Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
Mama had a baby and her head popped off …
I have been away from home since April 13, deployed as an incident commander for emergency food service which saw our team prepare almost 90,000 meals for those evacuated from remote First Nations communities prone to the effects of climate change and flooding along the James Bay coast.
Coming home from this environment, I was greeted by my loving family and a lawn in desperate need of attention. Even though the grass needed cutting I was grateful for the sea of yellow dandelion flowers as it was the most colour I had seen in a long while.
Dandelion is one of the most recognizable weeds. It can be found in most countries around the world that have seasonably warm climates. Its name is derived from the Old French “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, which describes the plants coarselytoothed leaves. The modern French name for the dandelion is “pissenlit,” meaning “pee the bed,” accurately describing the plant’s diuretic properties.
Like many Canadians I’m driven to the puritan standards of having a weed-free lawn. My wife and I have been spending a lot of time in the garden eradicating it of weeds. The irony in weeding my lawn and garden is that I find myself tearing up and destroying a number of plants that I often dress up and serve as food. Clearly we classify plants as weeds when we cannot attach financial value to them.
English settlers brought the dandelion to Canada which they grew in their gardens as a food source. The leaves or dandelion greens are closest in culinary character to mustard greens and can be readily prepared cooked or raw. The young leaves and unopened buds are best consumed raw in a salad. These younger raw leaves have a slightly bitter taste and work best with a sweet vinaigrette which can be paired with hard boiled eggs. The larger and older dandelion leaves become woodier and should be cooked in ways similar to spinach by utilizing methods like steaming or sauté.
Other culinary applications for dandelion leaves and flowers include dandelion wine and jams or jellies. Dandelion roots are often roasted and ground up to be used as a coffee substitute. I should note that it contains no caffeine and tastes nothing like coffee. Most honorably for this lowly weed, the dandelion root is a registered drug in Canada, and is sold principally as a diuretic.
This Sunday, drop by the Dandelion Café and see what they are cooking up for The Annual Dandelion Day Festival being held in Millennium Park, or maybe venture into the back yard and harvest your own dandelion leaves. If you 8 slices bacon ¼ cup of honey ¼ cup maple syrup 2 teaspoons cornstarch One-quarter cup water 1/3 cup white vinegar Method: Cook bacon in the oven or over medium high heat in a skillet until the bacon evenly browns. Chop the bacon into small pieces. In a medium sized sauce pan, whisk together all of the ingredients over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
This recipe yields 1 ¼ cups of dressing.
If you are not counting calories or simply enjoy bacon like I do you can incorporate the leftover bacon grease into this recipe by simply adding it into the sauce pan while cooking the vinegar mixture.