Spinach Salad with Warm Goat Cheese and Bacon Dressing

There only a few salads I really like.  Caprese, Beefsteak Tomato and Onion and Spinach Salad.  I was making a dressing from a book recipe and didn't really like it so I used the same ideas and came up with my own. This makes enough for 4 good sized salads.

Ingredients

2 lbs of baby spinach, rinsed
8 oz goat cheese, cut into chunks.
1 red onion (1/4 sliced thin, 3/4 diced)
8 strips quality bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt & pepper
10-12 grape tomatoes - halved
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grated jack or chihuahua cheese
1/4 cup of water

Method

Put the spinach in a large bowl along with the sliced onion and tomatoes.

In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat add the olive oil and bacon and cook bacon until about 3/4 done. Scoop out the bacon and let it drain on a plate lined with a paper towel. Keep about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan, cook until the onions are soft. Add the vinegar and brown sugar. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium heat (Until the sugar is all dissolved). Add the goat cheese and 1/2 of the cooked bacon. Stir and cook until the goat cheese is all melted. Add salt and pepper to taste at this point. If the dressing is too thick then stir in the water to thin it. You want it loose. It will thicken as it cools.

Drizzle 1/4 of the hot dressing over the spinach. Toss with tongs, coating as much spinach as possible. Repeat this step until the dressing is all incorporated. The spinach should wilt a little from the heat of the dressing and be well coated. Add in the remaining bacon and the shredded cheese. Toss a final time. Serve.

*You can used candied bacon to top off this salad. Just use 4
  strips of bacon in the dressing instead of 8. The candied
  bacon goes great on this salad.

**Alternative Dressing (From Grady Spears)
     1 cup olive oil
     1/4 cup rice vinegar
     1/4 cup light caro syrup
     2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
     Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper

     Whisk all together until well blended. Toss the salad
     ingredients until well coated.