Happy French Friday! This is going to be short and sweet today. Plus, it’s a double French Friday since I missed last week. Between having a sick child, doing the taxes, getting ready for Easter, and working on a super-secret sewing project, I’ve been busy!
We’ll start off with Asparagus and Bits of Bacon, a simple and delicious side dish. This one is so easy! Asparagus is cooked until just tender, then tossed with walnut oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cooked and chopped bacon is then heated briefly with finely chopped onion in some of the bacon fat, and spooned over the asparagus. The onion is hardly cooked; just warmed slightly. I was a little worried about the taste of raw onion, but rinsing the chopped onion before heating took the bite away. I really liked the taste of the barely cooked onion and bacon together! My one complaint about this dish is that it took some coordination to get a bite that included the bacon, onion, and asparagus together, since the onion-bacon mixture did not “stick” to the asparagus. This would make a lovely side dish for Easter.
Next up is Crab and Grapefruit Salad. This refreshing salad combines grapefruit, crab, cucumber, red bell pepper, and green onions, and is tossed with a bit of olive oil, Tabasco, lemon juice, and fresh mint. I topped mine off with some arugula tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. This was a delicious way to enjoy crab and made a lovely spring dinner. I only wish the weather had been better. This salad makes you want to eat outside on a warm, sunny evening!
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From Scratch 
Both of those dishes look fantastic. We all enjoyed this too, and I agree about
the onion not cooking to long, it had a nice taste to it. Happy Easter.
It all looks so lovely! And on such a beautiful Friday afternoon, I can easily envision either on of those on my table.
Wonderful looking dishes! And very nice pictures! Have a nice Easter and I hope you child is feeling better too…
Both salads look great but arugula is probably the most despised leafy green for me – too peppery! LOL! Have a great Easter!
Kudos for the catch up. I have been struggling myself. We are going nuts getting the kids settled to start college and a school year abroad next year so things like laundry and FFWD are truly requiring my A game. Luckily I have Nana who has been supplying me with ingredients, tips and support- phew. Glad you enjoyed both dishes. We did too but started out 100% sure we would like the asparagus and 100% sure we would NOT like the crab dish. They were both winners ~
I couldn’t bear the raw onion, so just cooked it. I liked the end result. your crab salad looks wonderful. I like the arugula topping. The crab salad is a very photogenic dish. Have a happy Easter.
Your photos are lovely and both your dishes look perfect.
Both dishes look terrific! I’m still tweaking that grapefruit and crab salad – so much potential, but our flavors were off a bit. I like the idea of arugula with it!