spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette

Happy Pie For Breakfast Day, friends! Do you see what I did there? I made it official, which means that you need not feel any regret that you may have innocently come upon a lonely wedge of leftover pie in the fridge this morning, and before you knew it, before you could responsibly hash out the pros and cons of setting your day to the tune of pie, and not, say, a muesli, fresh fruit and herbal tea detox, you in fact did have pie for breakfast and it was wonderful. You need not feel any regret because its a holiday, and it was important that you joined in the celebration. You were only doing your part. (Gobble, gobble.)

And now that we got that out of the way, I bet you could go for a salad. No, not a Salad of Thanksgiving Repentance; that would be rather dull. It might include wheat germ, and its too soon for all of that. I firmly believe that on the road from total overindulgence to the kind of mood that leads to my gym being jam-packed with Resolutes on January 1st, there should be some in-between. A salad, yes, one with several whole and wholesome ingredients, but also one that you look forward to eating because it in fact tastes amazing. And for that, I nominate this one. It comes with a warm bacon vinaigrette and old-school vibe. Its not even a little sorry.

Before I took off to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, Washington DC, Toronto and Chicago on the whirlwind last few weeks of the book tour during which I have missed you all terribly, I went on a serious spinach salad bender, surprising nobody more than myself. If youd offered me this salad any time in the last 15 years, Id have pushed it away without regret. For a while there, spinach salads were both ubiquitous and terrible, the classic flavors co-opted with everything from raspberry vinaigrette to honey-drenched walnuts better suited for an ice cream sundae topping. But as will always happen, after a long break, I started craving the old-school version, the one you might have found on a steakhouse menu up until a while ago, and I think its fairly well established how warmly I feel about steakhouse classic salads. This one belongs back among their ranks.

A bright pile of baby spinach leaves is scattered with wispy slivers of red onion, thinly sliced white mushrooms (please, no fancy mushrooms here), coins of hard-cooked egg and then the piece de resistance, tiny bits of bacon rendered in a pan until crisp and salty and perfect, and its smoky renderings whisked with a pinch of Dijon and red wine vinaigrette in a skillet to make a quick, hot dressing that you pour over the salad, gently wilting the onion, spinach and mushrooms and leaving you wondering why you dont make this every week of the year. You should. Theres still time.

Book Tour: To say that the last few weeks of book tour-ing and meeting so many wonderful people have been incredible would be the understatement of the century. Theyve been mindblowing, overwhelming, humbling and maybe a tiny bit exhausting, but a good exhausting. One Id do again in a heartbeat. Which is awesome, as its not over yet. Boston I know both the Tuesday and Wednesday events are sold out (boo!) but both include details about how you can stop by a bit later for a signing, even if you couldnt get tickets. I hope I will get to see everyone that missed out. Darien, I cant wait to see your beautiful library on Thursday. Texas, I will be counting down the second until I can finally get to Book People on Friday in Austin and Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston on Saturday. [All Book Tour Details, here.]

One year ago: Sweet Potato and Marshmallow Biscuits
Two years ago: Upside-Down Cranberry Cake
Three years ago: Moroccan-Spiced Spaghetti Squash
Four years ago: Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Garlic Chips
Five years ago: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Sauteed Apples, Roasted Stuffed Onions and Simplest Apple Tart
Six years ago: Not Your Mamas Coleslaw and Indian-Spiced Vegetable Fritters

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
Adapted from several places, but my favorite version is Alton Browns

To hard-boil eggs, well, there are a million approaches out there (see this comment section if you dont believe me). Mine is to cover a large egg with cold water and put it on the stove and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, set a timer to exactly 9 or 10 minutes, and reduce the heat to medium. Once its done, I often plunge it in icy water so that it will stop cooking immediately and also chill quickly. At 9 minutes, large eggs will be a little tender in the center, as you can see in the top photo. At 10, it will be a fully-cooked (but not overcooked) egg.

If youre freaked out by raw red onion, you can actually add it to the dressing in the skillet for the last 10 seconds to soften it and remove more of the bite, and pour the onions and dressing over the salad together.

Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 spinach salad enthusiasts

4 ounces baby spinach
2 large white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 small or medium red onion, very thinly sliced
1 large egg, hard-boiled (see above), chilled, peeled and thinly sliced
4 pieces thick-sliced bacon (about 4 ounces), finely diced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey or sugar
1/2 teaspoon smooth Dijon mustard
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place spinach in a large, wide salad serving bowl. Scatter with mushrooms, red onion (see above for a different, mellower way to add the onions) and coins of hard-boiled egg. In a large skillet, fry bacon bits over medium-high heat until theyre brown and crisp and have rendered their fat. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the skillet and spread them on a piece of paper towel briefly before sprinkling them over the salad. Pour out all but two tablespoons of hot bacon fat from the skillet. Reheat over medium and quickly whisk in the red wine vinegar, honey and Dijon. Pour over entire salad and season salt and pepper. Toss gently and serve hot. Repeat tomorrow night.

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Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette Recipe - CHOW This simple spinach salad recipe is a mix of healthy spinach, crispy bacon, and toasted pecans, for a most satisfying salad. Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe : Alton Brown ... Very good salad, the dressing is to die for! I used a cabernet vinegar instead of the plain red wine vinegar and it was wonderful. I reduced mine a little and added ... How to Make a Bacon Spinach Salad With Hot Dressing eHow.com This delicious and easy salad is made with savory bacon dressing and fresh baby spinach. Eating spinach boosts cardiovascular health and may lower the risk of age ... Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe - Saveur.com This classic spinach salad recipe comes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon and Apple Cider Dressing Recipe ... Bland! I don't know why...don't get me wrong, i eat raw salad on a daily basis prollly it's because I'm really not a fan of raw spinach, I prefer them cooked. I ... Spinach Salad With Hot Bacon Dressing Recipe A delicious spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. ... Add items to your shopping list. 8 slices thick-cut bacon,halved length-wise and cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe : Paula Deen ... Saw this recipe on Friday and had extra spinach in the fridge - definitely worth a try. I'm sure this is really good. The dressing just didn't work out for me. My ... Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe : Alton Brown ... Delish! I used honey dijon mustard as that's what I had in the house. This dish was fantastic! ... Amazing!!! Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe - Food.com - 486216 Mom loved this salad, and it was always a treat when she would prepare it. Not having her recipe, I used Alton Brown's as the basis and improvised slightly. This was ... Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing BigOven Place eggs in medium saucepan, cover with 1 inch of water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan fro heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes.

granola-crusted nuts

Seeing as Ive already admitted that Im kind of a terrible host, I might as well let the confessional continue and tell you that Im a terrible traveler. Oh, I dont mean that I kvetch and whine the whole time (though you might want to ask Alex if he agrees, now that weve taken six flights and visited five cities in eight days together!), I just mean that I never do any of those really great things those really smart people writing really quite logical articles suggest, like keeping the amount of stuff you bring down so that it will fit in one of those bitty suitcases you can stuff into overhead. I dont roll my clothing to prevent wrinkles or have my most important items in my carry-on so I wont be at a loss if my luggage is. I never have one of those scarfy/pashmina things to use as a blanket/pillow/tent of warmth on the plane or train, nor do I remember Vitamin C, hand sanitizer, eye masks, earplugs or to eschew caffeine for purer forms of hydration, like water, and I never, ever remember to pack a wholesome homemade snack.

However, if you are one of the people that fits the description above, I would immensely love to travel with you. May I interest you in a book tour?

If I were, however, Id bring these. I wasnt actually trying to make these when I did. I was trying to make a fall crepe. But, I decided that pumpkin crepes were kind of boring, and when trying to figure out something to gussy them up with (maple yogurt? something crunchy?) I realized that a nut would be wonderful. But then I started kicking around ideas like maple-butter walnuts and spicy-sweet-pecans I decided it was rather lame that most spiced nuts are full of butter, sugar and bacon and this was breakfast, surely they could be a tiny bit indulgent but also wholesome. And then I made these and I entirely forgot about the pumpkin crepes. (Really. We had the delight of evacuating them from our fridge after a few days of a power outage and trust me, you wouldnt be hungry for pumpkin crepes after that either!)

Heres why they rule: theres no added butter or oil or fat aside from that which is already in the nut itself. Its crusted with just a tiny bit of sugar, but a lot of oats, coconut, seeds and pretty much anything else wholesome you like to mix into your granola. Theyre spectacularly easy to make and they work as well as a snack as they do mixed into yogurt (imagine having a bag of these in your suitcase when you travelled! And you could have them with your yogurt every morning! Man, I wish I knew people who thought of things like this.) Theyd also be a great housewarming/hostess/holiday gift as they keep really well but the best part about them is that every single one of them is like the very best part of granola: the giant clusters. The ones you fish out. Dont even try to pretend otherwise.

NYC Launch Rescheduled Tomorrow! Oh, we were so sad when we had to cancel the New York cookbook launch event on October 30th, but were delighted that weve been able to reschedule it so quickly: tomorrow (Saturday, 11/10) at the Williams-Sonoma at 59th Street & Lexington (across town from the Columbus Circle store, where the initial event was scheduled) at 3 p.m. I will demo my Moms Apple Cake from the book and site, there will be time for Q&A and I will sign books. While Williams-Sonoma would love it if youd buy a copy of the book there, all will be welcome at the signing. (Note: This policy has been adjusted from the original requirement.) I really hope youll be able to make it. [Details]

Book Touring! The first week of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Book Tour Los Angeles, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Portland, Vancouver and Seattle has been absolutely, overwhelmingly incredible. Meeting so many of you has been an amazing experience and you are all so very nice. I feel incredibly lucky to know you. Next week, I will be in Washington DC (with my mama!) in the beginning of the week and Toronto at the end, then Chicago over the weekend and into early the week after. Which will be Thanksgiving. I have no idea how that happened. Still, I cant wait.

Comments, emails, tweets: I typically take pride in spending at least an hour each morning reviewing and responding to new comments and other details. Alas, I am very far behind but will be catching up as soon as possible. I appreciate your patience. I miss you too.

One year ago: etc Coming shortly!

Granola-Crusted Nuts

My preference here is for walnuts; my husband prefers pecans, so we compromised. Any nut can be used but those bumpy, craggy ones will manage to stow more granola coating.

These are as excellent with breakfast as they would be for a travel snack or gift.

3/4 cup rolled oats (quick-cooking or old-fashioned will work; instant might get a little dusty)
1/4 cup shredded or flaked unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons pepitas, or another nut or seed of your choice
1/4 cup dark or light brown sugar (for low-to-moderate sweetness)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Few pinches sea salt
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon water
2 cups (approximately 1/2 pound) walnuts, pecans or nuts that you prefer

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a food processor, pulse oats, coconut, pepitas, sugar, cinnamon and salt in short bursts until the mixture is very well chopped but not powdery it neednt be like a flour. In a large bowl, beat egg white and water until frothy (but not stiff). Add nuts to bowl and coat them very well, using a few more stirs than will seem necessary because if the egg doesnt get into the craters of the nuts, no granola will stick there. And that would be sad. Pour oat mixture into bowl and very gently fold it together with the nuts, so that it just barely sticks. (I found that if you stirred it a lot, the mixture just started falling off, so just a few folds will do.) Youll have more granola coating than will seem necessary, but this is fine. Spread nuts-and-granola out on baking sheet in a single layer but no need to separate them. Sprinkle any granola mix leftover in the bowl over the nuts.

Bake for 20 minutes, moving nuts around just once in the baking time so that the inner nuts get as toasty as the ones at the edge. Transfer pan to cooling rack and let nuts cool completely there. Once full cool, break up any nut clusters and place mixture in jars/bags/your hand.

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Leftover Turkey Panini: Turkey-Apple Salad Melt Panini Panini ... As promised, I've got three more leftover Thanksgiving turkey panini ideas for you! I say three more because they are in addition to the three I brought Healthier Tartar Sauce - As Good as the Real Thing Feastie Search awesome food blogs for the tastiest, most well-tested recipes. Make a grocery list automatically from recipes. Get a printable version, or access it on your ... RIDERS CAF ! ! ! ! ! ! ! WEEKEND BRUNCH MENU RIDERS CAF! ! ! ! ! ! ! WEEKEND BRUNCH MENU 51 Fairways Drive Singapore 286965 Served from 8am 3pm EARLY MORNING FAVORITES (from 8am) Lemon and Herb Couscous Salad Recipe - Inspired Taste Easy ... A step-by-step recipe for Lemon and Herb Couscous Salad by Adam and Joanne Gallagher of Inspired Taste Recipe and Food Blog. SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH - The Dream Cafe Beginnings Benedicts Breakfast Combos Healthy Omelettes Griddle Popover House-made popover with strawberry butter 2.25 Currant Scone 2.25 Muf n of the Moment 2.25 Sweet Mama's - Northport, NY (631) 261-6262 "some of the best pancakes around , hands down" Warm Cabbage and Apple Salad Recipe - Inspired Taste Easy ... A step-by-step recipe for a warm red cabbage salad with apples and celery. Lemon Crusted Tilapia Recipes Yummly egg, butter, tilapia fillets, lemon pepper seasoning, dill weed, pine nuts and 4 MORE Lightening up Lasagna: White Spinach Mushroom Lasagna Feastie Search awesome food blogs for the tastiest, most well-tested recipes. Make a grocery list automatically from recipes. Get a printable version, or access it on your ... The 10 Best Panini of 2008 Panini Happy What a year of panini-making it has been! Whether Santa just brought you a new panini press this week or you've been grilling with me all year, I hope you'll

apple cider caramels + the book is here!

So, friends. Yesterday was the day, the day that that the 336-page, 2.8-pound bundle of joy that I began working on over three years ago tip-toed cautiously out of my tiny kitchen in hopes that youll make a home for it in yours.

You know, so, no big deal at all.

Whats in the book? Seeing as I already showed you the cover, I thought Id show you what the book looked like naked. (Gasp!) You see, I was pushing for a jacketless cover (those paper flaps, they irk me) and we compromised by having a different cover inside that would be a treat for people who get excited about things like that. Between the covers, there are 105 recipes (85 percent that have never been seen on this site), about two-thirds of them are savory (including a beloved recipe for featherlight Gnocchi in Tomato Broth, a Flat Roasted Chicken with Tiny Potatoes inspired by something we bought on a Paris street, and an absolutely hideous but boundlessly delicious Wild Rice Gratin with Kale and Caramelized Onions) and the rest are for sweets things (such as my sons towering second birthday SMore Cake, and what I consider two of the ultimate Thanksgiving desserts, a Cheesecake-Marbled Pumpkin Gingersnap Tart and the Deepest Dish Apple Pie youve ever seen). There are over 300 photos in the book, lots of stories and also this one little other thing that I pressed for, a cookbook that stays open on your kitchen counter when you want it to. My goodness, this makes me happy, as happy as I hope those Artichoke Heart-Stuffed Shells will make you.

As you can imagine, yesterday didnt exactly go the way we had in mind. Monday night, as Alex was giving Jacob a bath and I started typing this post, a monster storm was making landfall on the East Coast. I heard a loud boom from the direction of the Con Ed plant on Avenue D, and the sky went briefly green, then turquoise. You can imagine the rest power outage, phone outage, the discovery that we dont actually own a flashlight (am I good at being an adult or what?) but that I mix a solid Perfect Manhattan by candlelight. Needless to say, we got off easy. Our home is intact, the lights always go back on on Broadway, and were now cozied up at my in-laws while some of this simmers on the stove. I cant even imagine some of the devastation many of you woke up to yesterday. I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and dry.

In the last few months, Ive been asked a few times if I have a favorite recipe in the book. I usually clutch my chest in mock horror and say something along the lines of, I cannot believe you would ask me to choose a favorite child! But, of course, Im lying because this, this is my favorite. These apple cider caramels are my love letter autumn in my city, my attempt, as I wrote in the book, to pack everything I love about New York City in October the carpet of fiery leaves on the ground from the trees I didnt even know we had; the sky, impossibly blue; the air, drinkably crisp; the temperature finally delicious enough that it implores you to spend hours wandering around, sipping warm spiced apple cider from the Greenmarkets into one tiny square.

To make them, you take a quart of fresh apple cider and boil and boil it until it is a slip of its original volume, just syrupy apple impact. Then, you expand this syrup into a cinnamon-scented buttery caramel with hidden crunches of sea salt. Theyre the most intense caramels that Ive ever made and if you had a bucket of these at your door when I went trick-or-treating, well, Id steal them. Thus, you should either not invite me anywhere or make a lot. I think you know what you need to do.

Thank you: Ive gotten so many kind, wonderful notes in the last couple asking as to our safety and also from many of your who already received your books and are cooking from them. I dont know what I did to get such a warm, sweet bundle of people for readers, but you make all of this 100 times more fun. Thank you.

Book tour: We were so sad to have had to cancel the NYC launch event at Williams-Sonoma yesterday evening, and hope to reschedule it as soon as possible. If all goes well (cross your fingers for us?), Ill be hopping on a flight to the West Coast on Thursday morning and then the rest of the tour will begin. Los Angeles, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, I hope I hope I get to meet all of you.

One year ago: Baked Pumpkin and Sour Cream Puddings
Two years ago: Buckeyes
Three years ago: Baked Chicken Meatballs
Four years ago: Cabbage and Mushroom Galette
Five years ago: Cranberry, Caramel and Almond Tart
Six years ago: Bretzel Rolls

Apple Cider Caramels
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Apple cider (sometimes called sweet or soft cider), as Im referring to it here, is different from both apple juice and the hard, or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. Its a fresh, unfiltered (it has sediment), raw apple juice the juice literally pressed from fresh apples. Its unpasteurized, and must be refrigerated, because its perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some grocery stores. I occasionally find vacuum- sealed bottles called apple cider in the juice aisle, but none of the bottled varieties that Ive tried has the same delicate apple flavor as the more perishable stuff sold in the refrigerator section.

4 cups (945 ml) apple cider
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or less of a finer one
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
Neutral oil for the knife

Boil the apple cider in a 3- to- 4- quart saucepan over high heat until it is reduced to a dark, thick syrup, between 1/3 and 1/2 cup in volume. This takes about 35 to 40 minutes on my stove. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, get your other ingredients in order, because you wont have time to spare once the candy is cooking. Line the bottom and sides of an 8- inch straight- sided square metal baking pan with 2 long sheets of crisscrossed parchment. Set it aside. Stir the cinnamon and flaky salt together in a small dish.

Once you are finished reducing the apple cider, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, sugars, and heavy cream. Return the pot to medium- high heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side, and let it boil until the thermometer reads 252 degrees, only about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it.

(Dont have a candy or deep- fry thermometer? Have a bowl of very cold water ready, and cook the caramel until a tiny spoonful dropped into the water becomes firm, chewy, and able to be plied into a ball.)

Immediately remove caramel from heat, add the cinnamon- salt mixture, and give the caramel several stirs to distribute it evenly. Pour caramel into the prepared pan. Let it sit until cool and firmabout 2 hours, though it goes faster in the fridge. Once caramel is firm, use your parchment paper sling to transfer the block to a cutting board. Use a well- oiled knife, oiling it after each cut (trust me!), to cut the caramel into 1-by-1-inch squares. Wrap each one in a 4-inch square of waxed paper, twisting the sides to close. Caramels will be somewhat on the soft side at room temperature, and chewy/firm from the fridge.

Do ahead: Caramels keep, in an airtight container at room temperature, for two weeks, but really, good luck with that.

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Apple Cider Cinnamon Jelly Recipe - Food.com - 353475 I have not tried jelly. I'm posting this for safe keeping. I found this recipe Complete Book Of Small Batch Preserves. This full bodied taste of fresh apple cider ... Six Sisters' Stuff: Apple Cider Caramel Cookies Recipe 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels Instructions The Cooking Photographer: Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies Last weekend I visited a ginourmous Wal-Mart in the big town of Post Falls, Idaho. There I proceeded to hunt down bags of Kraft Caramels, because where I live ... gimme some oven Blog Archive caramel apple cider cookies ... Last weekend, I took a trip with my lovely book club girls.camping! Thats right! A bunch of city girls road tripped it to spend a 40-degree evening together ... Apple Cider Caramels Our Best Bites Note: This recipe has been modified from when it was originally posted for greater user-friendliness, particularly in dissolving the sugar. First of all, I hope ... Apple Cider Brined Turkey Recipe - Food.com - 334879 FROM the www.chefscatalog.com website - Diane Morgan, The Thanksgiving Table (Chronicle Books, 2001). If you would like to purchase this book, please visit Chronicle ... SmithsAppleFarm.com 24405 Poquette Lake Road Shell Lake ... Bakery & Gift Shop. Apple Cider Donuts are made fresh daily, there are times in the fall when pumpkin ... Apple Cider Cups Busy Mommy: An Iowa Mom Blog There's something about this time of year that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. As the weather starts to turn colder, leaves change and fall and Table of Two "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf (by Michele J Martin) DIY Salt Caramels Un-Gift Guide 2008 The Kitchn Here's another wonderfully easy candy recipe for the holidays - salt caramels! Here's the recipe, along with links to great ideas for pretty wrapping and packaging.