Nut Free

This slaw can be made up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Refrigerate the cooked bacon separately, wrapped in paper towels, in a resealable plastic bag; reheat it on a baking sheet in a 325°F oven until it’s warm and crisp.

Mâche, or lamb’s lettuce, is a tender, nutty green. If it’s unavailable, try watercress as a delicious substitute.

For a complete meal, serve this salad with pita bread, feta cheese, and hummus. If you are on a low-sodium diet, substitute a less salty cheese for the feta.

This salad tastes best up to 1 hour after making it. To make ahead store the salad components separately (up to 3 hours), and toss before serving.

We recommend serving this juicy salad as a first course, either alone or accompanied by mixed greens. We used beefsteak tomatoes, but any fresh, ripe tomatoes would be equally delicious.

If you can find it, use Zephyr squash, which is yellow with a pale-green tip. You can also use a mix of young green and yellow squashes.

Soaking the anchovies in red-wine vinegar gives them a wonderful pickled flavor.

You can intensify the garlic flavor by rubbing an additional clove on one side of the toasted bread before tearing it into chunks.

The small inner leaves of romaine lettuce are tender and crisp, perfect for this salad. Use a vegetable peeler to shave the Pecorino Romano.

Chioggia beets are pink on the outside and striped on the inside. Because they are not cooked in this recipe, choose tender baby beets. You can use red or golden beets if Chioggia beets are unavailable. After your grill becomes hot, grill the lemon halves, cut side down, until lightly charred. Remove, let cool slightly, and squeeze their warm juice over the vegetables.