Classic Chopped Salad

Directions

1. For dressing, peel garlic, split lengthwise, and remove any green germ or interior sprout. Finely chop the garlic and mix with a generous sprinkling of kosher salt. Hold knife with blade facing away from you; repeatedly rub garlic and salt together with flat of the blade to work it into a fine paste. Transfer mashed garlic to a small bowl. Squeeze lemon over garlic, catching seeds with your fingers. Stir in an additional sprinkling of salt. Allow to stand 10 to 15 minutes so lemon can tame the garlic. Whisk in creme fraiche; season with salt and a few grinds of black pepper. To give flavors time to develop, refrigerate for 1 hour. The dressing keeps in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
2. Cut lettuce into bite-size pieces. Cook corn and green beans in a large amount of rapidly boiling, lightly salted water for 1 to 3 minutes.
3. In a very large salad bowl combine corn, beans, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and half the chives. Add two or three spoonfuls of dressing and toss gently.
4. Add lettuce to bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and most of the remaining chives. Add an additional drizzle of dressing. Gather vegetables from bottom of the bowl and lift up and over the lettuce. Repeat until ingredients are just mixed, adding additional dressing as necessary to coat. Just before serving, add the avocado and bacon. Top servings with additional chives. Makes 8 servings.