Rosie Rips Off Another Recipe.

I'm in a salad mood today. What can I say? Sometimes my body yells out for salads; sometimes my body yells for red meat; sometimes my body yells for fried food; and sometimes it yells for ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce. And I always listen when my body starts yelling for something because I figure my body knows what it needs. Actually, it's calling out for a glass of red wine right now, and I must go oblige it. I didn't want just any salad though. I wanted a special salad and I remembered one I had read about on Sara's blog, Sara's Kitchen - her recipe for warm spinach and frisee salad. So I decided to kinda steal Sara's recipe. And this is not the first time I've blatantly, unashamedly, and unabashedly stolen from Sara. So, Sara, I'm raising my glass of wine to you, in a toast. Thank you. First let me say I have no spinach and no frisee: however, I do have arugula and some other kind of lettuce.

And I have walnuts, which I toasted to intensify the flavor.

I scissored 3 pieces of bacon into bitty pieces and cooked it up, reserving 1 TB of the bacon grease.

Beforehand, I had poured olive oil and balsamic vinegar over a large shallot and a whole head of garlic, wrapped them in foil, and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

There's really nothing like baked garlic. You can squeeze it out of the peel and it's mild, sweet, creamy, and delicious. Same goes for the baked shallot.

I squeezed out the shallots and added some to the salad.

Then I just had to suck some of the garlic out right then and there.

I had reserved 1 tablespoon of my bacon drippings, added some of the baked shallots and garlic to that, heated it back up, and added a bit of my pomegranate juice.

And some balsamic vinegar went into the mix. Heated for about 1-2 minutes.

Here's my salad of arugula with sliced hard boiled eggs, sliced red onions, toasted walnuts, and bacon bits.

I poured the hot dressing over top.

This was a treat. I loved the pepperyness of the arugula, the crunch and intensity of the toasted walnuts, the smooth texture and flavor of the hard boiled eggs, the sweet bite of the red onion. And what's not to love about bacon and bacon dressing with pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar? Too bad Mr. Hawthorne wasn't here for this. He would have like it, but Youngest Hawthorne was here and he loved it.

Thanks again, Sara.