Spinach Salad with Apples, Avocado & Bacon Paired with A Striploin Steak Smothered in Sautéed Mushrooms & Onions Then Sided with a Baked Potato

I had stumbled across the recipe for Spinach Salad with Apples, Avocado & Bacon one day when I was taking a leisurely browse through Epicurious.com. I was in search of a solution for an avocado and a Gala apple and this recipe instantly clicked. The author, Jeff Edmunds, published it in Bon Appétit in the December 2000 issue.

I am quite fond of the President's Choice Thick-Sliced bacon whenever a recipe calls for the salty stuff. In hindsight, I think I could have used less as it seems to remain substantial through the rendering. And perhaps a few extra chops with the chef's knife before it hit the salad would have made its bite a more appropriately portioned for its crispy crunch. The salty flavour has a way of making a fruity apple pop.






I was originally planning to serve the salad with Baby Back Ribs since I saw them on sale at Farm Boy. My shopping excursion afforded me very well priced Extra Lean Ground Beef and also steeply reduced Striploin Steaks.

http://farmboy.ca/pdf/flyer.pdf

Knowing I was getting short on my shopping to dinner window, I decided to go with steaks for today and the ribs can be tomorrow's delight. The steak proved to be a worthy choice in that it allowed me to move along some onions, mushrooms and potatoes. In the end I was glad that the Striploin was not full price as there was too much grisel for our liking. We much prefer a steak that cuts like hot knife through butter. So I won't be telling you to run to Farm Boy for this special but the salad is certainly worth a try!