for a soft boiled egg. I like hard boiled eggs and I like runny over easy or poached eggs, but if my boiled egg is at all runny, or my runny eggs are at all hard, I get grossed out and can't eat it. I don't know why. I'm aware that it doesn't make sense. Dorie provides alternate instructions for poaching the egg instead of soft-boiling it, but because I'm 100% sure that I'd bust a poached egg rolling it around in bacon grease, I decided to just fry up an over easy egg using the grease. I wish I had a picture of the egg when I dropped it in the pan--all of the white bubbled up and cooked in that shape. It looked like a bubble bath. WEIRD. Sadly, the effect was lost when I flipped the egg.
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| I need to put a cardiologist on speed-dial. |
I never thought I'd say this, but the lettuce does actually contribute to this salad as a means by which to get the vinaigrette to your mouth. The best mouthfuls were the ones that included everything--lettuce, asparagus, egg, yolk, bacon. The dressing is light on the vinegar and mustard, which makes it a nice background flavor. I'm kind of annoyed that I went out and bought a whole bottle of walnut oil just for the 1 TB required here. I tasted it on its own and as a dressing component, and it doesn't have a distinct or unique flavor that made it worth the eight bucks to me. Anyone have any fantastic ideas for how to use up a bottle of walnut oil? I know I can saute with it, etc, but it would be nice to use it with purpose, as opposed to using it just because it's in the pantry.
It takes a lot for a salad to win me over, and this one was good. Now I need a nap. The fact that I plan to cook Creamy, Cheesy, Garlicky Rice With Spinach as a dinner component is not going to help matters. I definitely need to find healthy recipes for the rest of the week.
Conclusion: Liked it, but won't make it often.
Even after reading through the recipe twice, I'm still hesitent about making this salad. Mainly because I'm not a fan of partially cooked foods. Kudos for your attempt!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how I feel about this next recipe and after reading your post (and enjoying a chuckle or two) I'm even more at odds with it. However, I Iove asparagus and my husband loves bacon so if nothing else, at least there's that. Your post was fun and entertaining to read. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt was tasty, but sometimes I have a hard time looking beyond the mammoth calorie count. Especially when the meal in question is A SALAD. lol
ReplyDeleteI agree - the best was when you got a taste of everything in one bite. I think the extra fat of the bacon grease was one of the reason's I really liked this salad. :) Enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree...this was a meal filled with contradictions! Healthy but decadent at the same time. It's good that you did your egg over easy, I wasn't a big fan of the runny egg yolk thing either.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when you mentioned "grease-bath". There are indeed lots of fatty components to this salad if we follow the recipe as written. Glad you gave it chance though.
ReplyDeletewalnut oil is a great addition to pesto, esp. a lighter pesto that is made with parsley and walnuts garlic and bread crumbs and cheese instead of basil. Also it is great on roasted root vegs- beets,butternut squash, carrots, good on spinach salad ( mixed with maple syrup and balsamic vinegar) and diced apples and/or figs. Good on steamed green beans, sauteed shredded brussel sprouts. Saute bread crumbs/croutons and garlic and parsley in it and use it to toss with pasta.just be sure to refrigerate or it will go rancid fast.
ReplyDeleteI did love this salad. I always have walnut oil around. The main thing I use it for is in the dressing for roasted beet and walnut salad. It makes the salad that much more nutty. Recipe on my blog if your interested. http://aplatefulofhappiness.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/do-you-love-%e2%80%98em-or-hate-%e2%80%98em/
ReplyDeleteThe egg thing was a little unique for me...
ReplyDeleteWalnut oil does add a nice component to a lot of dressings, etc. - although it sounds like the ladies above noted some great thoughts on how to use it.
Thanks for the ideas for walnut oil! And also for letting me know to refrigerate it, Stacy. I did not know that. You'd think it would say so on the bottle.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you did a call out for walnut oil ideas - I use it for dressings, mostly, but the ideas above are awesome.
ReplyDeleteI love the title of your post and the whole thing was very funny.
I liked the vinegarette and used my 'extra special' olive oil. I couldn't justify the cost of walnut oil for this recipe. Your salad looks good and I agree with your final assessment.
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