I’ve eaten this salad (recipe below) twice in the last week, and to call it one of the best salads I’ve ever had would be like calling Vice President Cheney a big fat liar; it’s that good.

I was inspired by a salad I had once at Beppe, of field greens, tarragon vinaigrette, pancetta, and softly scrambled eggs. Mine’s only a bit different, but different enough that I feel free to name it (does this salad have a name? Foodies, get thee to ) after my frikkin favorite place to be when it’s hot, where I’m sure it would taste delicious. (If I’m lucky enough to steal away to Maine in August, postscript will follow.)


Bar Harbor Salad

as one who got a C in “Chemistry for Citizens” in college, I’m basing my ingredient amounts around how much I’d make for two people who want to have a filling but light meal

—Enough baby spinach leaves (or, Boston lettuce if no spinach is available) for two
—Six bacon strips
—One avocado, tender to the touch, sliced to slivers
—Four eggs
—1 tbsp. heavy cream
—1 tbsp. butter
—2 tbsp. parmesan (freshly grated; you don’t want the pre-shredded or comes-in-a-tube kind for this recipe)
—1 tbsp. good olive oil, preferably one that’s peppery
—Half a lemon
—Salt, pepper to taste

1. Cook bacon until crisp. De-grease with paper towels, then chop to slivers. (Tip for fewer pans: cook the bacon in a foil-lined tray in your toaster oven at 350.)

2. While the bacon’s cooking, wash spinach leaves, dry, then chop to shreds. (We’re talking short ribbon size, not parsley flakes.) Throw the leaves in a big bowl and add your chopped bacon and the avocado. Mix vigorously.

3. Heat a small pan and toss in the butter. Beat your eggs with a fork, and when the butter’s melted and the foam’s almost gone, toss in the eggs and almost immediately begin to stir.

4. Do not overcook your eggs! Keep scrambling (stirring, attacking chumps) until they’re cooked but wet, then add the cream, still stirring. Wet is good. Salt to taste.

5. Fold the eggs into the salad and mix well. Drizzle the oil over the top and squeeze the lemon over the salad for about one or two teaspoons of juice, careful to prevent seeds from falling in. Do not put the lemon in the salad. Mix again, toss in the parmesan, crank some pepper on top, mix some more, and serve. Goes really well with crusty farm bread, especially sourdough.