frisee salad with smoked salmon and poached egg

The inspiration for this salad (like the pizza from earlier this week) came from the July edition of Cooking Light. The combination of ingredients sounds a little strange, I'll admit. But there was something about the poached egg in this recipe that was unexpectedly intriguing... 

The original recipe called for bacon (you may recall that I recently cut meat out of my diet, though I am still going to allow fish, so I substituted smoked salmon) and rye bread (which just sounded strange to me, so I left it out). I also added tomato, because it sounded like it would work well with the other ingredients. Here's how my version went:

Frisee Salad with Smoked Salmon & Poached Egg

Serves 2

Dressing:

1/4 c. white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped

freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, to taste

1 large or 2 small heads of frisee, torn into bite sized pieces

2-4 oz. smoked salmon, separated into small pieces

1 tomato, chopped (I used a large orange heirloom)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine frisee, tomatoes, and smoked salmon. Pour dressing over top and mix well. Divide onto 2 plates.

Add water to a large skillet, filling it 2/3 full. Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add vinegar. Break eggs into pan and cook for about 3 minutes, until desired doneness. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and place one on top of each salad. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper.

I still think this salad sounds strange, but the flavors actually worked together really well. Also after consuming, I understood why the original recipe called for bread/croutons - without them, it wasn't super filling. Croutons or possibly rolls & butter on the side would fix this. 

Let me know what you think!