Thanksgiving is Just Around the Corner, It's Time to Start Eating Light so We Can Feast Fearlessly Next Week! - Lettuce and Prosciutto Salad with Poached Egg

Never thought restaurant quality salad can be so easy to recreate at home until I really start serving these healthy greens this year. Sometimes I even think fancy salad is actually much easier to prepare compared to fixing up a sandwich or a quick stir fry. The keys are using fresh and a wide variety of ingredients for the salad. You can even bring it up to another level by putting in some extra work such as searing a steak or using homemade herbed croutons. 

But don't go too far yet for this recipe especially plates after plates of food will be coming up soon during Thanksgiving. Get yourself a nicely cured ham slices or prosciutto at the grocery store and let's put together a big plate of salad greens. 

Lettuce and prosciutto salad with poached egg -

Ingredients?

• 1 bag of organic salad greens (I used lettuce but arugula would be a good alternative)
• 8 slices of prosciutto
• Small handful of mozzarella balls
• 2 eggs
• 1 small baguette
• Some dried cranberries
• Some vinegar

Dressing:

• 3 kumquats 
• Some extra virgin olive oil
• Some freshly ground black pepper
• Small pinch of fleur de sel

How?

Add all the salad dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk till combined. Use few extra kumquats if a more sourish taste is preferred.

Thinly slice the baguette and transfer onto a baking dish. Slightly toast them in the oven with medium low heat till semi-crunchy. Remove from heat and set aside for later use.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil, add in few splashes of vinegar and make a swirl in the center. Lower the heat till gently bubbling. Crack the egg one at a time to a small bowl then pour  into the center of the water. Takes about few minutes, use a slotted spoon to scoop out the eggs. If there are some whites floating around, save them for other dishes, do not waste food. Transfer poached eggs to a kitchen towel, which will help drawing out excess water. 

Place the salad greens onto two serving plates. Drizzle the dressing throughout. Arrange the toasted bread slices, drained mozzarella balls, prosciutto, and dried cranberries around. 

Gently transfer the poached eggs to the center of the salad. Oops! -

At first I thought just one small bag of lettuce won't fill me up at all. However, after putting all the ingredients together plus some toasted baguette slices, it's actually quite satisfying. Especially love the bites when I got both the saltiness from the prosciutto and the sweetness from the dried cranberries!

Other salad recipes:

• Summer salad with watermelon, feta, okra, cherry tomato, balsamic reduction, and cilantro dressing
• Fancy salad with smoked duck break, honey toasted walnuts, and feta