Sometimes

Posted: February 15, 2010 | Author: Johanna | Filed under: Johanna | 6 Comments »

Sometimes, you do something a little special for your sweetie. And it doesn’t matter if it’s because it’s Valentine’s day weekend, or because you suspect he’s been spending hours slaving away over something for you that you can’t have until it’s perfect, or because he writes you tiny love letters or just because he’s got a dimple that makes you smush in a certain way. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you get a little fancy.

So I did some thinking, and I made some plans, and in the end, we had a bit of a fancy frenchie picnic on Friday night, to kick off Valentine’s weekend. I made some tapenade, and we had some french bread, and a beautiful smushy soft wedge of  Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert from the Old Chatham Shepherds. And the piece around which all these items were centered was the salad you see above. A salad that looks pretty simple, and tastes pretty fantastic, and takes just enough effort that your sweetie, or your self, will feel special, loved, and very very happy.

Frisee Salad in the Frenchy Fashion
1 head Frisee lettuce
1 jumbo egg for each portion
1-2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into about 1/4 inch strips
juice of 1 lemon
1 glob of mustard
Olive oil, salt, pepper, white vinegar

1. To make this salad, the first thing you do is cook some bacon. This can be turkey bacon, if that’s how you roll. We used Black Forest Bacon. Lay the strips of bacon out the long way on your cutting board, and cut 1/4″-1/2″ thick slices perpendicular to the direction the bacon is currently lying, so that you have several little crosswise cuts of bacon. Put them in a pan, over low heat, and cook slowly, rendering the fat but NOT crisping too much. You want the bacon to still have a little chew to it, as opposed to being crispy or “well done”.  Drain the bacon pieces and reserve.
2. You also have to poach an egg. You could totally fry an egg in olive oil and have it be ok, and if you’re not up to poaching eggs, I will not fault you. BUT, if you’d like to poach an egg, here’s the deal. Bring a skillet of water to JUST before the boil, and add 2-3 tablespoons of white vinegar. You won’t taste the vinegar on the egg, it’s just going to make your egg not spread out as much. So, add the vinegar, and crack your egg into a little cup or container. I used a little flexible silicon prep bowl. Get the container as close to the surface of the pan as possible, and slip the egg into the water. Immediately begin swirling the whites around the egg, so that they kind of wrap the yolk up in all their wonderfulness. Repeat with any additional eggs. Poach for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. You want the yolk really really runny so that it combines with the vinaigrette on the salad and coats everything in its unctuous deliciousness.  When the eggs are done, remove them, and pat them dry with a paper towel.
3. You have to make a vinaigrette. This is the easiest bit. First, taste a bit of your frisee to see if it’s at all bitter. If not, go ahead and squeeze 1 whole lemon into your salad bowl. Fish out the seeds. Then, squirt a small blob of dijon mustard in, and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk all that together, then stream in some olive oil while whisking until it resembles one cohesive dressing, instead of lemon-mustard stuff with olive oil floating around in it. Once it has emulsified, taste it, and if it tastes good to you, add your cut up frisee. Do this while the eggs are poaching, because it should only take you about 60 seconds total.
4. You now can assemble. Put your frisee lettuce on a plate, along with some of your lardons (bacon pieces) and toss. Then, top with your egg, either poached or fried. Break the yolk, and you will have a wondrous moment of beauty.

It’s not super fancy, but it takes an effort, and sometimes that’s all that matters to your sweetie. Or yourself. Or y’know…. at all.