Salade Lyonnaise with Warm Bacon-Dijon Vinaigrette

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The bistro classic done in one skillet: thick-cut bacon lardons rendered until crisp, then the same pan deglazed with red wine vinegar and whisked with Dijon into a warm dressing that wilts frisée just enough. Crowned with a soft poached egg (or a jammy 6½-minute egg if poaching makes you nervous) so the yolk runs down and becomes part of the sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 heads frisée (curly endive), pale inner leaves only
• 2 cups escarole or baby spinach leaves, torn (optional, to stretch the frisée)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 3 cups day-old country bread, torn into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• kosher salt

• 8 ounces slab bacon or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4 x 1-inch lardons
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 4 large eggs, as fresh as possible
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar (for poaching)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (for poaching water)

Instructions

1. Trim the frisée: cut out the dark green outer leaves and the tough core, keeping the pale yellow-green inner leaves. Tear into bite-size tufts, wash in cold water, and spin very dry in a salad spinner or roll in a towel — wet greens will refuse to hold the warm dressing. Combine with the escarole or spinach in a wide, heatproof bowl and refrigerate.
2. Heat the oven to 375°F. Toss the torn bread with 2 tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of salt, spread on a sheet pan, and bake 10 to 12 minutes, tossing once, until crisp and golden at the edges but still slightly chewy inside. While hot, rub the pan-side of a few croutons with the cut garlic clove, then toss everything together. Set aside.
3. Put the lardons in a cold 10- or 12-inch skillet with 2 tablespoons water and set over medium heat. Cook 10 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water has cooked off and the bacon is deeply browned and crisp at the edges but still tender in the center. Lift the lardons to a paper-towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind.
4. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat (save the rest for eggs or potatoes). Return the skillet to low heat, add the shallot, and cook 45 seconds until softened and fragrant — do not let it brown.
5. Off the heat, pour in the red wine vinegar and scrape the pan to lift every browned bit. Whisk in the Dijon and honey, then stream in the 3 tablespoons olive oil, whisking, until the dressing looks glossy and slightly thickened. Taste: it should be sharp enough to make you blink. Season with a few grinds of pepper and salt only if needed (the bacon fat carries salt). Keep the pan warm over the lowest heat.
6. For poached eggs: bring 3 inches of water to a bare simmer in a saucepan — 180 to 190°F, with small bubbles rising but no rolling boil. Add the white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. Crack each egg into a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and let the loose, watery white drain away for 10 seconds; this is the single biggest trick to neat poached eggs. Slide each egg into a small cup.
7. Stir the water into a gentle swirl, lower in one egg at a time close to the surface, and poach 3 minutes for a fully runny yolk and set white. Lift out with a slotted spoon, blot on a towel, and season with salt and pepper. Work in two batches of two so the eggs don't collide.
8. Jammy-egg alternative: lower whole eggs straight from the fridge into boiling water, boil exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds, then transfer to ice water for 2 minutes. Peel under a thin stream of cold water and halve just before serving.
9. Pour the warm vinaigrette over the chilled greens, add the croutons, most of the lardons, the chives, and the parsley, and toss for 15 to 20 seconds — the frisée should slump slightly and glisten but stay springy. Taste and adjust with a splash more vinegar or a pinch of salt.
10. Divide among four plates, mounding the salad high. Set an egg on each, scatter the remaining lardons over the top, and finish with cracked black pepper. Serve immediately, and tell everyone to break the yolk into the greens first thing.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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