Salade Lyonnaise

Salade Lyonnaise is a traditional French salad made with frisée, lardon (or pancetta), croutons – and in this case giant, homemade, garlic, multigrain croutons, a poached egg and vinaigrette. My husband lived in Paris for a year and said they often ate this salad. I think the greasy, melt-in-your-mouth pancetta served with the crisp, fragile, pepperiness of the frisée (or chicory), is an amazing combination. In fact the pancetta was so juicy, it reminded me of the scrunchins we had in Newfoundland quite a few years ago. Scrunchins are fried cubes of fat-back pork often served as accompaniments to many Newfoundland dishes. One could call it the heart-attack snack. Or if eaten occasionally, and I mean rarely, a taste of heaven. For the dressing, my husband mixed together some of the bacon fat, sherry and vinegar. A satisfying and delicious salad to say the least.