Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

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Description

This spinach salad with black-eyed peas is a twist on one of my favorite culinary traditions: serving beans and greens on New Year’s Day. Greens represent paper money and beans symbolize coins. Here I present these ingredients in salad form, which is a great delivery system for hot bacon dressing.

Ingredients

  • ½ pound sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup minced onion
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • ⅓ cup bacon drippings
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 pound baby spinach leaves
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
  • 12 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes

Instructions

  1. Cook and stir bacon with 1/4 cup vegetable in a skillet over medium heat until bacon is browned and crisp
  2. 5 to 7 minutes. Pour bacon into a strainer set over a bowl
  3. reserving 1/3 cup of bacon drippings.
  4. Return skillet to medium heat. Stir onions and salt into the skillet; cook and stir until onions are golden brown
  5. about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook
  6. stirring constantly
  7. until the garlic is fragrant and golden
  8. 1 minute.
  9. Stir cider vinegar
  10. rice vinegar
  11. 1/2 cup water
  12. sugar
  13. and Dijon mustard into onion mixture. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer.
  14. Whisk 2 teaspoons water and cornstarch in a bowl. Gradually pour cornstarch mixture into onion mixture and whisk until thickened. 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
  15. Drizzle reserved 1/3 cup bacon drippings into onion mixture
  16. whisking constantly. Add cooked bacon and stir to combine. Season with cayenne pepper
  17. salt
  18. and black pepper to taste.
  19. Combine spinach
  20. black-eyed peas
  21. mushrooms
  22. and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl; toss to combine. Drizzle hot bacon dressing over spinach mixture; toss quickly and serve immediately.

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Servings: 6

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