In regards to making the leaves the star of this dish, as per the requirement, I’m afraid the best I could do was to not make any single one of the other ingredients a dominating factor. The truth is, is that if I ever order a salad as a meal in a restaurant (or make one at home, for that matter), the only reason is because of the non-salad ingredient such as duck, chicken, beef strips etc. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered a salad based on what leaves are in it, but maybe some of the other entrants into this month’s event will give me reason to change my mind.

 

Slice your black pudding lengthways and put the pieces, along with the bacon in a frying pan (you may need a dash of oil, but no more than that). While these are cooking, shred the cabbage and pull the leaves off the head of chicory. Put a small pan of water onto the boil for the poached egg.

 

Once the bacon and black pudding have browned on both sides, turn the heat off, remove from the pan and chop the bacon up. Put the black pudding in the chicory leaves on the serving plate, then add the egg into the small pan of water to poach. Stick the shredded cabbage in the cooling frying pan for about 30 seconds and coat throughly with the bacon fat, mixing in the chopped bacon. Put the cabbage mix on the plate and top with the poached egg. For the dressing, I just added a tbsp of wine vinegar to the frying pan, de-glazing any tasty bits still in there, plus a quarter of a tsp of English mustard. You may need to add a little more oil, too. Drizzle over the dressing over your salad and there you have it.

 

I have to admit, it’s not quite a ‘Full’ English salad, as there’s no sausage or beans of any variety. I didn’t want the dish to get too fussy, though, so left these bits out, although could conceivably have added both to the cabbage mixture, for example. I think the caramelised black pudding took away some of the bitterness of the chicory and the soft egg contrasted well with the crunchy cabbage & bacon. Overall, I think it worked pretty well.

 

Recipe:

Half a small black pudding (or a piece 3 inches long)

2 slices streaky bacon

1 egg

1 head chicory

A quarter of a small savoy cabbage

1 tbps groundnut oil

1 tbps wine vinegar

A quarter of a tsp of English mustard