Frisee aux Lardons
Bitter frisee with crisp bacon and a warm dressing.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 1 head Frisee lettuce
- 150 g Bacon
- 1 Shallot
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 Egg (optional)
Method
- Tear the frisee into bite-size pieces, mince the shallot, and cut the bacon into lardons.
- Cook the bacon lardons in a dry pan over medium heat until they render their fat and turn crisp, about 5 minutes.
- While the bacon renders, poach the eggs in barely simmering water until the whites set but the yolks stay runny, about 3 minutes.
- Off the heat, whisk the Dijon, red wine vinegar, and salt into the warm bacon fat to make a glossy dressing.
- Toss the warm dressing and lardons through the frisee, top each plate with a poached egg, and serve at once.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
About Frisee aux Lardons
Frisee aux Lardons is a warm French bistro salad — curly, bitter frisee lettuce dressed while still warm with crisp bacon lardons and topped with a poached egg. It belongs to the French tradition of the salade tiède, where a hot dressing is used to just barely wilt sturdy greens, and it's a fixture of Lyonnaise cooking in particular. The pleasure of it is in the contrasts: the pleasant bitterness of frisee against smoky, rendered bacon, sharp Dijon and red wine vinegar cutting through the fat, and a runny yolk that spills into the leaves as you eat. It's light and low in carbs but feels substantial and grown-up.
The trick that makes this dish sing is building the dressing directly in the pan of warm bacon fat — whisking Dijon, vinegar, and salt off the heat into the rendered drippings so the fat becomes a glossy, still-warm vinaigrette. Tossed through the frisee immediately, it softens the leaves just enough without collapsing them. Poaching the eggs while the bacon renders keeps the whole thing to about fifteen minutes and lets everything hit the plate warm at once. Serve it right away, ideally with crusty bread to catch the yolk and dressing, as a starter or a light lunch.
Frisee aux Lardons: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Frisee aux Lardons?
One serving of Frisee aux Lardons has about 268 calories, with 11g of protein, 11g of carbs, 22g of fat and 4g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.
Is Frisee aux Lardons gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Frisee aux Lardons has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
Do I need every ingredient to make Frisee aux Lardons?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out egg — it's optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Frisee aux Lardons make?
This recipe makes 2 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.