Spinach, Bacon, and Mushroom Salad

As I mentioned yesterday, we were super-excited to find our winter salad greens alive and well in the cold frames this past weekend. In addition to enjoying them on burgers and sandwiches, we also had a much-awaited fresh salad with Sunday dinner:


So much green on this plate! We had sautƩed chicken, steamed (formerly frozen) green beans with toasted pecans, and our spinach salad.

Since it's been such a long, salad-free winter for us, the spinach would have been delicious to us if we had just eaten it raw and plain, but Kirk dressed it up to be extra-delectable with bacon and mushrooms. The salad was mostly spinach, but also had some mache and kale thrown in for good measure. The greens are topped with sliced, sautĆ©ed mushrooms, big bits of bacon, and toasted pecans. The dressing was a vinaigrette made with bacon fat leftover from frying the bacon, plus vinegar and a bit of dijon mustard. 

Very rich with all that bacony goodness, and even better with the additional savory mushroom and nutty pecans. I'm hoping I can cull some more salad greens from the cold frames for a repeat of this side dish ASAP!

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