Breakfast salads

A fruit salad is not unusual to find at breakfast but I got to thinking there is untapped potential for other salads for our first meal of the day. 

This idea actually occurred at Ogden Point Cafe awhile ago when I wanted eggs and bacon for breakfast but this is not a menu offering, per se.  I happened to glance at the spinach salad and the hard boiled egg chunks and bacon pieces (they use real bacon), did a bit of an eyebrow-raise, thought "well, it is bacon and eggs" and then "why not?"

It was a worthwhile experiment;  the presence  of the spinach was delightful and I chose my favourite blue cheese dressing which gave a nice tang to the refreshing taste of the leafy green. 

When I decided to make this at home a few days later I wanted it more – well, breakfast bacon and eggy – which meant warm.  I remembered something the family had enjoyed many years ago – taking hard boiled eggs and cutting them in half lengthwise, scooping out the egg,  mixing it with a bit of salt and pepper, putting it back into the shells, and then frying these, eggy side down, in a bit of butter until the egg was a bit crispy and brown.  Mmmmm. 

For the salad I hard boiled an egg, scooped egg out, mashed it a bit, heated some butter in a skillet, added bacon bits (soya;  real bacon would have been nicer but I didn't have any), added the crumbled egg,  fried them together  until they were quite chummy.  The greens are  a mixture of baby spinach, arugula and something that starts with rad…. and sounds Italian – the package is likely still in the recycling bucket but I'm too lazy to go check – it's red and white and is poking out from under some spinach.  What I love about the mixture is that it is organic and prewashed so I can just use it.  I hate having to wash salad greens – they never seem to get quite dry no matter how much they are whirled around in a salad spinner and even a bit of water on the greens interferes with the honesty of oil and vinegar.  Greens from my own garden never get washed and I do think about what might have trotted (or worse!) through the greens when I wasn't looking – like raccoons and cats and squirrels – but not much.

Anyway, where was I.  Oh yes – I heaped the greens on a plate and poured a simple olive oil/white vinegar/dash of sugar/dash of Bragg dressing over them. Forgot to toss this about before I added the wonderfully warm egg/bacon on top: I was hungry and wanted to get the photo taken so I could eat;  tossed it to coat as I was eating.

The toast is a slice of sourdough made by middle son from starter to finish – great!  He has taken bread making to a high level and I get to sample the results. 

I am pleased and want to explore other breakfast salads.  What do you think?  What would you suggest?
Would sliced strawberries (the tiny flavourful ones) have enhanced this salad.

Oh, another thing.  Chilled greens are awful.  It only takes a bit to let them come to room temperature so try to remember to allow time to take them from refrigerator and spread on counter before putting the salad together.  I also like to let them warm up in the sun if this is possible.  It's not the same as picking from garden and making a salad (the sixteen step eating plan) but next to.

Another thought – I tend to eat the garnish that comes with breakfast in a restaurant – the tomato,  chard, endive (?), so I guess this has been another inspiration toward breakfast salads.  Not parsley, for some reason – I like the flavour but the texture hides out in my mouth and is annoying.