recipe: green salad with egg and bacon

We were starving upon returning home from the market, so I made one of my favorite salads with some the the items we purchased. Eating a "main course" salad is an excellent way to eat healthy and save money, and this one makes a great weekend lunch or a light dinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 4 strips of bacon (or 4-6 oz slab bacon)
• lettuce
• parmesan cheese (or any other firm white cheese)
• olive oil
• red wine vinegar
  
• dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove
• coarse salt (kosher or sea)
  
• pepper

Directions:
Wash, trim and tear the lettuce into small pieces. Dice the bacon into small pieces and fry in a small nonstick frying pan until crisp - place bacon in a small bowl and wipe out pan.

While bacon is cooking, make the dressing:
Smash the garlic clove with your hand or a chef's knife and place in a small cup/bowl. Add one ounce of red wine vinegar and set aside for 15-30 minutes. Then add 1 teaspoon mustard and whisk vigorously. Then slowly drizzle olive oil into vinegar (while whisking quickly) until desired consistence/taste is achieved. Set aside.

Fry the eggs:
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Crack both eggs into the pan and fry until the whites are cooked, but the yolks are still runny. Remove pan from heat.

Assemble the salad:
Divide the greens evenly between two dinner plates. Drizzle some dressing on each salad and use two forks to toss (important). Top each plate with bacon pieces and one egg. Crack pepper and sprinkle salt over each salad. Using a vegetable peeler, shave a little bit of cheese over each plate. Eat.

*Makes 2 servings
*Serve with a glass of red wine and bread for a complete meal.