Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad

I just pulled up the first sweet potato from my garden and knew that it deserved a massive celebration … in my mouth.

With the arugula propagating like a weed in the garden, it now serves as the base for salads around here. There are three kinds currently growing. One is rather spindly, but the other two are tender with broader leaves, one which is pleasantly spicy. The other lettuces we planted either never took off or are just too bitter from the earlier heat.

This salad invented itself last week from the ingredients I had on hand. The lack of dressing makes up for the bacon, so don’t fret.

Ingredients
several strips of bacon
1 sweet potato
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion
1 handful of arugula, rinsed
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
salt to taste

First, fry up that bacon and set it aside. Maybe eat a piece while you cook. Pour off the excess bacon fat while saving enough in the pan to sautée the onions. If I had to put a number on it, I’d guess two tablespoons. While the chopped onions are cooking over medium heat, cut the sweet potato into half-inch thick pieces and then quarter those. Toss them in the pan once the onions start to become translucent. Sprinkle salt into the mix I you like, or trust the bacon to do the job. Once the potatoes are just browning and soft through the middle, put them on the plate over the arugula. Crumble the bacon over the salad and finally top with the goat cheese or your cheese of the hour.

The flavor is just so fantastic that I can’t imagine needing a salad dressing. It already has the sweet (potato and onions), tangy (cheese) and salty(bacon. If you must, find something that want mask all those amazing seasonal flavors.