After all the indulgences and heavy meals we have had this winter something it’s nice to enjoy a lighter meal and when I saw the spinach,bacon and pine nut salad from the Jamie Oliver Comfort Book I thought it was perfect. Unfortunately I was missing half of the ingredients so I kind of adapted it and it was so good I’m sharing it on here:

Warm Spinach, Kale and Bacon salad

You will need:

6 rashers of smoked,streaky bacon diced or lardons
1 red pepper sliced
6 pickling onions – diced finely
2 tbsp of pickling liquid from the jar.
2 tsps of wholegrain mustard
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
2 handfuls of kale
1 handful of rocket
6 slices of ciabatta

Steam or boil your kale and set aside.

Slice bacon into lardons and fry with the red pepper over a medium heat with a glug of olive oil. Fry until golden, then scoop out with a slotted spoon onto a plate leaving the bacon fat behind in the pan. Toast the bread in the fat on both side and set aside before tossing your drained kale in the pan for a minute or two to warm and flavour.

In a large bowl mix the onion liquid, mustard, black pepper and olive oil. Pile your spinach, kale and rocket on top, add the bacon, pepper and onions. Lightly toss together, gently picking up the salad and sprinkling down from a height to evenly dress. Add the giant croutons/crispy bread and serve immediately.

We served this with some crispy potatoes and a roast chicken. It was the best salad we have had in ages and definitely opened my eyes to the beauty of a warm salad.

I’m adding this to the Extra Veg linky run by Michelle and Helen.