Warm salads can be blooming amazing or a complete disaster. First,
you have got to get your hungry guests around the table before you
plate up, so as soon as their bums are on the chairs, you are tossing the
warm ingredients in with the rocket leaves. Boom, boom, boom on a
plate and it's in front of them.
2 medium red onions
8 whole rashers (slices) pancetta or smoked streaky bacon
Olive oil
4 sprigs thyme
A good handful pine nuts
4 big handfuls rocket (arugula)
Balsamic vinegar
A piece of Parmesan, for shaving
Peel, halve, and quarter the onions then quarter again, to give you 8
pieces from each onion. Heat a frying pan and fry off the rashers of
pancetta until crisp. Add a couple of lugs of olive oil to the pan, and add
the sprigs of thyme, the onions, and pine nuts with a pinch of salt. Toss
around and fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until caramelized
and sweet (not black!).
Then, throw everything into a salad bowl with the rocket or any nice
salad leaves. Drizzle generously with balsamic vinegar, this will make a
natural dressing as it mixes with the olive oil. Serve with some shaved
Parmesan over the top; you can use a potato peeler to do this. Munch
away.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
