Bacon Fat Salad Toast
This little lunch brings together the fat of my childhood, bacon fat, and the fat of my future, olive oil. The bacon fat turns simple toast into something smoky and rich, while a light, green salad dressed in olive oil makes it fresh and bright. Together, they hit that perfect spot between indulgent and virtuous—a crunchy, satisfying reminder not to sleep on your bacon fat.
This is just one of many ways you can make salad toast. The two important things are to pan fry the bread in plenty of flavorful fat and season both sides of the toast with salt, and to make sure your salad has a lot more than lettuce in it. I also particularly enjoy a salad of small diced apples, pecans, blue cheese, and arugula on toast.
Ingredients
For the toast
¼ cup bacon fat, butter, olive oil, or unrefined coconut oil
2 slices of thick, sturdy, crusty bread
1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the salad
2 cups arugula, roughly chopped
½ cup asparagus, blanched and sliced into ¼ inch rounds
¼ cup thinly sliced scallion
½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
Black pepper
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated on a microplane
Zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons smooth dijon
1-2 teaspoons honey
¼ cup tasty olive oil
Directions
Heat half the bacon fat in a 10 inch skillet over medium until it shimmers when you shake the pan. Add the bread and toast for 2-3 minutes or until golden and toasted. Flip the bread, season the top with half the salt and add the remaining fat to the pan. Toast on that side until equally unctuous and beautiful. Transfer to a plate and season the just toasted side with the remaining salt.
In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, whisk together the lemon zest and juice, the smooth dijon, honey, half the salt and black pepper. Add the arugula, asparagus, scallion, remaining salt, a little black pepper and half the parm. Toss it around to dress the salad. Continue tossing as you stream in the olive oil.
Divide the salad in half and fist it on top of the toast. Sprinkle the rest of the parm on top.