Warm Lemon-Bacon Dressing on Scallop and Spinach Salad

Had an old friend over for dinner last night, and after spending the afternoon coloring 30+ Easter eggs and making a couple of loaves of delicious Easter Bread with Chocolate Chips in preparation for what I consider to be the busiest holiday for moms and dads, I wanted to make something really fresh and summery for dinner. Yep, I need it to be summer now with no homework or intense "parent-pretending" mythic holidays (i.e. being an awesome Santa or E.B.). Don't get me wrong, I love that my kids are still way into the spirit of Easter and the big ol' bunny (even though the 10-year-old knows the real deal). But, lordy me, I can't imagine how parents who aren't craftellas or craftellers (male equivalent) survive. I've been in craft/spokesperson deals with both RIT Dye for spring crafts and Michael's Arts and Crafts (a freakin' 10 city tour) and find Easter to be way more exhausting! Maybe it's because you invest so much emotionally in kid-centric holidays when you're a parent. Think about it. A kid only has about 10 cycles of a holiday where it's total magic, meaning that they still believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, and the pressure as a parent is on! My daughter is 5-years-old, peak operating hours for creating happy holiday memories by filling the long days leading up to that morning of a sea of presents under the x-mas tree or a boat load of candy in a basket with activities to occupy their time and their precious, creative little minds. What does my mommy diatribe have to do with this salad? Cooking feeds my soul, relaxes me, helps me be a better parent.

• 8 strips bacon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 oz. pack sliced fresh button mushrooms
• 8 jumbo sea scallops
• 8 oz. fresh spinach leaves

Warm Lemon-Bacon Dressing

• 3 tablespoons rendered bacon fat
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• pinch of salt and pepper

Fry bacon until just crisp; reserve bacon fat. Remove bacon from pan on to a bed of paper towels to absorb grease. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop bacon.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown out 8 minutes.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallops and cook until brown on underside, about 3 to 5 minutes. Flip scallops over and cook until brown on other side and just opaque (i.e. loose their glossy, translucent look and appear more of a milky white).

Add spinach, bacon, and mushrooms in a large salad bowl.

To make Warm Lemon-Bacon Dressing: Add rendered bacon fat, lemon juice, olive oil, water, sugar, salt, and pepper into a small saucepan. Cook while whisking over low heat until mixture loses its translucent appearance and any solid fat melts, about 1 to 3 minutes.

Remove dressing from heat and pour most over spinach and ingredients in salad bowl; toss until
ingredients are coated. Arrange scallops on top of salad and drizzle remaining dressing over them. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 to 4 servings

Photo credit: wwsocookbook on flickr