Cooking is one of my favorite stress relieving, want to impress someone and “I want to feel productive” activities. Sadly, there has been very little evidence of this here. I blame it on my failed attempt at food photography. I admire so many other blogs that capture the food and process so well (Smitten Kitchen and Honey & Jam). I’m going to blame it on my ugly kitchen counters and propensity to cook late at night when all I want to do is eat… I guess it is time to build a mini studio to photograph food? Next weekend.
For now I’ll share one of my favorite meals: Salade Lyonnaise. The first time I ever tasted this beautiful creation was in fact in Lyon, France visiting my good friend Kim (of Kim Says, Jack Says fame). The salad was my first course in one of the best meals of my life. Yes, this was just the first course. Second was quenelles and desert was an apple tart. Needless to say I really could have died happy after that meal (and if I weren’t normally a healthy person and distance runner, the fat content probably would have killed me).
The Minimalist, Mark Bittman, has a wonderful article about the salad here.
Recipe
adapted from NYT4 cups frisée (I used maché in the photo above/ frisée is better!), washed and dried
1/2 pound pancetta or slab bacon, cut into small cubes
4 eggs
Salt
Black pepper.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped, or 1 tablespoon chopped red onion
2 to 4 tablespoons top-quality sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1. Place frisée in a bowl.
2. Heat Olive oil in skillet, add bacon until crisp ~ 10 mins. Then add shallot until soft. Mix in vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring to a boil. Turn off heat.
3. Poach the eggs! This is not as bad as it seems. Bittman’s article does give some great tips for beginners. I honestly hated the scene in Julie & Julia where the inept Julie had such a hard time with it. That movie would have been much better without the Julie scenes.
I digress…
4. Pour dressing over greens. Add salt and pepper. Top with one egg per serving. (sometimes I add croutons if I have some around)
5. Break your egg. Mix and enjoy!
Yield: 4 servings.
The result is crisp bitter greens covered in salty, smokey, yokey goodness. Bon appetite!
amandajoycesmith.com 
YAY! It’s my favorite salad TOO! Bacon makes everything better.
this sounds so good i will try it even though runny yokes are creepy to me!