Corn salad with basil pesto dressing

Tags

basil, corn, green beans, pesto, salad, summer

The salad really does become more flavourful over time, so I like to make it a few hours in advance before serving — this makes it perfect for a summer picnic or barbecue.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 4 corn cobs
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 100g / 4oz fine green beans
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• A handful basil leaves, chopped, to garnish
• For the basil pesto dressing
• 250g / 7 to 8oz basil pesto
• Juice and grated rind of ½ lemon, to taste

Preparation:

Cook the corn in boiling salted water for 8 minutes, or until just tender
Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and reserve in a bowl
Heat the butter in a pan and sauté the garlic
Add the green beans, cook for 3 minutes and season to taste
Mix the corn with the remaining salad ingredients
Mix the pesto, zest and juice of ½ lemon
Pour the basil pesto over the salad and toss well
Scatter with basil leaves to garnish

Enjoy!

Salade Frisée aux Lardons – Endive salad with bacon

Tags

bacon, classic french, egg, endive, frisee, lardons, salad

Maison Travers

This is one of my all time favorite classic french bistro salads. So easy to put together and a meal in itself or a starter, all depends on how much you serve yourself. You want to use a nice curly endive salad with tender, light green centers. Do not use the harder dark green outer leaves. For the lardons, you may use bacon or pancetta and traditionally the egg is a soft poached egg. Clearly as you can see from my photograph, I did not use a poached egg. A poached egg is way better as when you cut into it, it runs out onto the salad, croutons and lardons and is so good, but I had two hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator that I wanted to use, so I used that instead.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 handfuls frisée / curly endive
200g lardons
4 eggs
2 teaspoons dijon mustard

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La macédoine de legumes / macédoine of vegetables in salad

Tags

bistrot cooking, classic french recipe, hors d'œuvres, macedoine, mayonnaise, salad, starter, vegetables

 

Macédoine is a salad composed of small pieces of fruit or vegetables. Vegetable Macedonia or Macédoine de légumes nowadays is usually a cold salad or hors d’oeuvre of diced vegetables served with mayonnaise. Of course, a good homemade mayonnaise will turn this simple starter salad in something quite special, so I highly recommend taking the time to make your own, if at all possible. I added a few flagolets or lima beans that I had left over to mine but this is not part of the classic recipe so I have not included them below. I wanted to serve my macédoine for lunch so included a few slices of excellent ham freshly shaved by my local butcher.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

350g / 12oz carrots
150g / 5oz long turnips
180g / 6oz fine green beans
500g / 1 lb fresh peas
Small bunch of chives, chopped finely
450g / 1 lb ham (jambon blanc de Paris) sliced thinly
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon strong Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white wine or champagne vinegar
3/4 cup / 180 ml sunflower oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Start with the mayonnaise
Combine egg yolk, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl
Whisk until blended and bright yellow, about 30 seconds
Whisking constantly, add 1/4 cup oil to yolk mixture, a few drops at a time, about 4 minutes
Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup oil in very slow thin stream, whisking constantly, until mayonnaise is thick, about 8 minutes (mayonnaise will be lighter in color)
Cover and chill
Can be made up to 2 days ahead
Keep chilled
Salad
Peel the carrots and turnips, trim the green beans and shell the peas
Cut the veggies into small cubes
Cook all the vegetables separately in lightly salted boiling water, 7 minutes for carrots, 5 minutes for turnips, 6 minutes for the green beans and 4 minutes for the peas
Drain, plunge in ice cold water to retain the colour and allow to cool
Combine all the vegetables in a bowl, add chives and mayonnaise
Season to taste and toss lightly
Divide the salad between the plates and add a slice or two of ham
Enjoy!

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