April 1st

Hello Spring!

With Spring here, it's time to say bye-bye to the soup I usually make each week and hello to salads!  When I eat a salad for dinner I like it to be giant and have lots of yummy ingredients.  Get ready for warm weather and salad days!

Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
recipe from: The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2013

Don't be fooled by this dinner.  You might think it's healthy because it's a salad, but it's not really.  It has A LOT of bacon in it and the dressing is made with bacon fat.  Not so good for you, but at least there's healthy spinach.

Ingredients

	6 oz	baby spinach (about 8 cups)
	3 tbsp	cider vinegar
	½ tsp	sugar
	¼ tsp	ground black pepper
	—	Pinch salt
	10 oz	thick-cut bacon (about 8 slices), cut into ½-inch pieces
	½	medium red onion, chopped medium (about ½ cup)
	1	small clove garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about ½ teaspoon)
	3	hard-boiled eggs (recipe follows), peeled and quartered lengthwise

Method

1. Place the spinach, washed and dried, in a large bowl.

2. Stir the vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves; set aside.

3. Fry the bacon in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes.

4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Pour the bacon fat into a bowl, then return 3 tablespoons bacon fat to the skillet.

5. Add the onion to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the vinegar mixture, then remove the skillet from the heat.

6. Working quickly for the rest of the steps here, scrape the fond from the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits.

7. Pour the hot dressing over the spinach, add the bacon, and toss gently until the spinach is slightly wilted.

Divide the salad among individual plates, arrange the egg quarters over each, and serve immediately. Waiting longer will wilt the salad into breakfast mush. 

Grades:

Megan - B+ (I liked this salad, but my spinach didn't wilt.  I think I should have made the dressing warmer and tossed it to make the spinach wilt.  I also wished I had more dressing and I feel like the dressing could've used a little more flavor.)

Noelle - This goes against everything I ever say, but there won't be any salad grades from Noelle.  I'm not even going to try to serve her salad.  Every time she's had something with lettuce or dressing she's been so grossed out.  So, she gets a pass on salad days.