My three-cheese salad, with potato & bacon

Fill half the bowl with
torn iceberg lettuce, washed,
taken from close to the heart
but with a couple of
outer leaves left in for
contrast. Then sultanas,
40 grams, one of those
backpack packets, put in
early to absorb the moisture
from the lettuce; & nuts,
preferably pecans, chopped
into pieces half a sultana
size. Peel a carrot, & then
still with the peeler, slice
long strips off it that lie
across the bowl like
Japanese banners, rice-paper
thin. Now the cheese. I use
two at this point, a tasty cheddar
from New Zealand & a Greek
fetta, both cut into cubes
that are slightly less
than a centimetre along each
edge. The tomato is cut
the same way. Cracked black pepper
on the tomato, allowed to
stand for a couple of minutes
so the pepper infuses & then
over all of it some sort of
dressing, perhaps a classic Italian
or a red wine vinaigrette. Or even
use just good old fashioned
lemon juice. Now toss the salad.

*

Boil two eggs. Peel a reasonably-
sized potato - white-fleshed Pontiacs
come up well - & cut into cubes
about twice the size of the cheese.
When the eggs have been boiling
for just under five minutes
take them off & put them
in the sink. Run cold water
over them. Then use the same
saucepan for the potato pieces - it
saves on the washing up. Cut up
two rashers of bacon into pieces
the size of a postage stamp & fry.
(I can offer no alternatives
for those of you with dietary
proscriptions, but you must be
used to it by now.) The potato
is small, shouldn't take
too long to cook, should be ready
at the same time as the bacon.
Pour off the water then empty
the pieces into the frying pan.
Let stand for a few minutes.

*

Peel the eggs then slice them.

*

Cover the salad with the bacon
& potato mix. Take some
smoked cheese & with one of
those slightly concave flatbed graters
that produce extruded cilia strands
sparsely cover the top of the bowl.
Garnish with the slices of egg.
Perhaps some cherry tomatoes as well.

*

Serve with fish or a T-bone
steak. Though it's filling enough
to be eaten on its own.

*

Wine? I leave that to an
oenophile. For myself I prefer lager
drunk from the bottle, ice-cold
so there is condensation on the glass.
It is a special moment
when it catches up
with the backtaste of the pepper.