Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

from the Smitten Kitchen

Adapted from several places, but my favorite version is Alton Brown’s

To hard-boil eggs, well, there are a million approaches out there (see this comment section if you don’t believe me). Mine is to cover a large egg with cold water and put it on the stove and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, set a timer to exactly 9 or 10 minutes, and reduce the heat to medium. Once it’s done, I often plunge it in icy water so that it will stop cooking immediately and also chill quickly. At 9 minutes, large eggs will be a little tender in the center, as you can see in the top photo. At 10, it will be a fully-cooked (but not overcooked) egg.

If you’re freaked out by raw red onion, you can actually add it to the dressing in the skillet for the last 10 seconds to soften it and remove more of the bite, and pour the onions and dressing over the salad together.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces baby spinach
• 2 large white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/4 small or medium red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 large egg, hard-boiled (see above), chilled, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 pieces thick-sliced bacon (about 4 ounces), finely diced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey or sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon smooth Dijon mustard
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Place spinach in a large, wide salad serving bowl. Scatter with mushrooms, red onion (see above for a different, mellower way to add the onions) and coins of hard-boiled egg. In a large skillet, fry bacon bits over medium-high heat until they’re brown and crisp and have rendered their fat. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the skillet and spread them on a piece of paper towel briefly before sprinkling them over the salad. Pour out all but two tablespoons of hot bacon fat from the skillet. Reheat over medium and quickly whisk in the red wine vinegar, honey and Dijon. Pour over entire salad and season salt and pepper. Toss gently and serve hot. Repeat tomorrow night. Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 spinach salad enthusiasts.