Food Musings

A Winnipeg blog about the joy of preparing food for loved ones and the shared joy that travel & dining brings to life.

Warm Bacon Spinach Salad

February13

I do not believe in completely eliminating a food in one’s diet in order to achieve wellness.  For example our family loves bacon and yet we know that it should be consumed in moderation.  Because the aroma and taste of bacon is synonymous for us with cottage life, we generally only eat it for weekend brunches up at the beach house.  But occasionally in the winter we have it as a “treat” and include it in our evening meal when higher calorie and fat portions are consumed already.  Last night, I wanted a quick dinner before the start of the Jets Game and so  I broiled chicken wings seasoned with “Bone Dust”,  simmered some black rice and the hit of the dinner-an old school warm bacon spinach salad.


Warm Bacon Spinach Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of loosely packed spinach leaves, prepared for safe consumption
  • 2 large eggs, hard boiled and chopped
  • 1 small red onion, sliced
  • ⅓ c dried cranberries
  • 8 strips of bacon, chopped
  • 4 T bacon fat
  • 4 T red wine vinegar
  • 1 T maple syrup
  • 1 T Dijon mustard
Instructions
  1. Prepare and place spinach, eggs, onions and cranberries in salad bowl.
  2. Cook bacon until crispy (fried or baked).
  3. Retain 4 T of bacon drippings as your remove the bacon from the pan.
  4. Blot with paper towel, after a quick spray at the sink with very hot water.
  5. Place bacon in salad bowl.
  6. Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
  7. Adjust with pepper (salt is likely redundant)
  8. Pour over top of salad just before serving.
  9. If time has passed and the dressing starts to solidify, simply place in the mic for a minute.
  10. The hot bacon fat with make the spinach wilt a wee bit-that is what you are going for.

Another trick to reduce fat from a dinner like ours on this evening, is to season the chicken drummettes under the skin and then completely remove the skin before eating.  This way you enjoy all the flavour provided by the skin without consuming the extra fat in the skin.

And if you have not tasted the treat of black rice yet-you must.   The taste is nutty and creamy at the same time and the health benefits will make it a new staple in our house.  Black rice is a soluble fibre that is packed with anti-oxidants, making it a super food on par with blueberries!

Kath’s quote:“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.”-Doug Larson

Love-that is all.

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