I
had a salad very similar to this about 25 years ago at the Laurel Point
Inn, in Victoria. I was a kid and I thought this salad kicked ass. Upon
returning home I insisted my mom teach me how to analyze and
deconstruct the recipe so we could eat it at home. It remains my
favourite spinach salad.
1 bunch baby, preferably local spinach, cleaned and trimmed
3-4 small clean mushrooms, brushed clean and sliced
1 T Red or Sweet onion, very thinly sliced
Juice of 1 orange
3 rashers of lean side bacon, cut into lardons
1T rice wine, or another mild vinegar
olive oil - for balance and a bit of flavour, 1-2 tsp depending on the leanness of your bacon
1tsp honey
1T shallot, minced
125ml gruyere or emmenthal cheese, grated
1 hard boiled free run egg
Salt and Pepper
Add
the bacon to a hot pan, reducing the temperature to avoid smoking and
create even cooking. Render the fat from the bacon and carefully cook
the bacon until evenly crispy. Leaving the bacon and the fat in the
pan, reduce the heat to low. Add the orange juice and shallot and allow
to reduce by about 25%. Add the honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt and
pepper. Mix and turn off the heat until ready to serve.