An Excellent Salad
With blue cheese, dates, bacon, pickled red onion, breadcrumbs & toasted pumpkin seeds
With blue cheese, dates, bacon, pickled red onion, breadcrumbs & toasted pumpkin seeds
This salad… is so good. As I write this at 9:48 in the morning, I would highly consider eating it at this very moment if it were presented to me. An important note: I’ve made this many times without the addition of breadcrumbs and bacon, and it’s just as great. If you don’t have a ton of time at lunch to be whipping up all of these different components, that’s completely understandable, but if you do have some extra time or want to bulk the salad up a bit, I’d say to add the bacon and the breadcrumbs. Every now and then I’ll release a favorite recipe from the subscription section of the site—this is one of them!
Ingredients:
For the Meyer lemon mustard dressing:
6 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Acid League Meyer Lemon Vin, or 2 Tbsp champagne vinegar + a squeeze of Meyer lemon juice
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp jarred minced ginger, the one I like is linked
A few pinches of coarse sea salt, start small and taste as you go
Pinch of sumac
Pinch of cinnamon
FOR THE PUMPKIN SEEDS:
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
Flaky salt
FOR THE PICKLED RED ONION:
1/4 of a small red onion, sliced thinly into rounds or half moons
1/4 cup white wine vinegar, champagne vinegar plus a squeeze of lemon juice, or meyer lemon vinegar: my fav is linked
FOR SERVING:
Two heads little gems or butter lettuce, or a full clamshell
Meyer lemon mustard dressing
Blue cheese, to taste (my fav is linked, can generally be found at Whole Foods)
Quick pickled red onions
1-2 Dates, pitted and finely chopped
Toasted pumpkin seeds
Handful of dill sprigs, torn
Flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional: 1/2 inch pieces of bread (torn or sliced) from about half of a baguette or any crusty bread, plus a glug of olive oil, pinch of red pepper flakes and flaky salt.
Optional: 1 strip thick cut bacon
Directions:
If making the breadcrumbs, preheat your oven to 425ºF and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
While the oven heats, make your quick pickled red onions: place the thinly sliced onions in a shallow dish or tupperware, covering with your vinegar of choice, then place in the fridge until you’re ready to plate everything.
Drizzle a generous glug of olive oil over the sheet pan, add the bits of bread, pinch of red pepper flakes and a few pinches of flaky salt. Toss with your hands and make sure they’re all well-coated. Place in the oven and toast until golden and some bits are very crispy, 8-10 minutes. Set aside.
Make your dressing: add all ingredients to a mason jar or large measuring cup, whisking to combine and tasting as you go, adjusting the amount of salt. It should be very bright and tangy. Set aside.
If making bacon, heat a cast iron over high heat and once warm (3 mins or so), add the bacon, turning after a couple minutes and cook to your liking. I like the edges pretty cripsy for this salad!
For the pumpkin seeds: add along with the flaky salt to a nonstick pan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Remove the bacon from the cast iron— if you didn’t make bacon, instead add a nice glug of olive oil to the pan, turn the heat to medium, and add the pumpkin seeds. Throw in a pinch of flaky salt, toss to coat and spread the pumpkin seeds out across the pan. Let them toast for about 3 mins, then remove from the heat and add to your serving bowl.
To serve: add your little gems to your serving bowl, start with about half the dressing and toss well to coat. Add more if needed to coat all the leaves and if not, you’ve got some leftovers for your next salad : )
Add everything else in: your pickled red onion, blue cheese bits, torn dill, dates, pumpkin seeds, breadcrumbs and bacon (if using), a pinch of flaky salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
P.s. Make sure you get a bite with a date, piece of blue cheese and bacon all together. Enjoy!
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