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A busy week lies ahead but I wanted to put up a brief post to share some highlights from the past weekend. My sweet son Max has been away on a school trip to Quebec City where he is practising his French and soaking up the culture. My sister left on Friday for her home in Los Angeles and so for the first time in a long time it was just my husband and I on our own with no classes or dinners or commitments of any kind for an entire two days.
We took walks with our dog, went to the Saturday Farmer’s Market, watched movies and enjoyed a rather romantic dinner out. On Sunday Glen ran some errands and I stayed home to cook us lunch. The weather was nice enough that I cooked with the kitchen doors wide open and let in some fragrant spring air. After the last few rather stressful weeks it was just what I needed.
I had picked up olives, cheese, greens, garlic, eggs and some beautiful purple broccolini at the market on Saturday. I had some double smoked bacon, pasta, good olive oil and bread crumbs in the pantry.
I made orrechiette with the brocolini, plenty of garlic and chilli flakes and topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese and toasted breadcrumbs. To go alongside I made the salad you see above. Pleasantly bitter radicchio with a handful of arugula leaves, some green onions, crispy bacon, Gorgonzola, 10 minute boiled eggs all bound together with a grainy mustard vinaigrette.
We ate and talked and ate some more. Sunday lunch for two.
xo J
P.S. I am pretty thrilled to have some beautiful photos of my kitchen (and my hands!) over on my friend Melissa’s site, The Bounty Hunter. Check them out here!
Radicchio Salad with Bacon and Eggs
2 heads of radicchio, core removed and coarsely chopped
2 handfuls of arugula leaves
4 slices of bacon on pancetta, cooked until crisp and crumbled into pieces
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 cup blue cheese (Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola)
2 scallions, finely sliced
2 tablespoons of chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoon grape seed oil
Fine grain sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Place the chopped radicchio and the arugula in a medium salad bowl. Set aside.
To make the vinaigrette mix the grainy mustard with the sherry vinegar in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and then slowly whisk in the olive oil and grape seed oil. Add the sliced scallions to the vinaigrette and check seasoning.
Toss the radicchio and arugula with some of the vinaigrette, the blue cheese and season with salt and pepper. Place on a serving platter and top with the chopped egg, crumbled bacon and the parsley. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the top. Serve at once.
Serves 4.
This recipe sounds so yummy! Can’t wait to try it. Glad you had a nice quiet weekend together.
My kind of bacon and eggs. Yum!