This old-time favorite may have gone out of fashion when the lawn-fanatics declared dandelion a weed to be feared above all others (thank you, 1950s), but that does not make it any less wonderful. It’s the original micro-green, the fleeting first taste of spring. If the high-brow restaurants knew about it, you’d be paying like a zillion dollars for one bowl.

Of course, you’re getting in on the ground floor here. So take advantage of your status as an adventurous eater/sustainable eater/lover of slightly bitter greens like endives/lover of bacon. And heed the secrets of making the legendary dandelion green salad.

First, choose your dandelion greens carefully. Pick only greens in areas that you know have not been sprayed with pesticide. Wash your greens thoroughly, obviously. Pick greens only from plants that have not flowered yet. Once they flower, they taste very bitter.

Second, create the hot bacon dressing. Its creamy sweetness and (of course) the bacon offset the slight bitterness of the leaves. I really want to go back for a second bowl. But we already ate tonight’s installment (along with a heaping bowl of homemade macaroni).

Hot Bacon Dressing:
2 pieces of bacon
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 Tbsp. water
1 beaten egg

Fry the bacon and remove the strips from the pan. Turn the heat off. Immediately add the other ingredients to the bacon fat in the pan and whisk vigorously (to keep the egg in an emulsion and not as one giant fried egg mass) for a minute or so (until the egg stabilizes). Pour it over the dandelion greens (amount wise, about the equivalent of a head of romaine lettuce) and crumble the bacon on top.

You know what this dressing would also rock with? Potato. Salad.

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