Spinach and bacon salad

We had a surfeit of bacon this weekend. I'd brought my usual pack of Laverstoke Park smoked back home  from work but then Friday night went to MsMarmitelover's Underground Market. I came home with all sorts of goodies including smoked goat's cheese, strawberry and rose petal jam and Treflach Farm bacon. The guy on the stall was wafting a plate of bacon under people's noses as they squeezed past (it was very busy), a low down but very successful sales technique.

The Treflach Farm bacon went in bacon sandwiches on Saturday morning but the Laverstoke bacon had  been frozen and defrosted so really needed using. This week's veg bag had some lovely fresh spinach that we thought would be good raw so decided to combine it with the bacon for Sunday lunch.

All it needed in addition to the grilled bacon was croûtons. These are very easy to make - cube the bread toss in some olive oil, dried herbs and grated Parmesan put in a baking tray and grill for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't get distracted though! We dressed the spinach with some truffle flavoured oil that we were given for Christmas but any oil or dressing would be fine. Finally we mixed the bacon and croûtons into the spinach (stalks and all) and enjoyed.

Summer Lunch in the garden

We've just got back from a week in the South of France to find it is hotter in Reading. My in-laws have a house in the Cevennes so we go there most summers but went a bit earlier this year to help celebrate my father-in-law's 70th birthday. We did the catering for 40 people ourselves so spent quite a lot of the holiday chopping and mixing but it was worth it.

Although you can still find good local fruit and veg in France particularly in the markets they do seem to have succumbed to the same supermarket culture as us. The nearest town has a Carrefour - France's rival to Tesco - with different brands but essentially the same array of cheap meat products and out of season produce we've grown used to in the UK.

Anyway to get to my lunch in an English garden - we had spaghetti frittata using spinach from the veg bag. I've written about this before but didn't have a photo so this is a good opportunity to show you what it looks like. Simon made it and said I should warn people that it shouldn't have as much spaghetti as this - he guessed how much he needed and then decided he might as well finish off the packet! We had most of it hot on Friday night this is what was left over for Saturday lunch time.