Spinach and Asparagus Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette and Other Good Stuff
salad that’s great enough to deserve you
thing’s you’ll need: spinach, asparagus, peas, maybe radishes or tomatoes and boiled eggs, red onion (which you can quick pickle with apple cider vinegar, salt, and sugar), bacon and its grease, whole grain mustard, shallot, apple cider vinegar, honey, turmeric, salt, pepper, and whatever makes it your own.
inspired by a salad Bridgette Franz made for Home Ec. class in 1990something that I still think about all the time.
incidentally gluten-free. based on a suggestion from a reader (Thanks, Tessa!), you can sub in the oil of your choice and add some smoked paprika to the dressing to keep it vegetarian but kind of bacony (mind blown) and use whatever bacon substitute you deem worthy. Perhaps Tabitha Brown’s carrot bacon? For full vegan, sub maple syrup for honey and forget the eggs.
Chapter 137
This salad is a little more work than your box of lettuce and chopped whatever veggies, served with various bottles of dressing from the fridge, but it is TOTALLY WORTH IT. Sometimes you are a little extra work and you are totally worth it too.
There isn’t one right way to make something any more than there is one “right” way to be yourself. Whatever “it” may be, you always get it done and do it well, but it’s always your way, however strange that way may seem to other people. Sometimes you are quite strange and it’s great. You are great. This salad is great. You’ve already got a lot in common.
Start by making bacon, however you make bacon. Set the bacon aside and let the bacon grease cool before straining all particulates. You can use a fine-mesh strainer or break out the cheesecloth or even a coffee filter. Do it your way and it’ll be right enough.
(Also, always strain and keep your bacon grease for future things, like cornbread, eggs, or popcorn. You can keep it in an old jam jar in the fridge and it will be good for about a year.)
Now you’ve got bacon and grease. Chop up the bacon as big or small as you want. Make sure to taste test many pieces and eat all bits that don’t look as good as the other bits or perhaps look too good or somehow wandered off the cutting board and into your mouth.
One of the great things about you is the balance of opposites. Like, maybe you are really organized as a human, but can never find your keys or glasses. Or maybe you are really kind and patient, but also swear at the television a lot. You’ve got layers. Some of them are rich and luscious and some of them are sharp and bitey, but that’s part of being great. Because the dressing is rich and fat-based, it needs extra vinegary components to balance all the bacony goodness. It’s the perfect opportunity to pickle something and pickles are also great, like you.
Quick pickle brine: ½ cup of apple cider vinegar (or a mix of white and apple), Tablespoon of sugar (or maple or brown or agave), a hefty teaspoon of salt, and a teaspoon of the extra kick that makes it yours (whatever you tend to put in everything, like cayenne or garlic). Taste, tweak, and whisk until everything is dissolved. Then, add a thinly sliced red onion and let it pickle for at least an hour. Not into onion? Pickle some thin radish slices instead.
Set a few eggs in a pot of cold water. Bring it up to a boil, cover, remove from heat, and set a timer for 7-10 minutes depending on how jammy or firm you like your yolks. Once done, submerge in ice-cold water and peel. (Remember, the older the egg, the better they peel. There’s a trick about adding a little baking soda to the water first, which is probably also great.)
Now for the warm and bacony dressing. Start by heating about 1/3 cup of bacon fat until hot, but not yet smoking. Add a chopped shallot and cook until translucent, then drop the flame to a simmer to cook down (kinda like a confit) until the onions are soft and sweet (like you are. Sometimes).
While still warm, whisk in 2 Tablespoons of whole grain mustard (which is basically pickled mustard seeds that pop, delightfully, between your teeth), ¼ cup of Apple Cider Vinegar, and as much honey (or maple syrup or sugar) as you want until it is sweet enough (1-2 Tablespoons). Toss in ½+ teaspoons of turmeric, because you are learning to love it in most things. Salt and pepper to taste. Adjust as you like. Leave it on a very low simmer (maybe even half on the burner so it doesn’t bubble too much).
Trim and blanch asparagus until bright green and still crunchy, then immediately submerge in an ice bath. Chop them before they cook or after they cool, whatever you want.
Take out some frozen peas and thaw them in warm water.
Chop some baby spinach.
Maybe shave/shred some carrots or green onion. Chop tomatoes or peppers or whatever will make this salad great, AKA yours.
Toss all the veggies with the bacon and the pickled stuff and a couple of pinches of salt. Add the dressing, a few spoonfuls at a time, until everything is well coated, but not swimming. Make sure to keep taste testing until you get the greatest bite. You’ll know when. Top with halved eggs and don’t expect to have any leftovers.
You trust yourself every day, in big and small ways, because you are pretty great. You have to think about balance every day and every day you become a more complex human. Sometimes cooking is just like that, mixing strong things with delicate things, being salty and sweet, throwing in something hot and spicy or sharp and bitey. You’ve been cooking up this amazing person since the day you made your first choice. You’re worth the work and so is the food you use to fuel all that greatness. Every day.
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