Salade Lyonnaise is a very traditional French bistro first-course offering. Even in its simplest form, it’s a bit of work for an appetizer or first course. I wanted to turn this dish into a main-course serving: thus, Salade Lynnaise Garni, which simply means that the salad is garnished with other ingredients—in this case duck confit legs, walnuts, and Roquefort cheese.
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Preparing the Salad Ingredients
Cut slices of white country bread or baguette into small cubes, including the crusts.
Cut the bread cubes.
Place the cubes on a baking sheet, and toast in a 350° oven until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Set aside the croutons.
Toast the croutons.
Bring the duck confit to room temperature. Here, I’ve used D’Artagnan Duck Confit, which is a high-quality, traditionally prepared product.
Duck confit leg.
Please note that this is a fully cooked duck leg; it needs only to be heated and crisped. If you can’t find duck confit, you could substitute smoked pork chops or other smoked meats.
Toast the walnuts in a 350° oven until lightly browned. Set aside.
Toast the walnuts.
Frisée is the traditional green for Salade Lyonnaise. What exactly is frisée? Click here. If you can’t find frisée, you could substitute other bitter greens, such as escarole, watercress, or red radicchio. Feel free to use a mixture of greens.
While shopping for my Salade Frisée Garni, I discovered that my local New York City farmer’s market had some beautiful French dandelion, which I incorporated into the recipe. Ordinary dandelion would work fine.
French dandelion.
Wash the greens in a sink filled with water to remove any sand. Scoop them off the top of the water, leaving any residue behind.
Wash the frisée.
Dry the greens on paper towels or a salad spinner.
Dry the greens.
Snip the greens into bite-sized pieces with a scissors into a bowl. Refrigerate until needed.
Snip the greens.
Use chunk bacon if you can find it. If not, use very thick-cut bacon. My favorite bacon is Schaller and Weber Double-Smoked Bacon.
Schaller and Weber bacon.
Cut the bacon into lardons, which are about 3⁄4-inch long and 1⁄4-inch thick.
Cut the bacon.
(The French tend to simmer them in boiling water to remove some of the smoked flavor. I like that flavor, so I don’t bother with that step.)
In a large skillet, cook the lardons over moderately low heat until they have rendered as much fat as possible and are lightly browned, but not crispy.
Fryi the lardons.
Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. If your bacon is very lean and doesn’t render much fat, you may need to use a tablespoon or two of oil.
Lightly pat off a bit of (not all) the fat from the confit with a paper towel. Place them skin- side down in a baking pan.
Heat the confit.
Lightly place a piece of foil over them so they do not dry out. Heat them in a 350° oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove the foil, and very carefully turn them skin-side up, without tearing the skin in the process. Broil for a minute or two, or turn the oven heat up to 425°, just to crisp the skin. Be careful not to burn the skin. Remove and set aside. They can also be heated in a skillet, if you prefer.
While the duck is heating, prepare the dressing. Mince the shallot.
Mince the shallots.
Crumble the Roquefort cheese.
Crumble the cheese.
Though I love the saltiness of Roquefort, any blue cheese will do. Set both the shallots and the Roquefort aside.
Preparing the Dressing
In a bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and salt until well blended. Gradually beat in both the olive oil and the walnut or vegetable oil until homogenized.
Make the vinaigrette.
(You can also substitute peanut oil for the walnut oil.) Add black pepper to taste. Remove the greens from the refrigerator and toss them with the vinaigrette dressing.
In the bacon fat that remains in the skillet, gently cook the minced shallot over low heat just until tender for a minute or two. Turn up the heat and add the apple-cider vinegar and the sugar, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it and reducing the vinegar by half. ( I add just a bit of sugar because I find that the dressing is a bit too sour otherwise.) Immediately pour the hot, deglazed pan juices over the greens and mix thoroughly.
While deglazing the pan, poach the eggs in an egg poacher or in a skillet with 2-inches of simmering water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. I like to use an egg poacher for this because you get perfectly formed eggs without the fuss.
Poach the eggs.
Technically, this method produces a coddled, rather than poached egg. but I find the difference insignificant. If you use the egg poacher, butter or lightly oil the cups so the eggs will remove more easily, and poach for about 3 minutes.
If using the simmering-water method, place the eggs in a fine sieve first to allow the loose white of egg to drain away, then gently slide them directly into the water or first in a small ramekin that you can gently tip into the water.
Assembling the Salade Frisée Garni
Add the browned bacon lardons, the roasted walnuts, and the crumbled Roquefort to the greens and toss thoroughly to coat everything in the dressing.
Place a mound of the salad on serving plates. Turn one poached egg on one side of the salad, and the confit, skin-side up, on the opposite side. If you have a few drops of the vinaigrette left, pour it over the duck confit. Then sprinkle the croutons over the top. Salade Lynonnaise Garni serves 2.
