Molly's Egg and Bacon Salad

This recipe just rather evolved back in about 1992 we use/used American bacon for this recipe as it does cook nice and crisp we have used pancetta and it is really tasty. We have made it with quail’s eggs to use as a starter for a few dinner parties.

Serves / Makes: 4 servings
Prep-Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Cook-Time: about 10 to 15 minutes, depends on what else you’ve got going on

YOU WILL NEED
4 slices, white bread, or brown or granary, thick sliced with crusts removed
6 eggs, poached or soft/hard boiled
4 slices, back bacon, sliced, you can use streaky bacon
4, little gem lettuces, the leaves separated and rinsed (2 small cos lettuce can be used
½ tablespoon, red wine vinegar
½ tablespoon, olive oil
4 whole, spring onion, washed and finely shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

METHOD
Cut the slices of bread into a ½-inch dice, unless grilling, if grilling, keep the slices whole.
If using soft hard-boiled eggs, then simply quarter them, the ingredients calls for 4 to 6 eggs, however four should be enough, on the other hand six eggs will obviously give six quarters for each portion.
The bacon can now be pan-fried or grilled until crispy, if pan-frying, use just a dot or two of the oil, any fat content will be released into the pan from the bacon, this will also happen if grilling. Either method you choose, keep the bacon fat for frying the bread afterwards.
Once cooked, remove the bacon from the pan and keep warm.
Now add the bread and fry until golden and crispy, it might need a little extra oil to get a golden finish.
If the bacon has been grilled then just brush each slice of bread with the fat from the bacon, and toast, at this time the bread can be diced.
Season the salad leaves with salt and pepper (it’s advisable, when making salads, to sprinkle salt in the bowl and not directly on the leaves, this will stop the salt from falling on to wet leaves and sticking in lumps). Add the red wine vinegar, just enough to coat the leaves, and the olive oil.
Cut the bacon into strips and mix into the leaves, with the spring onions and fried or toasted bread.
Arrange on four plates or offer as one large salad, the hard-boiled egg quarters can now be seasoned with salt and pepper and positioned amongst the salad leaves.
For the poached eggs, re-heat in simmering water for 1 minute before placing on top of the salads.
Serve and Enjoy!

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Bacon and Leek Quiche

In France, this dish is known as Quiche aux Poireaux avec Lardons, The leeks and bacon filling of this quiche produces a flavoursome country style dish. Together with a green salad, it makes for a very agreeable light lunch or dinner. This was very popular with the guests at The Great Tree Hotel especially as a light lunch or supper dish.

Serves / Makes: 6

Prep-Time: 10 minutes

Cook-Time: 30 min

You Will Need;

1. One Recipe of Short Crust Pastry (Pâte Brisée)
2. ½ pound bacon, cut into 1 cm (about ½-inch) cubes
3. 2 leeks, white and light green parts, chopped (about 2 cups)
4. 3 shallots thinly sliced
5. ¼-teaspoon salt
6. 1/8-teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
7. 1-tablespoon Dijon mustard
8. 3 eggs
9. 1-cup milk
10. ½-cup single cream
11. ¼ pound Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/3-cups)
12. 1 Pinch of Nutmeg

Method:

• Cook the bacon in a frying pan / skillet over a low heat until just cooked, not crisp. Add the shallots, leeks, salt and freshly ground black pepper and sauté until the leeks and shallots are soft and the bacon is crisp, about 7 to 10 minutes.
• Drain off the surplus fat, if any. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and arrange the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Then on a liberally floured surface, roll the pastry from the centre out, lifting pastry, turning it slightly, and intermittently turning over to prevent it from sticking. Roll the pastry to 1/8-inch thickness. Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch pie dish and line with the pastry, leaving about ¼-inch overhang for shrinkage. Pinch up the surplus pastry to form an edge and flute, prick the bottom all over with a fork.
• Line the pastry case with a sheet of parchment or aluminium foil larger than the dish, and fill with pie beans (the ceramic ones are ideal for this). Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges begin to colour. Remove the paper and beans, and spread the mustard over the bottom of the pastry.
• Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
• In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly with the milk and cream, add a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg and then mix in the bacon and cheese mixture, pour the custard into the pie shell to within ¼-inch off the top of the crust.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the custard is just cooked.
• Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.
• Serve warm or room temperature.

Serving Suggestions

My favourite is, to serve the quiche with steamed new baby potatoes tossed in butter, freshly chopped mint, and parsley and with baby lettuce leaves, cucumber, spring onions finely chopped, sweet cherry tomatoes together with a little chopped red pepper. On the other hand, you could try jacket potatoes with melted butter.

Leek is a vegetable related to the onion and garlic. Its edible portions are the white onion base and the green stalks. The white onion-like layers form around a core. I prefer to use young leeks. Otherwise discard the outer leaves; you can use them for soups.

LiveJournal Tags: Appetizers,Great Tree,Light Lunches,Favourite Recipes,Pies,Tarts,Quiche,Pastries

10-minute pasta with leek and bacon

• This is a very quick and easy dish just right for a quick supper after a nice relaxing night out.
  

Serves: 1
Time: 10 minutes of course


You Will Need:

• Two ½ ounces dried pasta
• 2 rashers bacon
• 1 leek washed and chopped
• Parmesan to serve
• ½-tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to season
  

Method:
Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry in a little oil on a medium to high heat. Once the bacon begins to brown, add the leeks and allow them to soften.
Meanwhile begin cooking the pasta in slightly salted boiling water.
Once the pasta is cooked drain and return to the pan, season the bacon, and leek to taste and combine with the pasta.
Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the pasta to moisten.
Finally grate the parmesan cheese over the dish and serve.

If you would prefer a creamy sauce, add cream instead of olive oil.

Did you know, Leeks are a great of Vitamin C, iron and fibre and that 1 cup of chopped raw leeks contains only 57 calories?