"Egg Salad" with Crispy Pork Belly, Gruyere and Bitter Greens
As many of you readers know I spent some time in France as a young culinary student. Lyon the second largest city behind Paris a few hours south of Paris has been considered by many to be the culinary capitol of France. My memories of that time are filled with the sights and smells of classic French food and one dish that is so incredibly simple yet bordering on perfection is what is classically call “Salade Lyonnaise.” The combination of bitter greens (traditionally frisée, though escarole, dandelion, and arugula all work beautifully), crisp bacon, poached eggs and a warm puckery vinaigrette is sublime. The overall effect — fatty, sharp, sour, meaty and creamy is as close to perfect as you can find culinarily speaking of course.
My version of this classic adds some shavings of Gruyere cheese, and utilizes pork belly rather than bacon. That being said, the French traditionally don’t produce bacon like ours so it’s probably more authentic to use pork belly. The finishing touch is the egg this time poached using the sous vide technique.
Two great sous vide techniques make this salad almost foolproof in your kitchen. I’ve eaten at times for breakfast lunch and dinner all make sense and all were delicious!
Ingredients:
• 4 cups frisée or other strong-tasting greens
• 4 ounces Gruyere or Swiss cheese, shaved
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 pound pork belly sous vide, see recipe, and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2-4 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, raw
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic puree
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 4 poached eggs sous vide, see recipe below
Directions:
1. Place the frisée or other bitter greens in large salad bowl with the Gruyere cheese and toss, reserve
2. Put olive oil in skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the pork belly and cook slowly until crisp all over, about 10 minutes.
3. Carefully remove the pork belly, leaving the fat to a small bowl and reserve
4. Add red onions and cook until softened, a minute or two.
5. Add vinegar, mustard and garlic puree to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring, then turn off heat.
6. Drizzle the hot pan dressing and the reserved pork belly into the bowl and toss.
7. Plate the salad and top with the sous vide poached eggs, serve immediately
8. If necessary, gently reheat dressing, and then pour over greens (they should wilt just a bit), toss and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top each portion with an egg and serve immediately. (Each person gets to break the egg.)
Sous Vide Poached Egg
Ingredients:
• As needed extra large egg(s), Farm Fresh
Directions:
1. Preheat the SV1 to 167 °F or 75 °C
2. Using a slotted spoon or similar gently submerge the egg(s) directly from the refrigerator into the water bath and cook for 13 minutes.
3. Using the slotted spoon carefully remove the egg(s) from the water bath and use immediately.