French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [79]
LES SALAISONS
SALT FISH, OLIVES, ETC.
The salt element in the hors-d’œuvre is nearly always supplied by olives, anchovies or salt herrings. Whenever possible, buy loose olives, choosing the smaller varieties, the bigger ones being more suitable for cooking. Store them in jars, covered with oil, and they will keep well and always be to hand when needed. The little Spanish green olives stuffed with anchovies or hazel nuts which are imported in tins are delicious. Unless you consume a vast quantity of anchovies it is best to buy the little 2 oz. tins of anchovy fillets in oil rather than the big tins, which soon go stale after they are opened. Herrings in brine vary so much in quality that it is impossible to give any specific instructions, but if they are too salt they should be steeped in half milk, half water, drained, and then dressed with a vinaigrette, with a little chopped hard-boiled egg and a few capers as a garnish.
LÉGUMES EN SALADE
VEGETABLE SALADS
A salad of cooked vegetables supplies the soft element of an hors-d’œuvre; it may be potato salad, white haricot beans, beetroot, leeks, french beans. Boil them, in the case of potatoes and beetroots, in their skins. Keep them firm; drain them carefully. Always skin and season them while still hot with a dressing of oil, vinegar or lemon, salt, pepper; a little mustard if you like. According to taste add a little chopped shallot or garlic; parsley, chives or tarragon. Recipes for various vegetable salads are given below. See also the chapter on vegetables.
A rice salad, mixed with a few little prawns or strips of sweet pepper, comes into the same category; again, keep the rice on the firm side; season while hot, not forgetting a little nutmeg and tarragon vinegar as well as oil, salt and pepper. The detailed recipe for rice salad is on page 151.
LÉGUMES À LA GRECQUE
VEGETABLES COOKED IN OIL FOR HORS-D’ŒUVRE
In spite of the name, this method of preparing vegetables to be served cold is typically French, and also provides the soft, emollient element in a mixed hors-d’œuvre. Leaf artichokes, celery, mushrooms, courgettes, fennel, small onions, leeks can all be served in this manner. Recipes are on pages 138 and 139.
CONCOMBRES EN SALADE
CUCUMBER SALAD
To slice cucumber really thinly you need the instrument called a mandoline (see page 64). In France the cucumber is nearly always peeled (use a potato parer) and is best prepared a little time ahead. Slice it almost paper thin on the mandoline, sprinkle it with salt, put in a colander with a plate pressed down over it and leave to drain. After a minimum of half an hour press it dry and dress with oil, a few drops of vinegar, a pinch of sugar. Sprinkle with chopped chives, chervil or parsley.
The gherkin cucumbers, short and fat, which are used for pickling and which come into the shops in August, can be treated in the same fashion, and it is essential to peel them as their skins are apt to be bitter; then cut them in half lengthways and discard the coarse seeds before slicing them, and be rather more generous with the sugar in the dressing.
As the season advances, ordinary cucumbers become full of seed and watery, and they too should have the seeds removed in the same way as the cornichon cucumbers.
SALADE DE POMMES DE TERRE
POTATO SALAD
It is far from easy to make a good potato salad without the right variety of potatoes, and it is a curious fact that in England, where the potato is considered such an essential daily food, it is next to impossible to find those long kidney-shaped waxy potatoes which are grown on the Continent and which are the only ones which do not collapse in the cooking. When asked if they could not put these potatoes on the market the growers give the usual stonewalling reply, ‘there would be no market for them.’ How do they know there would be no market for them until they try? Was there, one cannot help wondering, a ‘market