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 sautéed 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, sautéed 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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