Okay, so I love a oozing, drippy breakfast sandwich. 100% totally, hand it over. But sometimes, I don’t love how greasy they are and how heavy my body feels afterwards.
I also love a Frisée aux Lardons salad; the quintessential French bistro salad with bacon, a super sharp, warm vinaigrette made out of the bacon fat poured over bitter frisée to slightly wilt it, topped with a poached egg. Heaven on a plate. Funnily enough, I never had this once in France. What the what?! I must not have been eating at the right places.
Anyway, somewhere in my brain, the thought of combining the two happened and oh am I so glad it did. It’s actually the perfect pairing because (although) the sandwich has bacon AND a resulting bacon fat vinaigrette AND a fried egg, it somehow skirts heavy and skips on over to feeling light while having all the necessary filling and satisfying components of any other breakfast sandwich. Basically, it’s a whole salad piled on a roll (look Mom, I’m eating a salad!).
I used Smitten Kitchen‘s general vinaigrette recipe because, like the culinary genius she is, Deb already came up with this combination. Mine has a goat cheese butter, piles of frisée in a bacon fat vinaigrette, bacon slices and a perfectly fried egg all on top of a toasted ciabatta roll. The French will probably cringe at this, but I’m not sorry.
Frisée aux Lardons à la Breakfast Sandwich
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
The perfect breakfast sandwich: toasted ciabatta rolls layered with goat cheese butter, piles of frisée in a bacon fat vinaigrette, bacon slices and a perfectly fried egg all on top!
Ingredients
GOAT CHEESE BUTTER:
- 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
TO ASSEMBLE:
- 2 ciabatta rolls, halved
- 1 small head frisée, core removed, chopped into bite-sized pieces and thoroughly rinsed and dried
- 4 slices bacon, halved and cooked until crisp (reserve skillet and fat)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Chopped fresh chives
DRESSING:
- Reserved bacon fat
- Half of a small shallot, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 generous tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To make the goat cheese butter: combine the softened butter and goat cheese and mash until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
- Toast the ciabatta rolls until lightly golden brown. Spread the goat cheese butter all over both sides.
- Heat the reserved bacon fat over medium heat until hot. Add the shallot and a pinch of salt; sauté until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add to the frisée, tossing to coat.
- In a large nonstick skillet with a lid, heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the eggs and season with salt and pepper; cover and cook until the whites are set and the yolk is still runny, about 3 minutes.
- Place the dressed frisée on the bottom half of the ciabatta rolls. Add the bacon slices on top. Place a fried egg on each sandwich and sprinkle with chives.
Notes
Inspiration: Fried Egg Sandwich with Bacon and Blue Cheese on smittenkitchen.com
- Category: Breakfast, Sandwiches