Herb salad with crispy pancetta
Fried crisp pancetta and its juices adds a lovely savoury depth of flavour to this simple mixed herb and leaf salad. Serve as a light starter, or an elegant side dish.
Ingredients
For the herb salad
- 50g/1¾oz mixed fresh herbs and salad leaves, stems attached (such as flatleaf parsley, mint, tarragon, Little Gem lettuce)
- ½ yellow pepper, seeds removed, cut into long thin strips
- few long fresh chives (for tying the herbs and salad leaves in a bunch)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 75g/2½oz smoked pancetta, cubed
For the dressing
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- ½ garlic clove, finely chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
To make the salad, gather the herbs, leaves and peppers together in two bunches. Tie together using the chives. Place on two plates.
For the dressing, put the vinegar, sugar and garlic in a bowl and whisk together with a generous pinch of salt and some ground black pepper. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Fry the pancetta over a medium-high heat for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fat renders and the pancetta is crisp. Scoop up the pancetta with a slotted spoon and scatter over the salad bunches.
Whisk 2 tablespoons of the warm pancetta fat from the frying pan into the vinegar and sugar mixture. Drizzle over the salad and serve.
Recipe Tips
You can buy bags of readymade herb salad from supermarkets.
