- Prep time
- 45 minutes PT45M
- Cook time
- 30 minutes PT30M
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
This delicious B.L.T.Salad is the salad that answers all breakfast and lunch questions!Its simplicity appeals to just about anyone who appreciates bacon and eggs—even the little ones!
Ingredients
- 2 heads butter leaf (Bibb) lettuce
- 2 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced
- 8 slices thick smoked bacon
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups water
- 1¼ cups sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon sage
- ¾ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 fresh sourdough baguette
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 large garlic clove, cut in half
- Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Sliceeight ¼-inch slices on the bias from the baguette. Spread butter on both sides of the sliced bread and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in oven.
Put bacon slices on a separate sheet pan and place on the top rack of the oven.
Bake toasts for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and carefully rub both sides with the garlic clove halves while still hot.
Cook bacon for an additional 5-10 minutes or until mostly crisp. Remove from ovenandtransfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
While toasts and bacon are cooking, combine water and 1 cup sherry vinegar in a 1-quart pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and begin making your dressing.
Place mustard, ¼ cup sherry vinegar and herbs in a blender. With the blender on the lowest setting, drizzle the canola oil in slowly and then add the olive oil until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange your salads on individual plates, layering the lettuce and tomato slices. Set the plates in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the meal.Just prior to serving, remove salads from refrigerator; arrange two toasts and two bacon slices slightly askew atop lettuce beds. The surface should be somewhat flat in order to cradle the poached eggs.
Raise the heat under the water/vinegar mixture to medium. Crack eggs one at a time into a bowl. Use a large spoon and "swirl" water in a clockwise motion; pour in eggs. Poach eggs for 3-4 minutes.
When eggs are ready, remove from water with a slotted spoon and place one on top of each toastandbacon arrangement. Dress salad with mustard vinaigrette and serve promptly.
When serving as a luncheon entrée, pair this salad with a White Burgundy or a medium- to heavy-bodied California Chardonnay. If you choose to serve the B.L.T. Salad for breakfast or brunch, we recommend pairing it with a Brut Champagne or Brut sparkling wine or with Mimosas.
Techniques used in this recipe:
- poaching
- Gentle simmering in liquid.
- dressed (II)
- dressed (II): coated with dressing, as in a salad.
- poach
- poach: a method in which items are cooked gently in simmering liquid.
Glossary:
- parsley
A low-growing biennial belonging to the celery family. The nativity of this popular herb is rather obscure, but it was definitely known as early as the the third century B.C. Two variteties dominate the culinary world - Italian, also known as flat-leaf and curly.
Parsley is used to season fresh sauces as well as cooked foods. Chimichurri, a popular South American condiment, is made of minced fresh parsley, garlic and olive oil. Use in basting and barbecue sauces for broiled or grilled fishes, roast poultry, pork, steaks, sausages, and chops. Add to tossed greens for salads, to vegetables, potatoesand a variety of dressings. It is also added to butter to make compound butters, tomato sauces, tartar sauce and green sauces.
- sage
Likely the most commonly known herb, it is native to south-central Europe. There are 400 varieties of sage but only one, Salvia officinalis, is truly recognized as being the best quality for use as a food adjunct.
The uses of sage are so many, varied, and traditional as to make a selection of specific foods extremely difficult. Sage combined with poultry is quite possibly the most popular use but it is also a delicious addition to pan-roasted vegetables, potatoes, pork, breads, and dumplings.
Pair with
Chardonnay
A classic white wine made famous in Burgundy, France, it's now grown all over the world. It takes oak well and is often fermented and aged in oak barrels. Full bodied, with rich flavors of vanilla, butter, green apple and tropical fruit (banana, pineapple).
Champagne
Taste the stars! True Champagnes come from only one region, also called Champagne, about 90 miles northeast of Paris. Making Champagnes involves a secondary fermentation that occurs in the bottle, lending the wine its effervescence.
