Salad With Warm Bacon Dressing and Nuts

Not that fresh greens need elevation, and not that olive oil and lemon juice can’t achieve that too. But salad with warm bacon dressing and nuts has that extra depth of flavour. And the warm dressing elevates the taste of the crispy greens, slightly wilting them, too, for interesting texture.

The bonus is you can switch around the ingredients to whatever you have to hand. And a salad with warm dressing is good to serve in any season!

Plus, it’s a way to use up the last of any French dressing you may have, either home-made or store bought. A word on store-bought French dressing: you’ll want an oil-free, low sugar one. You need that acidic bite, otherwise with the bacon fat, it’ll just be too oily, and not tart enough. Check the ingredients on the bottle, and you should see vinegar or lemon (not oil) listed as one of the top two ingredients.

And if you’re using store-bought French dressing, you might as well use store-bought mayonnaise for this cheats’ potato salad.

“My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then!”

-Cleopatra in “Anthony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare, Act I, scene V (1623)

Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing and Nuts

Zhooshing up the greens.

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Prep Time:5 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Keyword: simple salad

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• Enough for 4 people, crunchy greens and salad staples – either by themselves or a mix – such as cos (romaine) lettuce, endive, arugula/rocket, snow peas, sugar snap peas, celery, shredded brussels sprouts. Soft greens don't work well.
• 4 bacon rashers (depending on where in the world you live this can be middle/shortcut or streaky, so the amount varies. You might have to judge it)
• ½ cup diced nuts and/or seeds. Hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, pepitas, sunflower work well.
• 1½ tsp brown sugar
• ¾ cup no oil French dressing If using store-bought, you should see vinegar or lemon (not oil) listed as one of the top two ingredients.
• any garnish you wish such as chopped herbs, spring onion (green onion/scallion)
• salt, pepper
• lemon juice (option)

Instructions

• In advance, toast the nuts/seeds for approx 3 minutes in a dry frypan/skillet or until lightly browned or you can smell them. Keep them moving to prevent burning.
• Arrange your greens on the serving platter.
• Dice the bacon and fry until crisp. To the bacon, add the sugar and the French dressing and bring to the boil for a minute.
• You can do a little taste taste at this point, making sure to cool the dressing in a spoon and not burn your tongue. If it's not tart enough for you, squeeze in a little lemon juice. Season as desired with salt and pepper.
• Drizzle the hot dressing over your greens. Garnish with the nuts/seeds and, if using, spring onions (green onion/scallion) or herbs.
• Serve while still dressing still warm.