Simple Spinach and Bacon Salad

This salad is a nice and easy way to eat your spinach.  I really like the balance between the sugar and the cider vinegar as well as the richness of the bacon in the dish.  It also looks great on the plate.  As always, use the best quality ingredients you can find.  For myself, I used Hornbacher’s bacon (Hornbacher’s is a local grocery chain).  It was a really nice touch.  The bacon was more thickly cut than your average supermarket variety and was less salty.  To vary this dish, a great addition to this salad would be strawberries or dried cranberries.

Simple Spinach and Bacon Salad

4 slices bacon

5 oz baby spinach (or spinach and raddichio mix)

1 T olive oil

3 T cider vinegar

2 T sugar

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Fry bacon in a saute pan until cooked to your liking.  Then remove the bacon from the pan and cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces, reserving the drippings.  In a small bowl, combine 2 T of the bacon drippings with the olive oil, cider vinegar, and sugar.  Season with salt and pepper and then give it a taste.  Adjust any seasonings. 

Place the spinach in a large bowl.  Add about half of the bacon and toasted almonds.  and then the dressing.  Toss to combine.  Plate the greens.  Sprinkle each plate with the remaining bacon and almonds.  Serve immediately. 

Here’s what it looks like: