Cool, crisp salad topped with a warm poached or over-easy egg. Prrr... If you haven't converted, you MUST, it is truly one of the best dishes on the planet. The greens tossed with a tart vinaigrette cut the richness of the yolk, a bit of minced basil adds a hint of sweetness, crumbled bacon and sauteed croutons add salt and chewiness, minced scallion and a grind of black pepper bring it all home. I've talked about it several times already, I know, in several variations (topping toast with an over-easy egg and chopped arugula, for instance, which Donna kindly acknowledged was pretty darn tasty; or the recent frisee, poached egg, lardons salad that I enjoyed at Cafe Lurcat), but I think I haven't posted an actual recipe, so I will today. For the exact salad I just made and savored for lunch, it was sublime. I took advantage of a stale baguette to make killer croutons, but you could certainly start with fresh bread. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)
I'm fully recovered today. I was toast yesterday, a lazy combination of hungover-exhausted-content. Had a great day of doing almost truly, absolutely nothing. Saw United 93, on my dad and Susanna's recommendation, and it was riveting and incredibly sad. Not just worth seeing, but in fact, important to see, that's how I felt afterward. Very well done, neither frivolous nor abusively melodramatic with the raw and powerful truth of the story. I admit, I've sort of tucked 9/11 away, in my disgust with how it has been, in my opinion, tragically and mistakenly translated into a war in Iraq. But this film brought the event back to where it belongs, worthy of conscious consideration on an on-going basis, even if one doesn't agree with the decisons that have been made in its wake.And then. We were home, back to the mundane pleasures of the daily grind. Darling John washed all the glassware from Friday night's winefest. And he took Nathan for a game of
frisbee golf, and out running errands, and I did very productive things like watch Sex and the City on HBO on Demand. I was in a New York state of mind, I guess. The shots of the Twin Towers in older episodes are so lovely and sad. The shots of Carrie and the girls in their fabulous clothes are so happy and decadent. The shot of me lazing in my bed watching TV is relatively pathetic, ha. But ohhhhhh, it felt goooood.Have a nice Sunday. NICE!
posted by Stephanie @ 12:52 PM
4 Comments:
Salad with an Over-Easy Egg, Bacon, and Croutons
Stephanie Levy
Serves 2
This looks like several steps but is quite quick and easy. Be sure to follow the recipe in order so that the salad, croutons, and bacon are ready to go before you sauté the eggs.
3 c. chopped romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil
2 Tbsp. minced scallion (about one large, or two small)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt
few grinds of black pepper
2 c. of diced, crusty bread (stale baguette works, nicely, but fresh is fine too), 1-inch dice
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, smashed
salt or Greek seasoning
3 slices bacon, cut into ½-inch slices
2 eggs, cracked whole into a small bowl
Toss lettuce, basil, and scallion in a medium bowl. Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper and pour over lettuce mixture. Toss, divide onto two plates, and set plates aside.
In the same medium bowl, toss diced bread with 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat and sauté garlic clove for a few minutes. Discard the clove, turn heat to medium, and add bread cubes. Toast/sauté until lightly browned on a few sides. Sprinkle with salt or Greek seasoning to taste. Divide warm croutons atop the two plates of lettuce.
Add the sliced bacon to the same medium skillet and return it to medium heat. Saute the bacon until browned and crispy, about 7 minutes. Reserving the bacon drippings in the pan, remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside. Return pan and drippings to the heat and slip the eggs into the pan. Saute until the whites are set but yolks are not, a couple of minutes, then cut down the middle of the whites with the spatula (so that you have two separate eggs) and gently flip each over without breaking the yolks. Immediately remove from heat, let sizzle for 1 minute, then remove each egg from the pan and place atop the lettuce and croutons on the plates. Top with crispy bacon, a sprinkle of salt, and a grind of pepper. Serve immediately.
Hi Stephnie,
I loved seeing my name mentioned in your blog. I thought I would share one of my favorite spring dishes with you. I don't have a recipe because we cook by sight mostly but you are the culinary queen so you'll get the idea.
We love Morel Mushrooms and we usually buy them once every spring. At $36.00 a lb we like to treat them right. So we made a little savory french toast this morning. Cooked crisp bacon. Then took the morel mushrooms and sauteed them with shallots and garlic in butter added cream to achieve a creamy brown mushroom sauce.
We served it like this. French toast on the plate. Mushroom sauce over the french toast. Bacon on the side and then a sprinking of argula. It was amazing.
Creamy, crunchy, crisp green, salty. It was wonderful.
I you like mushroom you'll love this dish!!! Have a good week! Donna
Oh, Donna, that sounds unbelievable! I LOVE morels, in cream, although I haven't done them on a savory French toast but I most certainly will try it. Where did you buy the morels? Thank you for sharing the meal and prep. I would have loved a glass of champagne with that! You have a good week too, Stephanie
Champagne!!! Yes! I will store THAT idea in my brain for next year. That would be amazing. We purchase the Morels at The Wedge. They have them every year the middle of May. They are consistently wonderful!!
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