france classic 1314 v1 | Page 14

Monday tips

This salad is all about preparation in advance . Get the lardons cooked , the eggs poached , the croutons made . Make sure the dressing is made and tastes good . If all of these things are in place ahead of time then putting the salad together is easy . The guests will be blown away by this hot salad . week one dietary requirements :

vegetarian : NO , omit lardons

vegan : NO , see alternative vegan recipes

dairy Free : OK

nut free : NO , omit walnuts

gluten free : NO , omit croutons

v menu Salad Lyonnaise

Salmon and local pesto filo parcel Wilted spinach Pilaf

Celeriac and local pesto filo parcel

Baked vanilla cheesecake with toffee sauce star ter

Classic Lyonnaise salad

Serves 4 Cooked : at oven temp 375F / 190C

4 handfuls of small leaf salad 1 slice thick bread cut into cubes olive oil 1 teaspoon of garlic granules 100g smoked lardons 50g walnuts , chopped 4 eggs

Preparation time : 20 minutes Cooking time : 10 minutes

for the dressing : 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard few drops maggi seasoning 1 tablespoon wine or sherry vinegar salt and pepper lots of chopped parsley to serve

1 . To poach the eggs , fill a medium-sized saucepan 2 / 3 full with water , and bring to the boil . 2 . Crack an egg into a teacup ( or similar ). Reduce the heat so the water is simmering and stir the water so that it is definitely swirling but hasn ' t created a vortex . Pour the egg into the centre of the pan and poach for 3-3½ minutes . 3 . Then remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon and put into a medium-sized bowl of very cold water until ready to serve . 4 . To re-heat the eggs , re-boil the water and add all the eggs for about 1 minute before draining and drying . These can be cooked up to 1 hour in advance ( see tips ). 5 . Fry the lardons in a little of the oil . Remove with a slotted spoon and put on a baking sheet to re-heat . Reserve the oil for the dressing . 6 . Put the cubes of bread into the oven drizzled with some olive oil for 5 minutes or until browned . Once cooked , sprinkle them with garlic granules and season with salt and pepper . Drain well on a paper towel . These can be made up to three days in advance . 7 . Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together including the oil from the lardons . 8 . 10 minutes before serving bring a pan of water to the boil for the eggs . Just before serving put the croutons back into the oven with the lardons , put the eggs into the water and dress the salad by tossing the leaves in the dressing in a bowl .

To serve : divide the salad onto plates , sprinkle over the bacon and croutons . Sprinkle over the walnuts and using a slotted spoon and a paper towel to drain underneath place a poached egg on the top . Decorate with lots of fresh parsley .

notes

This salad is a classic , the essence is the warm soft poached egg on the top . Hard boiled eggs are not a substitute . Poaching eggs is a knack and you will soon get the hang of it . Cooking them in advance is easy and means that you have done all the individual cooking of the eggs before hand and you know you have perfect eggs to serve .