Serve this light spring salad with Italian Coppa bacon, croutons and an unusual but delicious vinaigrette made of cold coffee, apple juice and honey mustard for a refreshing change. Mixed leaves garnished with poached quail eggs also make it a feast for the eyes.

Portions: 4

Ingredients:

For the vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 6 tbsp strong cold coffee
• 3 tbsp naturally cloudy apple juice
• 1 tsp grain mustard
• 1 tbsp wild honey
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tbsp virgin olive oil

For the salad

• around 120 g mixed spring salad (rocket, baby spinach, cress, dandelion, organic flowers, etc.)
• 1 baguette,
• 50 g thinly sliced Coppa (Italian bacon, cut from the neck),
• 12 fresh quail eggs
• salt
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• kitchen paper

Preparation:

1. Whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette and taste.
2. Wash the salad leaves, sort them and spin them dry.
3. Preheat the oven. Settings: Top / Bottom Heat / 180° C.
4. Cut the baguette into very thin slices. Lay the slices of baguette and bacon on a baking tray, place on the third shelf up from the bottom of the oven and toast for 6–7 minutes. Turn over the slices of bread and bacon together.
5. Break each quail egg individually and place in a shot glass or small egg cup.
6. In a small pan (approx. 18 cm diameter), bring 300 ml water to the boil with 2 tsp salt and the white wine vinegar. Once it has come to the boil, reduce the heat to level 1, place the quail eggs one at a time into the hot, but not boiling, water and poach them for 2–3 minutes. Remove the eggs one by one with a fork and drain on kitchen paper.
7. Dress the salad leaves with the vinaigrette and distribute between the plates. Add the bacon slices and croutons. Top with the quail eggs and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

Tips:

• Baguettes are easier to slice thinly if they are a day or two old. The easiest way is to use a bread slicing machine.
• The croutons taste more sophisticated if they are rubbed with the cut surface of a garlic clove after toasting.
• Be careful when using a conventional hob – the water must no longer be boiling when you are poaching the eggs!

Production: Regine Smith Thyme
Foodstyling: Marlies Klosterfelde-Wentzel
Styling: Katrin Heinatz
Photo: © Wolfgang Kowall