Best salad ever Scallop and chilli bacon salad

Best salad ever

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This has to be the best salad ever made by my hands. By eating salad, I’m trying to lose weight by also not adding any sugar and cutting back on bread, pasta and rice. I know scallops are a bit extravagant, but it is the weekend and 100 g cost me $3.40. It was the chilli bacon though which made my mouth feel like there was a party going on.

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Weight loss

I’m not exactly losing much weight but I am feeling better and my trousers certainly feel better. I can wear my favourite belt without using the special holes. At least I look thinner now than I did 15 years ago.

I have no idea if I can get back down to 77 kg but I hope before Christmas I can wear trousers one size smaller.

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Recipe

Scallop and chilli bacon salad with cabbage, lettuce, green beans, spring onions and bird’s eye chillies
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 
This was a terrific salad which was bursting with flavour. I cut up three rashers of streaky bacon and spread the pieces out on a baking tray. I added a good layer of chilli flakes and freshly cracked black pepper as well as some dried Italian herbs. I put the tray into an oven at 200 °C for 20 minutes and allowed the bacon to cool on some absorbent paper. I cooked the scallops by placing them into a ceramic dish and adding two good slabs of salted butter. I added some chilli flakes to the butter and scallops. I put the dish into an oven at 200 °C for 5 minutes. The salad was made from shredded CoS lettuce and Savoy cabbage, along with cut green beans, spring onions, bird’s eye chillies and crumbled blue cheese. I dressed the salad with Donkey sauce. I added the bacon pieces and mixed them through the salad and then plated the salad. I added the scallops and spooned over some of the melted chilli butter.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Australian
Servings: 1
Calories: 250 kcal
Author: Gary
Ingredients
  • 3 rashers Streaky bacon
  • 100 g scallops
  • Chilli flakes
  • 2 Bird's eye chillies
  • Savoy cabbage
  • Cos lettuce
  • 1 Green bean
  • Dried Italian herbs
  • Spring onions
  • 100 g Blue cheese crumbled
  • Donkey sauce
  • Salted butter
Instructions
  1. Cut three streaky bacon rashers into thin cross-rasher slices
  2. Spread the bacon pieces onto a baking sheet and add some chilli flakes, dried Italian herbs and freshly cracked black pepper
  3. Cook the bacon in an oven at 200 °C for 20 minutes and allow the bacon to cool on absorbent paper after it has come out of the oven
  4. In a small ceramic dish place the scallops making sure they are separated and some nobs of butter with some chilli flakes generously sprinkled on top
  5. Cook the scallops and butter in an oven at 200 °C for 5 minutes and allow the scallops to cool and continue to cook in the butter while preparing the rest of the salad
  6. Shred the Savoy cabbage and Cos lettuce and put into a mixing bowl
  7. Slice the green bean and add to the mixing bowl
  8. Thinly slice the Bird's eye chillies and add to the mixing bowl
  9. Slice the Spring onions and add to the mixing bowl
  10. Crumble in the Blue cheese to the mixing bowl
  11. Add a couple of tablespoons of Donkey sauce and mix everything in the mixing bowl
  12. Add the room temperature chilli bacon and mix
  13. Plate up on a plate and then add the scallops
  14. Spoon over some of the melted chilli butter for an added flavour addition
  15. Shoot a few photographs and post to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
  16. Eat the best salad ever
  17. Wash the dishes
  18. Write the recipe
  19. Write a blog post and hope my friends share on social media
Recipe Notes

The Donkey sauce recipe can be found elsewhere on Yummy Lummy. I hope you like it.

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Photographs

The whole plate

Scallop and chilli bacon salad with cabbage, lettuce, green beans, spring onions and bird’s eye chillies Gary Lum Best salad ever
Scallop and chilli bacon salad with cabbage, lettuce, green beans, spring onions and bird’s eye chillies

A close-up

Scallop and chilli bacon salad with cabbage, lettuce, green beans, spring onions and bird’s eye chillies Gary Lum Best salad ever
Scallop and chilli bacon salad with cabbage, lettuce, green beans, spring onions and bird’s eye chillies

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Questions and answers

What made this the best salad ever?

It was a chilli flakes cooked into the bacon and also into the scallops and butter. I think I can add chilli flakes to almost everything I eat. I might even add them to ice cream I reckon.

What’s it like having a party in your mouth?

I really like spicy foods that aren’t eye-watering hot. When I was in New Delhi earlier this year, every meal was spicy but the food wasn’t uncomfortably hot. I love that spicy sensation in my mouth.

What else made this salad memorable?

The crumbled Blue cheese added a creaminess which complemented the chilli really nicely. Not to mention the Donkey sauce which can be used on burgers and ribs.

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Crab bacon sandwich

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How to make a bacon and egg pie

 

15 Responses

    1. Sorry, Silvia, this comment got caught in spam. Yes, I do like spicy food. If you can get scallops, they are worth trying.

    1. Thanks, Lorraine. I’ve stopped any added sugar, bread, rice and pasta. It’s not full on Atkins. I want to eat vegetables and fruit. After all, mangoes are in season 😃

  1. Yessss! Butter chilli! I can’t each much chilli, but butter chilli is something I will always have a bit of when it’s there, or butter chilli oil 😃 This salad does look miles better than your average caesar salad. Very good 😀

              1. Tinned crab meat…shock horror. Then again real crabs and crab meat is painful to buy 😀 Now maybe try something more realistic: chilli butter salmon salad 😃

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