Bacon and Black Pudding Salad with Croutons

Yesterday we had a lovely afternoon at Taste of Dublin. There was such a vast amount of food stalls that Jack and I didn't know where to start. It was wonderful to get the opportunity to meet different national food producers. Also, we were lucky enough to chat with some of the chefs that were demonstrating on the day.

One thing I picked up on the day was a really good quality black pudding by Inch House. They are based in Thurles but the pudding is stocked in many stores nationwide. Clonakilty is also a good pudding but many butchers now make their own good quality pudding and for this dish to work you need to source the best quality you can find.

Here is Jack with Donal Skehan, food blogger (Good Mood Food) who gave a demo of a couple of delicious dishes from his new book.

If you are not a fan of black pudding, this salad can also be made with strips of chicken that are pan-fried in a little oil and butter.

Bacon and Black Pudding Salad with Croutons

Ingredients

100g (4oz) white bread, crusts removed cut into squares

6 tbsp olive oil

225g (8oz) black pudding

1 crisp eating apple

25g (1oz) butter, at room temp

icing sugar, to dust
50g (2oz) rashers, diced

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp golden syrup

150g (5oz) mixed baby salad leaves

small handful chive flowers

salt and black pepper

Method

1. To make the croutons, heat 3 tbsp oil on the pan, when hot add the diced bread and fry each side until golden. Remove and leave to cool.

2. Grill the black pudding. Heat the pan and add the butter and apple slices, dust with little icing sugar and cook until the apples are caramelised.

3. Meanwhile, heat a little oil on a pan and fry the diced bacon until crisp.

4. To make the dressing whisk 3 tbsp olive oil with the vinegar, mustard and golden syrup in a small bowl. Season to taste.

To Serve

Divide the salad leaves and chive flowers between 4 serving plates. Scatter over the croutons, black pudding slices, caramelised apple wedges and bacon, then drizzle over the dressing.

Serve with some crusty bread or my multiseed brown bread to mop up all the delicious juices.