French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [87]
SALADE DE PISSENLITS
DANDELION SALAD
In France dandelion is specially cultivated under cover for picking in winter and spring. Occasionally both winter and summer varieties can be found in shops such as Roche in Old Compton Street, specialising in French vegetables. One of the best ways of eating it is to fry a few little cubes of streaky bacon until the fat runs, pour this hot over the prepared dandelion (1 lb. is ample for four or five people) in the salad bowl, quickly add 2 or 3 tablespoons of wine vinegar to the fat in the frying pan, let it bubble, then pour this, too, over the salad. Mix well and eat it quickly. This is a good country way of dealing with any rather tough-leaved and bitter salad such as curly and Batavian endives, called endive frisée and scarole respectively.
SALADE VERTE A L’ANGEVINE
GREEN SALAD WITH GRUYÈRE CHEESE
This salad was chosen by Curnonsky one year when several of the contributors of Cuisine et Vins de France, the magazine which he founded, chose their ideal Christmas Eve menu. Curnonsky’s chosen dishes were pâté de foie gras de Strasbourg en croûte, Belon oysters, a truffled goose with chestnut stuffing, the angevin salad, cheeses and fruit.
The salad consists simply of a few leaves of green stuff (lettuce or curly endive or dandelion) and little cubes of Gruyère cheese, the salad seasoned with savory and dressed with olive oil and no more than a suspicion of vinegar.
It is simple, interesting and good.
ENDIVES EN SALADE
BELGIAN ENDIVE SALAD
Having discarded the outside leaves of the long smooth Belgian endives, also sometimes called chicory or witloof, wipe the endives clean with a cloth (do not wash them), cut the root end off with a silver knife, then cut the endives across into half-inch chunks. Mix them well with a dressing of olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice.
A few thin rounds of red or green sweet pepper or some well-seasoned beetroot both go well with endive, the latter being almost a routine French winter salad.
SALADE DE CÉLERIS ET DE BETTERAVES
CELERY AND BEETROOT SALAD
An admirable winter salad to serve either after a chicken or meat dish or at Christmas with your turkey. The diced beetroot is dressed with a highly seasoned oil and vinegar dressing, a scrap of garlic, chopped parsley. The celery, cut into julienne strips, is separately seasoned with oil, salt and lemon, and piled lightly on top of the beetroot just before serving.
SALADE DE RIZ AUX TOMATES
RICE AND TOMATO SALAD
The success of this dish lies in the cooking of the rice to the right degree and in the seasoning, which must be done while it is still hot.
For four people cook 8 oz. of good quality rice, whether round or long-grained is not of great importance, in plenty of boiling salted water. Add a piece of lemon, which helps to keep the rice snow white. For most rice 12 minutes after the water comes back to the boil will be enough, but this is impossible to say exactly, because rice differs so very much in quality, and there are the factors of the amount of water, the size of the saucepan and so on to take into consideration. At any rate, the rice should not be very soft, rather it should have a bite to it. Drain it in a colander, and immediately mix with it any extra salt needed, quite a generous grating of nutmeg, about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 teaspoons of tarragon vinegar.
The tomatoes should be prepared beforehand: 4 or 5 large, ripe, red ones should be skinned (to do this dip them in boiling water), sliced into rounds, and left on a plate sprinkled with salt and pepper. Place them on top of the rice. Over them