Black Pudding, Bacon and Potato Salad with a Balsamic Reduction

I've been battling a cold over the past few days and my appetite has been significantly diminished. This morning, however, I woke up with a craving for black pudding and salad leaves. The craving was too strong to ignore so I decided to make a black pudding salad, with some bacon lardons, avocado, baby potatoes, mixed leaves and a poached egg. To bring it all together I drizzled it with a balsamic vinegar reduction. Delicious! The weather is beautiful today, so I devoured it all while sitting outside in the spring sunshine listening to birdsong. Life feels good!

Black Pudding, Bacon and Potato Salad with a Poached Egg and a Balsamic Vinegar Reduction 

Ingredients:

500g salad potatoes

15ml olive oil

90g bacon lardons

100g black pudding, sliced

50ml balsamic vinegar

2 eggs

1 avocado, sliced

180g mixed salad leaves

Method:

1. Boil salad potatoes until just soft. Allow to cool slightly, cut in half and shallow fry in olive oil until lightly golden. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

2. Fry bacon lardons for 4 minutes until golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

3. Fry black pudding, 2 minutes on each side (or until crispy) ,in same pan previously used for bacon. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

4. For the balsamic vinegar reduction, reduce 50ml of balsamic vinegar at a high heat in the same pan used for the bacon and black pudding. Scrape off the sticky bits and stir into the the balsamic vinegar. Reduce by half or until it forms a light syrup.

Tip: A good quality balsamic vinegar will produce a lovely sweet reduction.

5. Poach 2 eggs.

6. To Assemble:

• Divide salad leaves and avocado between two plates
• Sprinkle with bacon and black pudding
• Add potatoes
• Top each with a poached egg and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar reduction.

Serves 2.

Enjoy!

Clementine.