Summer salad nr 3 – La Salade Niçoise

One of my favorite summer salads is a Salade Niçoise.  The first time we vacationed in France this was all I ate, mostly because I was afraid of ordering something with frog legs. But even after I have become acquainted with "safe" menu choices, this salad has remained my all time favorite.

I love the briny flavors of the olives and anchovies with the mild egg and potatoes. I still order this when we are in Provence.  The ingredients are NEVER the same, from restaurant to restaurant as everyone has "improved" it with their own touches and normal variances according to what is in season but core ingredients are tuna, anchovies, green beans, eggs, potatoes, lettuce with a Dijon vinaigrette.

The salad in this photograph is Salade Niçoise interpreted by an outdoor café in Menerbes where we had lunch after a bit of site-seeing this past weekend.

La Salade Niçoise

— pour la vinaigrette:
Dijon mustard
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Pepper
— pour la salade:
Tomatoes in boats
Cooked potatoes sliced
Spring onions chopped
Mixed lettuce cleaned and crisp
Cooked egg in boats
Tuna in olive oil
Anchovies (give them a try - this gives the salad a nice salty flavor)
Good quality green or black olives
Artichoke hearts (marinated)
Green beans (lightly steamed and chilled)

Basil leaves
Toss the greens with the vinaigrette and arrange the remaining ingredients decoratively on the salad!

Voila´

After a nice lunch we got to watch some local beekeepers remove a hive that had unfortunately placed itself in the middle of the market area.  It was a perfect amount of drama after a nice lunch and wander about the hillside village.

When we got home I had to make one. Here is a pic of My Salad Nicoise. It's only fair to say that this salad received an embarrassing 4 of 10 from hubby.  I think it has to do with his dislike of anchovies but also the mildness of the dish.

Summer salad nr. 2 - Swedish chicken curry salad

This recipe we discovered on a three-week road trip around Sweden some 8 years ago.  I had plotted out every arts and crafts store in southern Sweden and hubby drove us diligently from one place to another in a borrowed camper.

There are 3 food experiences I remember from the trip.  Peanut doodles (like cheese doodles but peanut butter dust instead of cheese dust), licorice ice cream and Chicken curry salad.  The latter is the salad I have recreated for this post and of course our dinner.


The chicken curry salad came on everything! At the Ekelund factory we had chicken curry salad on a steaming baked potato, at the Orrefors factory they put it in a baguette and on Öland they served it on pasta. My favorite stop on Öland was the Paradise workshop were I got some of the wonderful ceramic eggs they make! Which reminds me that it might be time to go back.

We have settled on our own variation with rice as our preferred starch as the juiciness in the salad makes a nice sauce for the rice.  I serve the rice warm and the salad cold and think it is a good contrast.  Any good rice will do such as basmati, jasmine, natural or wild.
Now, I will be the first to admit that this salad does not photograph well.  It looks like yellow smush, sorry that I couldn't capture the cheeriness of this dish.
Chicken curry salad
Shredded chicken breasts (boiled with 2 garlic boats)
Fresh mango - chunked
Fresh or canned pineapple in juice
Canned Mandarin
finely chopped shallots
add fruit and some juice to the warm shredded chicken breasts
add curry powder until you get a bright yellow color, I have sometimes used saffron to improve the color or Norwegian gurkemeie (Curcuma longa L.).  NOTE: If you are using a spicy  curry powder such as Madras Curry powder, color the dish with a milder curry. I have also tried Pataks Curry paste in varied strengths but was not pleased with the texture it gave.
Sea salt - to taste
Fresh ground pepper - to taste
Chili pepper flakes
Chili powder

Let these flavors meld in the refrigerator until cool.
When cool add sour cream, crème fraîche or yogurt cheese -to moisten.  Whatever you have or prefer will do.  I have tried all of them with good results.

Serve on rice and garnish with roasted cashews (if you need the MUFAS).

Non-salad loving hubby gives this also an 8 on a 10 point scale!

Guten Appetit!

Summer salad nr. 1 - Salmon Mango salad

Summer is all about salads in our house.  Things that can be made ahead and picked out of the refrigerator when the day cools down and the appetite awakens.

During a trip to Stavanger I ran across Déjà Vu Delikatesser where I had a lovely salad which I have tried to recreate here.




Salmon Mango Salad
Field salad - I used red leafed for a little color
Fresh mango - chunked
Fresh cantalope - chunked
Smoked salmon - in pieces
Sweet peas in a pod - chopped
Sprouts - preferably crunchy type
Shallots - finely minced
Cayenne and Chipotle pepper flakes
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
Toss above ingredients in a large bowl


Dressing
Balsamic vinegar
Squish of lime juice
Salad Olive Oil
Dijon mustard
Mix well

We didn't have wasabi paste to mix in the dressing but we did have wasabi potato chips which are very spicy.  I crushed some over the salad. I would also consider Wasabi dried peas or Wasabi covered peanuts as a nice  spicy / crunchy addition.

Hubby isn't a fan of salads or salmon (the dislike of salmon is due to an overdose from several years of commuting on Scandinavian Airlines in the early 2000's) but this salad he gave a 8 on a 10 point scale.

Bon Appetit!