Monday, July 09, 2007

del.icio.us recipe of the week - blt salad

A few years back I did accounting work for a restaurant downtown. It was pretty fancy; fancier a place than Scott and I would ever go to. One perk (well, the only perk) was the cooks would make me lunch every day, whatever I wanted off the menu. I ate some pretty great meals, but my favorite was always the BLT Salad.

I'd never even heard of such a salad before I started working there. Lola Rossa lettuce (also new to me), thickly cut fried bacon, heirloom tomatos, cheesy garlicky croutons, and an amazing herby dressing. It was to die for.

Sadly the restaurant was abruptly closed and I never had a chance to ask the cooks if they would share the recipe with me. I also missed out on the free dinner for Scott and I that the Chef promised me before she was fired, but that's another story.

I had totally forgotten about this salad until I saw a version at Sweetnicks. Not the same, but hey, it's still a BLT!

This is a great salad and we'll be having this lots over the summer, I think. I bought a package of that pre-cooked bacon (gasp!) and that worked beautifully - a few seconds in the microwave and they were done. No greasy bacon smell in the house, and since I didn't need any bacon fat for the dressing, nothing to clean up but one plate!

I substituted spinach for the lettuce when I made this because I had bought some beautiful stuff at the farmers market that week. I am thinking that because spinach is so good for you - lots of Iron, Calcium, Vitamins A and C - that that might negate some of the calories and fat from the bacon and mayo. That'd work, right?



Recipe: Chopped Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Salad

9 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Spinach always works for me! Great idea. Neat stories too. A shame about the dinner.

Sabrina2u said...

Another great hint would be to use "Turkey Bacon". My family loves it and Costco carries it. It cooks in the microwave in 2 min. It is really good tasting and so easy.
I can't wait to try this recipe.

Peter M said...

What's not to like...bacon....Ummmmm!

Judy said...

That sounds like a delicious salad.

Cate said...

Mmmm, one of my favorite salads... glad you liked it!

Sara said...

Tanna - I should have moved faster on that dinner. It would have been divine.

Sabrina - I've been meaning to try Turkey bacon for a while. Thanks for the reminder.

Peter - I know!

Judy - it was, and this is the perfect time of year, with all the good tomaters out there.

Cate - thank you for a great recipe!

Cheryl said...

I have been eating alot of salad this week due to the weather and the fact that I put a few pounds back on. So now you are really speaking my language.

Sara said...

cheryl - girl, you are preaching to the choir.

Lis said...

Absolutely - that spinach cancelled out both the bacon AND the mayo as it has so many vitamins in it. :D

Looks lovely - will try this salad for dinner one night! Hubbs will be in 7th heaven. :D

xoxo