Spinach Salad with Smoked Bacon, Fresh Berries and Goat Cheese

A summer spinach salad with smoked bacon, fresh berries, nectarine, and goat cheese in a balsamic shallot vinaigrette. Protein, fiber, and enough flavor to make it a main course.

Jennifer Ann Blair writes about food, wine, and the stories that live in recipe boxes.

Spinach salad with strawberries and bacon is a traditional dish. The Midwest knew what it was doing, chasing summer produce before the frost arrived, pairing what grew together because the season said so. In California, we have the luxury of year-round bounty, but the trick is that the produce tastes better at different times. A nectarine in July is at its peak sweetness. A tomato in August tastes like summer itself. California sunshine does the ripening and the rest follows.

I have always been the salad maker. The baker, the sweet sauce maker, and the salad maker. That's me. This recipe is inspired by my little sister Jackie and my dad. We were out to dinner years ago at a steakhouse. She was maybe fourteen, perfectly capable of ordering for herself. My dad loved a salad bar — the kind where you can go back as many times as you want — and he kept talking over her, steering her toward it. Spinach salad. Spinach salad. We all started laughing. She knew what she wanted. She got it. Happy memory. I bring it up from time to time. So I made her one. A better one. It's 90 degrees outside, and by dinner it will be hotter. The oven stays off. Make the salad. Keep it simple.

This is that spinach salad, made in her honor, made considerably better. It is 90 degrees outside, and by dinner it will be hotter. The oven stays off. The vinaigrette goes in the mason jar and is shaken until it’s ready. Everything else is summer doing what it does best.

Notes

To make this vegetarian, omit the bacon and add a handful of candied or spiced walnuts for crunch and protein. The salad holds up beautifully either way.

This salad delivers protein from the bacon, goat cheese, and almonds, and fiber from the spinach, berries, and nectarine. For more protein, add a sliced grilled chicken breast.

The nectarine adds a crisp balance to the softer berries and tomatoes. Peach works equally well, but peel it first to remove the fuzzy skin.

Trader Joe's carries all three specialty ingredients: uncured applewood smoked bacon with no sugar, dry toasted sliced almonds, and Chèvre with honey.

The vinaigrette can be made a day ahead. Keep refrigerated in the mason jar and shake again before serving.

Jennifer Ann Blair writes about what’s worth remembering — a recipe, a person, a dinner table joke that turned into a family dish.