Recipe: Salad Lyonnaise

Salad Lyonnaise is a wonderful salad said to have originated in Lyon, France. It is a popular bistro menu item worldwide and with good reason… it’s absolutely delicious. The traditional recipe most often uses frisee salad… sometimes variations of other salad greens are used. I have never seen a Salad Lyonnaise use fresh spinach… but I decided the flavors would work really well… and they did!

The basic components of this salad are salad greens, crisply cooked bacon, croutons and a poached egg… and a vinaigrette…. …. I have seen a shallot vinaigrette being used… but I decided to use a Dijon vinaigrette as many others have done. I did like the idea of shallots on the salad and added them as well.

TIPS

Homemade croutons are terrific here… I didn’t have any French bread on hand… but I decided that white sandwich bread would work well since it would be “toast-like” and go well with the poached egg.

The Dijon vinaigrette is very simple… the traditional mixture is 1 part oil, 1 part vinegar and 1 part Dijon mustard. I wrote the recipe for one serving… just multiply by the number of servings you want to get more servings.

I made the bacon in the oven… here is the “how-to post” for Making Baking in an Oven if you need to refer to it.

This salad is truly a delight… and I encourage you to try it if you haven’t had it before.








Recipe: Salad Lyonnaise

All you need:

Fresh spinach leaves
2 slices of bacon, crisply cooked and drained on paper towels
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 slice of bread with the crust removed
About 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 poached egg

For the Dijon Vinaigrette:


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt.
2 turns on the pepper mill



All you need to do:

Cook the bacon and drain on paper towels.



Chop the bacon and shallot. Set aside.





Cut the crust off a slice of white bread.

Generously slather on softened butter or margarine on both sides of the bread.
Heat a small skillet over medium high heat, add the buttered bread.

Brown both sides of the bread, remove from the pan and allow to cool until you can handle it.




Cut the bread into small squares and set aside.








In a small bowl, mix the Dijon Vinaigrette ingredients. Set aside.







Place a helping of fresh spinach on a plate.








Sprinkle with bacon and shallots. Set aside.








Make a poached egg and place it on top of the spinach leaves and bacon.




Drizzle the Dijon vinaigrette over the top.

Sprinkle with croutons.