I do love a good salad. I’m not talking about a few random leaves tossed in a ubiquitous dressing, an amalgam of apathy. We’ve all had them. Simplicity is appropriate when the produce is really fresh and the dressing is muted. Sometimes it can be just some good oil, a squeeze of lemon and a little salt.
One of my older cookery books is by Edouard de Pomiane, a French cookery writer of Polish heritage who died in 1964. He was a big influence on the career of the young Elizabeth David.
He wrote a simple recipe that still influences me to this day and I have done adaptations of it in this column, notably for a cheat’s Caesar salad. His recipe for lettuces with cream has three ingredients: “The hearts of 3 lettuces, 5 tablespoons double cream, 1 tablespoon vinegar.” The method is four sentences: “Wash and dry the lettuces carefully, separate the leaves and put them into a salad bowl. Mix the cream and vinegar in a small bowl with a little salt. Pour this over the lettuce and scarcely toss it using a very delicate movement. Serve this salad with a white meat such as chicken or roast veal.”
You get an indication here for his reverence for the ingredients. It’s good to look back once in a while, to ground ourselves.
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The salads I am writing about this week are all different. The first two are a bit cheffy and indeed since writing the recipe have made an appearance in the Tannery restaurant. I made a version of the Balkan walnut sauce, tarator, to go with the carrots. On its own, it might take a moment or two to love, but with the carrots it’s divine. Whipping the goats cheese with the cream makes it light and ethereal. In the second recipe, the balsamic vinegar really makes a difference, along with the first of the blackberries.
The last recipe is a risky riff on the Italian bread salad panzanella. I really wasn’t sure about it right up to the last moment, when it all came together, real seat-of-the-pants stuff. There were lessons learned: buy good dark treacly brown bread and pat the chickpeas dry. I make the mistakes so hopefully you won’t have to.
Recipe: Roasted carrot salad, tarator and cress
Recipe: Bitter leaves, whipped goat’s cheese, Burren Balsamic vinegar
