Name: Baby spinach bistro salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 garlic clove peeled but left whole; 8 rashers smoked back bacon chopped into large pieces; 1 small baguette loaf (about 125g), cut into bite sized pieces; 4 eggs; 200g pack fine French bean trimmed; 140g mild blue cheese crumbled into chunks; 200g bag baby spinach washed if necessary; 2 tsp Dijon mustard; 2 tbsp red wine vinegar; 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Home
Recipes
Baby spinach bistro salad

Baby spinach bistro salad

Barney Desmazery

Save recipe

Serves 4

Easy

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 20 mins

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.6 ratingsRate

loading...

This easily adaptable salad can be tweaked to suit your guests' taste

Easily halved

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove

peeled but left whole
8 rashers smoked back bacon

chopped into large pieces
1 small baguette

loaf (about 125g), cut into bite sized pieces
4 eggs
200g pack fine French bean

trimmed
140g mild blue cheese

crumbled into chunks
200g bag baby spinach

washed if necessary

For the dressing

2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Keep the screen awake with cook mode on the Good Food app.

Nutrition: per serving

kcal654
fat52g
saturates15g
carbs21g
sugars3g
fibre3g
protein28g
salt4.65g

Method

step 1

For the dressing, whisk the mustard and vinegar together with some salt and pepper and 1 tbsp of water. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil and set aside.
step 2

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a lowish heat and add the garlic and the bacon. Cook the bacon slowly until starting to sizzle, then add the bread to the pan and toss in the bacon juices. Fry everything together slowly (this can take a good 15 mins) until the bacon is ultra-crisp and the croûtons are crunchy, drizzling the pan with a little more oil if it becomes dry. Once cooked, fish out the garlic clove and set the pan aside.
step 3

While the bacon is cooking, tip the eggs into a pan of boiling water and boil for exactly 7½ mins. Cool in cold water, then peel and set aside. Cook the beans in a pan of heavily salted boiling water for 5 mins or until slightly crunchy but still bright green. Drain, tip into a pan of ice-cold water, then drain again and set aside.
step 4

To serve, tip everything except for the eggs and dressing into a large bowl. Drizzle over the dressing and toss gently with your hands. Scatter the salad over a serving platter, halve the eggs and strew over the salad, seasoning the yolks with sea salt flakes and a grind of black pepper.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, June 2007

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.6 ratings

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access

Get 3 months of Good Food All Access for just £6. Find triple-tested recipes that take the stress out of deciding what to cook, spend less time planning, and more time enjoying the season.

Subscribe now