Friday, July 15, 2011

Green Bean & Bacon Salad

Last night Jon and I had grilled stuffed burgers (beautifully seasoned ground beef filled with either Velveeta cheese or laughing cow cheese grilled to perfection) with this green bean salad. I was amazed that Jon gave the beans a 9 on our scale of 1-10. I shouldn't have been surprised though, that man loves both bacon and green beans.

The salad reminded us of the green beans we used to get at a local Chinese joint, only with the bonus of bacon :)  I garnished ours with a little bit of slivered almonds. They were delicious.

What sorts of non-starch sides do you prepare for your family?

Here's to you and your culinary adventures, friends. Cheers!


Green Bean & Bacon Salad
Serves 6
85 calories per 

2 pounds green beans, trimmed 
3 bacon slices*
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots 
1/4 cup red wine vinegar 
1 tablespoon honey 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 



Cook beans in boiling, salted water 5 minutes. Drain and plunge beans into salted ice water; drain. Place beans in a large bowl.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add shallots to drippings in pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add vinegar; cook 30 seconds, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Drizzle mixture over beans.

Combine honey, mustard, pepper, and salt to taste, stirring with a whisk. Pour over green bean mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

* I used 3 heaping TBS Oscar Meyer real bacon pieces. Crisp them up in the pan. Remove and drain on paper towel. Add a tsp or so of butter to the pan to cook your shallots.

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