Salade aux Lardons

4.65 (3)
⏱ 30 mins 🍽 Serves 6 🌶 french ✅ Easy 🏷 Main course

This elegant French salad is a perfect starter or light lunch, combining crisp lardons with softly set boiled eggs and a simple mustard vinaigrette. Fresh mixed baby leaves are dressed just before serving to maintain their texture. It is a visually appealing dish that comes together in about 30 minutes, traditionally served with slices of country bread. The balance of salty, crisp pork and rich egg yolk with the sharp dressing is quintessentially French.

Salade aux Lardons

Ingredients

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 x prepared mixed baby green salad leaf (or make your own mix of curly endive, chicory and spinach)
  • 6 large free-range eggs at room temperature
  • 130g pkt lardon or diced pancetta
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • pain de campagne (country bread), to serve

Method

  1. Combine the olive oil and Dijon mustard in a salad bowl, seasoning well with sea salt and black pepper. Place the salad leaves on top of salad servers in the bowl to shield them from the dressing for now. Do not toss.
  2. Place the eggs into a pan of boiling water and cook for 7 minutes to achieve a soft set. Drain them and cool under cold running water. Once cool enough to handle, gently tap the rounded ends and peel off the shells.
  3. Heat a non-stick frying pan and dry fry the lardons or pancetta for 3 minutes until crisp and golden, stirring often. Scatter the cooked lardons over the salad leaves. Swirl the red wine vinegar into the hot pan, then drizzle this over the salad.
  4. Toss the salad to combine and share it between six plates. Cut each egg in half lengthways and place two halves on each salad portion. Serve straight away with pain de campagne.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories263 kcal
Fat23 g
Saturates6 g
Carbs1 g
Protein12 g
Sodium428 mg
Salt1 g

Recipe details

Skill levelEasy
CategoryMain course
Cuisinefrench