Frisée Salad with Lardons and Roquefort

With the vibe of a bistro classic, this salad eats like what might happen if a salade lyonnaise (frisée, lardons, poached egg) crashed into a salad of endives, roquefort, walnut and apple.

It deliciously solves the problem of poaching four eggs to plop atop salads at dinnertime, which sounds too stressful for most nights or lunches; the rich umami of crumbled Roquefort stands in nicely, and the tang of a shalloty sherry vinaigrette balances it out.

READ: A perfect French winter salad that marries frisée, lardons and Roquefort

It’s also very adaptable. If you don’t find frisée, you can use endives (cut in slivers or bands or left whole if they’re small) or torn escarole (they’re all related), or even mix up the three. Can’t find slab bacon? Use sliced, cook till it’s just starting to brown, and cut it into strips; or crisp some prosciutto in the oven (as in this recipe) and crumble it a bit. Don’t have shallots or sherry vinegar? Use red onion and white wine vinegar, Champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar. In place of Roquefort, you can use another French blue such as Bleu d’Auvergne or Fourme d’Ambert (or an American blue, like Maytag). You just don’t want to use a blue that’s too creamy.

Finally, you can include the bacon fat in the dressing if you’d like a richer salad, or save the fat for something else and use only olive oil for a lighter salad.

Note: This recipe makes enough vinaigrette for the exact amount of ingredients listed below. If you use more frisée, you might need a bit more vinegar and olive oil.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

3 ounces / 85 grams slab bacon (without the rind)

2 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (depending on whether you’re using the bacon fat in the dressing)

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar