Arugula and alfalfa sprouts salad with honey, mustard and ginger ...

If you ask me what my favorite salad green is, I’d tell you it’s arugula. If you ask me what my second favorite salad green is, I’d say lettuce. If you ask me what kind of lettuce, I’d tell you any kind except iceberg lettuce. If you ask me what other vegetables I want in my salad, I’d say anything goes and my salad doesn’t necessarily have to have tomatoes and cucumbers in it.

What I hate to be absent in my salad is a little meat or fish and cheese. The meat doesn’t have to be bacon bits — it can be ham or grilled chicken. The fish doesn’t have to be cooked — smoked salmon is just dandy. The cheese? Parmesan is not required — it can be anything from soft creamy cheese like goat cheese to the briny and crumbly kind like feta.

What about salad dressing? What is my favorite salad dressing? I love a lot of salad dressings but let me tell you that vinaigrette is my least favorite. I like thick and creamy dressings — emulsions like Caesar salad dressing.

In short, when I eat salad especially if it is meant as a main course, I don’t want to get the feeling that I’m starving myself. This arugula and alfalfa sprouts salad is substantial, and full of textures and flavors. If I were serving this salad to someone with health issues, however, like my mother and my mother-in-law, I’d substitute cold ham or smoked fish for the bacon. But since this is for Speedy and me, bacon it is!

Ingredients

• a good handful of torn lettuce
• a good handful of baby arugula
• a small handful of alfalfa sprouts
• a cup of herbed croutons
• crisp bacon (whole, diced or crumbled — your choice)
• your favorite cheese, shaved

For the honey, mustard and ginger dressing:

• 2 tbsps. of honey
• 2 tbsps. of Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsps. of olive oil
• juice from a quarter of a lemon
• 1 tsp. of finely grated ginger
• 

Instructions

1. Rinse and dry the lettuce, arugula and alfalfa sprouts.
2. 
3. If you have a salad spinner, use it.
4. 
5. Click here for instructions on making herbed croutons.
6. 
7. Stir together all the ingredients for the salad dressing.
8. 
9. Assemble your salad. Make the lettuce, arugula and alfalfa sprouts as the base. Scatter the herbed croutons on top and around them. Add the bacon and cheese. Drizzle the honey, mustard and ginger dressing over everything and enjoy.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 2

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