Warm Bacon & Shrimp Salad
Warm Bacon & Shrimp Salad. Tomatoes, avocado, grilled corn, blue cheese, bacon, scallions, and basil all on a bed of spinach leaves and tossed in a warm bacon dressing. The ultimate summer salad. It’s so good and it’s so addicting. And perfect with a beachy cocktail for Thursday night !! Cheers !!
It’s Thursday guys !! And you know what that means…my favorite day of the week. For one because it is the start of the weekend at my company. And two, it is basically my family’s kick off to the weekend at the beach. And tonight is an absolutely gorgeous night. It’s not too hot. Not too cold. The temperature is just right. AND tomorrow is the full moon. So, you can probably guess tonight’s moon is almost just as beautiful.
And you know what that means?! A fun summer dinner to kick off the weekend. And some fun summer cocktails. This is one of my all time favorite summer salads. It has become a staple weekend salad in our house that came about last Memorial Day weekend way back in those old 2020 days.
This salad has ALL my favorite summer veggies and lots of bacon and grilled shrimp. The perfect summer combo if you ask me. And the ultimate key is the warm bacon dressing. Because honestly you can never go wrong with a little bacon fat in a salad dressing. It’s a little decadent but also refreshing which makes it the perfect summer salad !!
Cheers to the start of yet another summer weekend…I cannot believe how fast they are flying. Summer slow down please & thank you !!
Ingredients
1/2 pound chopped bacon; reserve cooking fat
5 ounces baby spinach
10 ounces cherry tomatoes; halved
1 avocado; diced
3 ears corn
1 pound large shrimp
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 chopped scallions
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese
salt and pepper
For the Dressing
1/4 cup warm bacon fat
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
Directions
In a large skillet, fry the bacon. Reserve cooking fat for the dressing. Set aside.
Drizzling the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Drizzle the corn with the remaining 2 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Transfer to the grill. Cook over medium heat for 5 - 6 minutes, turning once. Slice the kernels off of the corn. Set shrimp and corn aside.
Make the dressing. In a shaker, combine the warm bacon fat, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.
Assemble the salad. In a large bowl add the spinach, tomatoes, avocado, chopped bacon, grilled shrimp, grilled corn kernels, scallions, basil, and blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing over topped. Toss to combine.
