Spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette
Hello! It’s been far too long since I last shared a recipe with you. I’ve been sort of preparing for the whirlwind of posts that’s about to begin. (It might not feel like a whirlwind because I’m going to space them out a little, but trust me, you’re gonna want to casually hold on to your hat.)
Let’s ease into this, shall we? With, say, minimal cooking, minimal introduction, and maximum deliciousness? Here’s a recipe for the tastiest spinach salad I know. You make the dressing yourself, but it’s super quick. In fact, the low labor-to-satisfaction ratio on this recipe is a little bit out of control. If you made this and, like, one of those recipes where you have to knead dough and then hide it for an hour and then come back and punch it and hide it again and it takes you all day and at the end of the day all you have is a loaf of bread, then you’d have probably broken even for the day on labor vs. satisfaction, because the easiness of this salad could totally make up for it.
Warm bacon vinaigrette usually has brown sugar in it, but I’ve omitted that and produced a dressing with more bite to counteract the sweetness of the goat cheese. Adjust the ratios however you like — and go ahead and eyeball it, because measuring spoons have no place in salad dressing.
Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
- 8 slices of bacon
- 5 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp coarse mustard
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup shelled walnuts
- 1 cup roasted red peppers, sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced very thin
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
- About 12oz washed spinach leaves
- Fry the bacon in a pan over medium-high heat until it’s very crispy. Remove it to a paper towel to drain. Reserve about 5 tbsp hot bacon grease and discard the rest. After the bacon dries, crumble it.
- Add vinegar, mustard, and olive oil to the reserved bacon grease in the pan and stir.
- Add the onions and saute them for a minute or two, then add the walnuts and toss to coat.
- In a large salad bowl, pour warm dressing/walnut/onion mixture over the spinach and toss gently.
- Serve dressed spinach/nuts with peppers, bacon and goat cheese to taste.
