Salad??? Yeah.. Beefsteak Tomato, Butterhead Lettuce, and Bacon with Blue Cheese Dressing

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min

Big chunks of sun-ripened tomato and soft leaves of butterhead lettuce—Boston or Bibb, for instance—are topped with a creamy blue cheese dressing (fine-tuned with a wizardly touch of bacon fat) and plenty of crisp homemade bacon bits. It is a familiar yet striking kickoff to a bucolic meal seriously focused on produce.

Ingredients:

6 bacon slices, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons whole milk plus additional if necessary
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 scallion, chopped
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (1/4 pound), divided
1 (1/2-pound) head Bibb or Boston lettuce
1 large beefsteak tomato, cut into wedges

preparation:

Cook bacon in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet.

Whisk together 1 tablespoon hot bacon fat, sour cream, milk, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until smooth. Stir in scallion and 2/3 cup blue cheese. Thin with additional milk if desired.

Quarter lettuce lengthwise (through stem) into wedges, then remove core and arrange each wedge on a plate with tomato wedges. Stir dressing and spoon over top. Sprinkle with bacon, remaining 1/3 cup blue cheese, and pepper to taste.