Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Bacon... it's quite a food trend these days! Aside from the plethora of savory dishes, you'll see it in sweets such as cupcakes, muffins, cakes, even chocolate. I love my share of bacon but I still like classic recipes that it's used in. One such recipe is this Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing...

This salad is one of my favorites because it captures all sorts of tastes and textures - sweet, salty, sour, creamy, crunchy, etc. It's a simple spinach salad of baby spinach, crisp bacon, sweet red onions, hard boiled eggs, sliced mushrooms and tying it all together is a sweet and sour dressing made with red wine vinegar and rendered bacon fat in place of olive oil. For an added punch of flavor, you could add some crumbled blue cheese (which I did add to leftovers - yum!).

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
recipe adapted from Alton Brown

8 ounces young spinach
2 large eggs, hard boiled, peeled and sliced
8 pieces thick-sliced bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 large white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 ounces red onion (1 small), very thinly sliced

Remove the stems from the spinach and wash, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Fry the bacon and remove to a paper towel to drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the rendered fat. Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Transfer the bacon fat to a small saucepan set over low heat and whisk in the red wine vinegar, sugar and Dijon mustard. Season with a small pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper to taste.

Place the spinach, mushrooms and the sliced onions to a serving bowl and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Season with pepper, as desired. Serve immediately and garnish with slices of egg.