Jul 9, 2009

blt salad


After a week on the road I came home to a load of greens in the garden just waiting to picked. So after a quick trip to the grocery on Tuesday to get some additional essentials, I've been making salads all week. I have to admit, all this salad eating is a bit out of character for me. I think the difference this year is partially that I'm growing the greens (I still can't get over how cool this is), and that I'm expanding my salad making recipes. No more lettuce with chopped carrots and a few tomatoes for me. I have branched out in my salad fare, and am loving every minute of it.

This BLT Salad came together easily, used a ton of greens (this could be modified depending on your preferences), and was nice and light at the end of a warm summer day.


BLT Salad
Adapted from Food & Wine

Three 3/4-inch-thick slices of rustic bread, cubed (4 cups)*
1/4 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
1/2 small shallot, coarsely chopped
Fresh pepper

4 thick slices of bacon, broken into edible bits
5 cups torn lettuce (approximately 1 head of lettuce)**
1 cup chopped red cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped yellow sweet tomatoes
Grated hard ricotta, parmesan or other hard cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 F. Spread the bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the bread cubes are dry and slightly crunchy.

For the dressing combine the chopped basil, olive oil, Champagne vinegar and chopped shallot in a small bowl and mix well. Season with pepper to taste (I would usually add salt to a dressing but the bacon provided enough salt for my taste in this salad.)

In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Transfer the bacon to towels and let drain.

In a large bowl, toss the toasted bread cubes with the bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. Add the basil dressing, toss the salad until evenly coated and serve. Pass grated cheese at the table if desired.


Local Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Rustic Bread from The Bread Workshop in Berkeley
Basil and lettuce greens from the garden
Red and Yellow tomatoes from California

Alison's Notes:
*I used a whole wheat loaf but any rustic white or whole wheat bread would work.
**I used a combination of butter lettuce, winter density, and kale, however the original recipe calls for 1 head of butter lettuce.
***For a vegan or vegetarian version of this salad simply take out the bacon. Either tofu or tempeh might be nice substitutes.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

10 comments:

Alexis said...

Hi Alison,
I'm a fellow unraveller, and after a quick look at your blog, I can already see that there are many recipes that I'm going to want to try. See you in class!

Anonymous said...

Oh Alison I am another unraveller and a self admitted terrible cook, am laughing knowing my blog post from Thursday was about cooking mini frozen pizza's.....maybe I will learn to cook in the process of unravelling! Your blog and food photography are gorgeous!

Lori Anna

Anonymous said...

mmmmm love ur blog...we're unravelling together...just stopping by:)
leslie

Alison Clayshulte said...

Looking forward to unravelling with everyone, and can't believe we start this week. Hooray!

marilyn adams said...

what a dangerous blog, i'll probably gain another ten pounds as we all unravel together! Yummy recipes...mmmm!

Jeanne Oliver said...

So jealous that you have a garden. It was on our to do list this year..and you can guess how that went! Look forward to Unravelling with you!

Patricia said...

Hi Alison- i'm a fellow Unraveller and just wanted to stop by and say hello. Your blog is beautiful. There are a lot of yummy looking recipes taht I plan on trying soon :)

Baraginie said...

oh my, this is making me really hungry!!

Alison Clayshulte said...

Thanks to all the fellow unravellers for stopping by, I'm so happy to have you and get to know you better during the coming weeks.

Drain Cleaning Dubuque said...

Interresting thoughts