Salad Lyonnaise

One of my favorite salads, Salad Lyonnaise. It can be rather fattening if you order it at a restaurant, but if you make it yourself, it can be quite delicious and good for you at the same time.

Salad Lyonnaise is made with frisee, with a mustard vinaigrette, croutons, lardoons and a poached egg on top. Most people automatically assume a salad is healthy and a great diet choice. Not so, in fact, most restaurant salads are as calorie laden as a cheese burger and just as fattening.

To start with, the salad dressing is always a killer. It is laden with fat and they put way too much on, the greens are almost always swimming in oil.

Croutons are also covered in oil, they are fried!

Lardoons? Those are just long, thick slices of bacon.....

So how do you make this at home so it tastes good and you aren't ruining your diet?

Make your own dressing, but make a white wine mustard vinaigrette:

1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp grainy mustard
1 Tbsp Flax oil
pepper
1 packet splenda

Then, don't fry croutons, but cut some whole grain or ezekiel bread into large squares, bake it in a 400 degree oven, turning occasionally until crisp, 10 minutes. Or toast it and cut it into cubes.

Cut turkey bacon into thick slices, then fry or microwave and drain well.

Toss the frisee with some of the vinaigrette, croutons and lardoons, then top with a poached egg. The egg should still have a warm, runny yolk so that when you cut into it, the warm yolk mixes with the salad greens. Sprinkle on some chopped chives and a couple grindings of pepper.

Delicious!