3543. CHICORY SALAD with CRISPY BACON and HAZELNUTS

serves four


Dressing
1 heaped teaspoon dijon mustard
½ teaspoon caster sugar
sea salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons walnut or hazelnut oil
2 oz low-fat fromage frais

Salad
5 oz smoked or unsmoked bacon lardons
3 heads of chicory (red or green or a mixture)
2 oz roasted and chopped hazelnuts
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

To make the dressing, whisk the mustard with the sugar and some seasoning in a small bowl, then whisk in the oil a tablespoon at a time until you have a thick emulsion. Stir in the fromage frais and thin to the consistency of double cream with a little water (about 2 teaspoons). Give the dressing another stir before serving.

Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the lardons for 6-8 minutes until golden, stirring frequently (no need to add oil; the rendered bacon fat will be enough). Drain on a double thickness of kitchen paper and leave to cool.

Trim the heads of chicory, discarding the outer leaves. Halve and thinly slice each one lengthways, then halve across. To serve, arrange all the salad ingredients on 4 plates or in bowls, drizzling over the dressing as you go.


bacon recipe source: Annie Bell, MailOnline (@MailOnline)/DailyMail, November 9, 2013

2884. ESCALOPE of WILD SEA BASS with SAUTEED SMOKED BACON, RED CHICORY, RUNNER BEANS and RED WINE SAUCE

Sea bass
4 sea bass fillets
1/2 lemon, juiced
salt
1 knob of butter

Sweet shallots and runner beans
4 runner beans, trimmed and sliced lengthways
2 banana shallots, thinly sliced into rings, keeping the trimmings
salt
1 tablespoon of sugar

Celeriac purée
1 small head of celeriac, diced
85ml of double cream
salt

Red wine sauce
185ml of dark chicken stock
1/2 leek, finely sliced
1/2 bunch of rosemary
2 star anise
1/2 bulb of garlic
50 grams of fish trimmings
185ml of red wine

To plate
100 grams of smoked bacon, boiled and diced
50 grams of butter
2 red chicory, broken into leaves

To prepare the celeriac purée, in a saucepan, cover the celeriac with water and season with salt. Bring to the boil and cook until tender. Drain thoroughly and place in food processor. Whilst blending add enough of the cream to form a smooth, thin purée and keep warm. To make the sweet shallots and runner beans, blanch the beans in boiling water and then refresh in iced water, before draining and setting to one side. Place the shallot rings in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add enough sugar to sweeten the water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until just tender. Remove from the heat and when cool, drain. For the red wine sauce, sweat the shallot trimmings and leek with the garlic, rosemary and star anise until dry. Add the fish trimmings and cook for 10 minutes. Add the red wine and boil dry. Add the chicken stock and cook for 1 hour until thickened and well flavoured. Pass through muslin cloth and set aside. In a hot pan, sauté the bacon in a little butter until crisp and golden. Add in the chicory, drained sweet shallots and runner beans. Cook until the chicory just starts to wilt and everything else is hot. Pan fry the fish in a little olive oil until just cooked, season and squeeze over the lemon juice. On a warm serving plate place a spoon of the purée, a pile of the runner bean mixture and top with the fish. Pour some of the sauce around and serve a little extra at the table.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Matthew Tomkinson, The Terrace/Montagu Arms Hotel, Beaulieu, New Forest, Hampshire, SO42 7ZL UK; Great British Chefs