Traditionally, a salade
alsacienne is an endive salad served with a poached egg and a little smoked
bacon on top, and it makes an absolutely delicious starter. This is my version,
with a little bread to make it more robust and suitable for a main course (the
bread also soaks up the dressing and golden velvety egg yolk) and a soft-boiled
instead of a poached egg, which is much less complicated. This is a really
quick dish to knock up, but it’s deliciously rich and comforting, making it
perfect for dinner after a long day at work.
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Ingredients
1 egg
About 100 grams of bacon lardons
Fresh rocket
1 thick doorstep of white or brown bread
1 clove of garlic
White wine vinegar
Salt & black pepper
Sugar
Olive oil
Dijon mustard
Serves 1
Start out by peeling and
finely dicing the garlic, then get it sizzling in a frying pan with a generous
slug of olive oil. Use a pair of scissors to chop the bacon lardons into small
pieces, then add to the pan with the garlic.
While the bacon cooks, boil
the kettle and pour the water into a small saucepan, so that there’ll be enough
to cover the egg. Add a splash of white wine vinegar (this won’t flavour the
egg, but simply makes it much easier to peel afterwards) then pop the egg in
and set a timer for 6 minutes. Fill a cereal bowl with cold water and put to
one side.
Next, make your salad
dressing. Pour a generous splash of olive oil into a bowl or jug and add a dash
of white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar, and a spoonful of
mustard. Mix vigorously with a fork (although don’t worry too much that it doesn’t
combine completely – the oil will refuse to mix properly with the other
ingredients).
When the timer for the egg
goes, scoop it out and place in the bowl of cold water. Now is probably a good
time to put the bread in the toaster. Once the egg is cool enough to handle,
gently tap on your work surface to crack the shell, then carefully peel it off
– the white wine vinegar should make it come off easily, but make sure you
don’t pierce the cooked egg white with any sharp bits. Pop it on the side of a
large plate.
Butter the toast, and then
assemble your salad – toast first, then a double handful of fresh rocket, and
top with the egg. Scatter over the bacon lardons. Finally, pour your salad
dressing into the pan you used to cook the bacon and give it a quick stir, to
pick up the lovely garlicky juices, then drizzle over the top of the salad.
