Smoked Salmon and Fried Egg Salad with Mushrooms, Pine Nuts & Leeks

This salad boasts an unusual but delicious combination of flavors. We've been enjoying this salad since our pre-Gundry day, but all of the wonderful ingredients work for the diet.  Keep in mind that the salmon, nuts and eggs are all proteins, so you'll have to adjust the recipe to fit your stage of the diet.  This recipe, now one of our "go to" week night meals, comes from the March 2009 issue of Sunset magazine.

1 large leek, white and green parts*
4 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon chopped, fresh thyme
3 cups cremini (or other) mushrooms, thinly sliced
6 oz. smoked salmon, torn into small pieces
4 large eggs
8 oz. salad mix

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut leek into approximately 3-inch cylinders.  Cut each cylinder in half and slice the leek lengthwise to create thin slivers.*  Place the slivers on a rimmed baking sheet.  Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss.  Bake slivers until some are golden and beginning to crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, put pine nuts in a shallow pan and bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine 3 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.  Add mushrooms and salmon and toss gently to coat.

Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet and heat to medium.  Crack eggs into pan (or a cup first to make sure you don't get any shells in the pan), spacing evenly.  When whites are set (approximately 2 to 3 minutes) carefully flip eggs and cook until yolks are soft set, about 30 seconds.

Add salad mix to bowl with mushrooms and salmon and toss to coat.  Divide salad mixture among plates, top each with egg, pine nuts and leek slivers.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 2 to 4.

*Leeks carry a lot of dirt and need to be rinsed well. Sometimes you can get rid of most of the dirt simply by peeling away the outer layers.  You can also rinse the leek after cutting - place the pieces of leek in a large bowl of water, "swish" around, let sit (the pieces of dirt will sink to the bottom), and then pull out the pieces of leek and dry on a towel.
*I hold the leek cut side up and cut the very edge of the leek first, working my way toward the center.