Salade Lyonnaise

Warm salads, counter-intuitive though they are, are a favourite. This is a recipe from "Good Food" for Salade Lyonnaise.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

Pack of lardons (see tip)

1 garlic clove, smashed once

175g piece crustless white bread, cubed

1 small head of frisée

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan, then add the bacon and garlic. Sizzle for about 15 mins until the bacon is crisp and brown, then scoop it out with a slotted spoon into a bowl, leaving the garlic and bacon fat in the pan. Throw the bread into the pan and toss in the bacon fat, adding the remaining oil if the pan is dry. Fry the croutons for 5 mins on a low heat, tossing occasionally until golden and crisp, then remove pan from heat.

While the croutons are frying, make the dressing. Whisk the chopped shallot, vinegar, mustard and 1 tbsp water in a small bowl. add the oil gradually to make a thick dressing, season, then set aside. Cut away and keep the lighter lettuce leaves and wash if needed, discarding any of the tough outer leaves.

When all of your ingredients are ready, bring a pan of water to a gentle boil and add the vinegar. Crack the eggs into small bowls then gently lower into the water and poach for 3 mins exactly. Line a plate with kitchen paper and use a slotted spoon to lift the eggs onto the plate.

Tip most of the croutons, lardons, all the leaves and two-thirds of the dressing into a salad bowl and toss well. Pile the salad high into the middle of two plates and arrange the remaining croutons and lardons around the side of the plates with the shallot rings. Drizzle the rest of the dressing around the outside and, just before serving, top each plate of salad with an egg, then season it.

I also like this with melting pieces of foie gras...and duck breast...but not sweetcorn. I am not over-enthusiastic about the version with chicken gizzards.

Hot lardons and melting mouthfuls of foie gras. The salad should be frisée. There should be croutons as well.