Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Source: Cook's Illustrated

How this amazing recipe escaped my radar for so long is a CRIME. A TRAVESTY. Because. It. Is. Heaven. On. A. Plate. Divinely inspired. I don't even think the English language has a WORD for how incredible this is.

I'm a "Would you like some salad with your dressing?" type of person, so I would have liked the salad to be a little more coated with dressing, but that's just me. I'll probably hold back a couple ounces of spinach next time. Everything else is wonderful. All the ingredients work so well together. 

I made this with the pan-seared salmon I also posted today. If you'd like to make them together (and I highly recommend it!), start cooking the salmon after the bacon has been cooking for about 5 minutes. I savored every bite of the meal!

Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

3 large eggs

6 ounces baby spinach

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Table salt

8 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 medium red onion, chopped medium (about 1/2 cup)

1 small garlic clove, pressed through a garlic press

Instructions

1. Place eggs in a medium saucepan, cover with 1 inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill medium bowl with 1 quart ice water. Transfer eggs to ice water with slotted spoon; let stand 5 minutes, then peel eggs, quarter them lengthwise, and set aside.

2. Place spinach in a large bowl. Stir vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt together in small bowl until sugar dissolves; set aside.

3. Fry bacon in medium skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper-towel lined plate. Pour bacon fat into heatproof bowl, then return 3 tablespoons bacon fat to skillet. Add onion to skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add vinegar to mixture, then remove skillet from heat; working quickly, scrape bottom of skillet with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Pour hot dressing over spinach, add bacon, and toss gently with tongs until spinach is slightly wilted. Divide among individual plates, arrange egg quarters over each, and serve.