An Indulgent Salad : With Bacon & Fried Bread

Do you like bread? I love bread. I haven't had bread like for ages. I love crusty breads, sourdough, mixed nut loaves, whatever kind of breads and buns.

There is a type of sliced bread that I like which is baked by the Adventist Bakery. It's those sprouted 5 grain and 7 grain bread which is supposed to be better in nutrition compared to white bread.

Since I am restricting my carb intake, I buy a loaf and then divide the slices (2 each) into ziplock bags and freeze. Then on days when I am allowed some carbs, I take the bread out to toast.

I had a stash of this bread in the freezer and one weekend I had a craving for bread salad or panzanella. Since I could get into my so called "skinny" pants that morning, it was time to give myself a reward.

On my grocery run at Aeon, I got myself some bacon. And meanwhile, I took the frozen bread out from the freezer to defrost. When I got home, I fried the bacon till crispy.

I basically put the bacon on a hot non-stick pan and let the bacon release its own fats. And then I cut the bread into small squares and fried the bread till golden in the bacon fat.

Gosh, the bread soaked up the oil like hungry sponges. The bread was all nice and toasty and crispy. Basically these are like croutons, just bigger ones.

I bought those ready washed salad that used to come in plastic bowls but have now been repackaged into plastic boxes. Bah! Those boxes are big but the content of the salad is much less that in the old packaging. Not worth it. I will not buy that brand again.

I already had some salad dressing in the fridge so tossing the salad together was a breeze. Oh! It was so good. Salad greens, tomatoes, avocado and tossed in a good dressing with crispy flavorsome bacon and crunchy fried bread. It was such a filling salad.

Bacon and Fried Bread Salad

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 4 rashers of bacon

- 2 slices bread, cut into squares

- a handful cherry tomatoes

- half an avocado, cut into cubes

- a bowl of mixed salad leaves

- half a big onion, thinly sliced

- salad dressing

Method :

1. Heat a non-stick pan and when hot, place bacon in the pan and allow the fat to render and fry the bacon until crispy. Remove and when cool, cut into smaller pieces.

2. Fry the pieces of bread in the bacon fat until browned and crispy on both sides. Remove from the pan.

3. In a large mixing bowl, add mixed salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, avocado, sliced onion, bacon and fried bread. Add salad dressing and toss to mix.