Green Salad with Poached Egg, Bacon and Champagne Vinegar and Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

The idea of the French bistro is the epitome of delicious French food.  Most people don't realize that bistro food is delicious because of its simplicity.  Take beef bourgignon: basically a beef stew cooked in red wine.  Or steak au poivre: just a good steak covered in peppercorns and grilled with some french fries.  One of my favorites, though, is the salade Lyonnaise: frisée or other salad greens with bacon and a poached egg.  It's taken me years to realize that bistro food can easily be made at home.  

And last night I finally jumped the hurdle that was stopping me from making this particular dish--the dreaded poached egg.  And you know what?  It was really quite simple!  I promise that I'll share my technique with you as soon as I can, but today I'm going to share the salad recipe with you, which is also really quite simple.  It takes only about 15 minutes to assemble, and you'll be rewarded with the crisp freshness of a salad with a tart and nutty vinaigrette, salty bacon and the rich gooeyness of a perfectly poached egg.

Paired with some crusty French bread and a glass of dry French rosé, and you'll have a French bistro meal on your table in no time!

Green Salad with Poached Egg, Bacon and Champagne Vinegar and Walnut Oil Vinaigrette
Serves 1
Cook's Notes: You'll have plenty of vinaigrette left to dress your salads for the rest of the week.  Feel free to scale down the recipe if you don't want leftovers.

For the salad:
1-2 cups fresh salad greens
2 strips bacon, cut into 1/2" strips and cooked until crispy
1 egg, poached
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Vinaigrette:
1 ounce (about 1/8 cup) champagne vinegar (or a little more if you like your vinaigrettes a little more acidic, like I do)
1 ounce (about 1/8 cup) fresh lemon juice (about the juice of one lemon)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
10 grinds of black pepper
1 clove of garlic, pressed or finely minced
1 tsp fresh dill, finely chopped
3 ounces (about 1/4 + 1/8 cup) walnut oil
3 ounces (about 1/4 + 1/8 cup) mildly flavored extra virgin olive oil (Don't use your best olive oil here...you want the walnut oil to shine in this vinaigrette.)

To make the vinaigrette:
Combine all of the ingredients in your salad dressing shaker and shake until combined.  (Alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients in a small bowl.)  Taste and add more salt, vinegar or oil until it reaches your desired taste.  Let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes (which should be about the time it takes to crisp your bacon and poach your egg).

To assemble the salad:
Place the greens in a wide-mouthed bowl.  Toss with enough dressing to coat.  Sprinkle with the bacon bits.  Add the poached egg and sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper.  Eat immediately.

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Spanish Rice and Eggs with Tomate Frito

"Yuck."  Or at least that's what my husband says every time I say I'm going to make this dish.  But hold your horses...Spanish Rice and Eggs is a little out of the ordinary, but it's delicious, warming and filling!  It takes all of about 20-30 minutes to make, and you probably have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now.  How can you beat that?!

I learned how to make this dish when I lived in Spain.  The grandmother of the family I lived with would make this about once a week for our lunch, and I totally looked forward to that day each week like a kid looks forward to dessert.  That's how much I love this!  And to tip the scales, my daughter loves it as well.  So we have a 2 to 1 vote in our household, and I'm not inclined to count my husband's since he hasn't even tried it.  His loss. ;-)

So really, this is just rice layered with what the Spanish call "tomate frito" (fried tomato sauce) and an over-easy to -medium egg.  Go try it and let me know what you think so we can settle this family feud once and for all! 

Spanish Rice and Eggs with Tomate Frito
Serves 2

2 cups water
1 cup rice
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 15-ounce can unsalted tomato sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
2 eggs

Put the water in a small saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add the rice and garlic clove, cover, and simmer on very low heat for about 20 minutes or until the rice is done.

While the rice is cooking, place the tomato sauce and olive oil in a shallow pan.  Add salt and pepper to taste and cover.  Simmer on a low heat until your rice is ready.

When the rice is done, heat a small pan and spray with cooking spray or coat with a small amount of olive oil.  Fry the eggs to your desired consistency.  (I like my whites cooked all the way through, but my yolk runny for this dish.  Once the yolk mixes with the rice and tomato sauce, it makes a delicious creamy sauce for the dish.) Top with freshly-ground pepper.

Eat immediately and sop up the sauce with crusty bread.

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Asparagus and Leek Quiche

Mother's Day was an extra special day this year.  Besides the fact that we celebrated my son's first birthday and baptism that day, we also had our mothers in town to celebrate.  I wanted to make something special to celebrate all of the love, but with the birthday and baptism, I just didn't have as much time as I would have liked to make an elaborate meal.  I settled on brunch and made two quiches (a Quiche Lorraine and this Asparagus and Leek Quiche), Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread and a Tossed Strawberry Salad.  I prepped everything for the quiches and salad the night before and baked the bread.  All I had to do on the morning of Mother's Day/birthday celebration/baptism was throw the quiches together, bake them while I was getting ready, and then present everything at brunch after church.  Phew...I'm still tired!  ;-)

The meal was a lot of work, but not because of this quiche--it came together pretty quickly.  The presentation was lovely and the taste and texture buttery.  I wish I could say that I had made my own crust, but I wimped out and bought a store-made one.  I made up for that with local asparagus, eggs, cream, and bacon.  The presentation is stunning and makes it a great potluck dish.

Asparagus and Leek Quiche
Adapted ever so slightly from Stacey Snacks

1 pie/tart dough, homemade or premade
1 Tbl olive oil
1 bundle of asparagus, rinsed and ends trimmed
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced into half-moons and rinsed thoroughly
3 strips bacon, cut into matchsticks and cooked
3 eggs
1 cup cream or half and half
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup Gruyère cheese, shredded

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of your tart pan.  Place the dough in the tart pan and press against the sides.  Trim or fold the excess over into the side of the pan.  Cover with foil and fill with pie weights (or uncooked rice).  Blind bake the crust for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Set aside enough asparagus to decorate the top of your quiche.  Cut the rest into 1-inch lengths.  Saute the asparagus pieces (not the decorative pieces) with the leeks over medium heat until the leeks start to soften, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Add the bacon and cheese and mix well.

Spread the asparagus pieces and leeks on the bottom of your tart crust.  Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.  Decorate the top with the rest of the asparagus.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the top starts to brown and puff up.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

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French Cooking 101: Quiche Lorraine

When I first moved to France last July, one of my goals was to learn to cook some typical French dishes. I could already make a pretty good beef bourguignon, but I hadn't tried too many other typically French recipes. After I found out how easy a basic tarte could be, I decided to try a Quiche Lorraine. Turns out that it's not so difficult either. This has now become a regular in our meal rotation...

I like to serve it with a salad...it's a perfect refreshing and acidic accompaniment to the velvety quiche.

Quiche Lorraine

1 pâte brisée (I use premade, but I'm sure there's a good recipe to make it from scratch out there somewhere! Or you could probably use a premade pie crust.)
200 g / about 5 thick slices bacon, chopped
150 g / 1 cup ham, chopped
200 g / 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere
4 eggs
40 cl / 1 2/3 cups heavy cream (A lighter cream would probably work here too...)
2 pinches of paprika
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Put the rolled out tart dough in an 11" tart pan. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In a sauce pan, boil the bacon pieces for one minute and then remove. In an non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon on medium heat for 5 minutes on medium heat. Remove them to a paper towel and set aside.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the cream, the paprika, salt and pepper. Mix in the ham and bacon.

Put the egg mixture in the tart shell. Sprinkle with the cheese. Let it bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

This quiche is eaten warm or cold.

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Tortilla Española

As an au pair in Spain 10 years ago, I was lucky enough to learn how to make a few Spanish dishes. I loved a good fresh tortilla española, and quickly learned how to make it myself. Now, most of us know a tortilla as the thing we wrap up our taco fillings with, but in Spain, a tortilla is just an omelette. And a tortilla española is potatoes and onions wrapped in omelette love.

You can get a tortilla at any bar as a tapa (a little bite to eat with your drink) or in a sandwich. In fact, you can get a tortilla in just about anyplace that sells food...I would venture to say that the tortilla española rivals the paella as the Spanish national food.

In addition to being very tasty, it has the advantage of being one of the cheapest things that I make at home. It takes very basic ingredients--eggs, potatoes and onions--and since I always have these on hand, this is my go-to dish when I've run out of time to go to the grocery store. You can always add other ingredients to play with the flavors, but I like it just the way it's served up in every home in Spain with a simple salad on the side.

Tortilla Española
(Ingredients can be adjusted to fit size of pan.)

Olive oil
2-3 large potatoes, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4-6 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium-sized skillet (8-9" or as large as you can go while being able to cover the top), heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan over medium heat. Layer the potatoes and onion in the oil, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper as you go. Cook the potatoes and onions until soft, but not browned, about 10-15 minutes.


Once the potato mixture is softened, drain a little of the oil out (leaving about a tablespoon in the pan) and pour in the eggs (enough to cover the potatoes). Let the eggs cook to set. Once the bottom is lightly browned and the middle starts setting, place your plate over the top of the skillet. Carefully flip the tortilla onto the plate and then slide it back into the pan, uncooked side down. Cook a little longer until the bottom is also lightly browned.


Slide the tortilla onto a clean plate and let cool. Tortillas are traditionally served at room temperature, so this can be made ahead (but no longer than a couple of hours as the potatoes will start to turn brown). Slice into triangles and serve with salad or if serving as an appetizer, cut into small, bite-sized squares.

(This version is a little misshapen because 1) the plate dips in the middle and 2) I don't have any plates bigger than my skillets here in France. They tend to come out a little prettier when I have the right-sized equipment!)

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Baked Omelet and Arugula, Beet, and Goat Cheese Salad

So I found my camera cord...under the chair in the living room. This enabled me to finally upload a lot of pictures of my recent cooking--woohoo!

A few nights ago, I was exhausted, and fell back on a recipe I found at Talk of Tomatoes, the first foodie blog I started following about a year ago. Her Baked Omelet recipe made my mouth water when I saw it for the first time, and I thought, "Hey, this looks easy!" I had just moved to France when I stumbled on this post, and had been trying to figure out what to do with all of my leftover baguettes from lunches. I always have about 1/4 baguette left after making sandwiches for my husband, my daughter and myself. I tried the recipe, and it has been a staple in my repertoire ever since! I've listed her recipe below with changes I've made in red. This is a very versatile and forgiving recipe, I've found.

Talk of Tomatoes' Baked Omelet

Serves 4.
5 eggs
2/3 cup whole milk (or a mix of lowfat milk and heavy cream)
pinch kosher salt & coarse pepper (KS&CP)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 oz prosciutto, diced (I used some chopped up, crispy bacon this time around, and it was yummy...I could imagine that a lot of different meats could work well in this dish.)
1 cup (plus) gruyere or Swiss cheese (I use Emmentaler because it's cheap and easier to find here in Strasbourg.)
1 cup bread cubes cut in 1/2 inch dice (I usually use more bread cubes because the first time, there wasn't enough to cover the eggs, and my husband really, really liked the crisp bread on top. I usually cut up the bread first, and place it in the empty baking dish. When bread covers the bottom, I know I have enough, and then place the bread in a bowl until I'm ready to use it.)
3 T olive oil
1-2 tsp dried Italian herbs

Whisk eggs in bowl; add all but last three ingredients. Stir to blend. Butter dish and pour in egg mix. Toss bread cubes with 2 T oil; plop on top of eggs and pour another 1 T oil over cubes and sprinkle with Italian herbs. Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 minutes.

Pre-baked:

Ready to eat:

I've also been trying to add beets to our diet here because they are just so good for you, and you can buy them already prepared and prepackaged for very little money. The French often just eat them chopped up with a splash of vinegar on them, and although we really like them this way, it can get a little boring. I found the following recipe through TasteSpotting on Italian Food Forever, and really liked it. It has beautiful color and the texture went great with the egg dish. I cut this recipe in half since we are a small family, and used pre-cooked beets, but it still turned out great! I even used leftover ingredients the next day to make the same salad with some pear sliced in, and I liked that even better!

Italian Food Forever's Fall Harvest Salad

4 Medium Small Sized Beets
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
3 Oz. Log Semi Soft Goat Cheese
4 Cups Baby Arugula
1 Small Red Onion, Thinly Sliced

Dressing:
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
5 Tablespoons White Balsamic Vinegar (I used regular dark balsamic and the taste was great, even if it did cover the brillant color of the salad somewhat.)
1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
Salt And Pepper

Mix the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. F. Place the beets in a shallow baking dish, and pour over half the olive oil. Roll the beets to coat, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake until fork tender, about an hour and thirty minutes. Remove from the oven to cool. Once cool, skin the beets, and cut into 1 inch pieces. (I obviously skipped this part since I bought pre-cooked beets.)

Assemble the salad by dividing the greens between four salad plates. Arrange the beet slices and onion slices attractively on top. Mix the dressing once again, and drizzle just enough on each plate to lightly coat. Crumble the goat cheese, and garnish each plate with the goat cheese crumbles. Serve! (I served this in a bowl, but it was still beautiful...)

And because of this recipe, I found a really yummy goat cheese in the grocery store--St. Maure Chevre. In Kentucky, where I live when I'm not in France and have lived for much of my adult, cooking life, we don't get a choice in our goat cheeses...it comes in a small or a large package, if you can find it at all in our local grocery stores. So I was more than thrilled when I discovered that there are different types of goat cheeses! Don't you just want to sink your teeth into this?!

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