Day 74 – a french word: croustillant, a (French) recipe: porc croustillant

croustillant, adjective (croustillant (m.), croustillante (f.), croustillants (m.pl.), croustillantes (f.pl.) = crispy, crunchy (pronounced krous-ti-yaan (m.sing. & m.pl), krous-ti-yaant (f.sing., f.pl.), no particular stress).

From the noun une croûte = a crust.

Une histoire croustillante = a tasty story, a bit of a naughty story

Porc croustillant served the salad way

My recipe today – porc croustillant (otherwise known as boulettes de porc which it is in fact not) - is one of my oldest recipes. I used to do it for my children often, my son loves it, I’m not sure about my daughter… It’s cheap, quick and easy. One small pork chop will do one person, a large one will do two. I use côtes de porc échine, but there seems to be no translation for this. I asked an Australian butcher who works around here, and he didn’t know what it was in English. So I’ll try to explain. It is a pork chop, but not the nice shaped one with a little border of fat that one usually buys, but a rather mis-shapen, fatty, scraggy one with a little bit of bone at one end. So if you can’t find this, just buy a cheap bit of pork, you are only going to cut it into little pieces anyway.  You can use filet mignon of pork, but it’s really too lean. There’s much more flavour in a fatty bit of pork.

For two people you will need:

• one large or two small chops (or 200gr pork)
• 1/2 tsp salt (I put more but I over-salt everything)
• 10 grains of szechuan pepper (optional), use whole
• 3/4 tsp coriander seeds (or powdered coriander)
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
• 1tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove grated fresh garlic
• 1tbs oriental sesame oil
• 1 scant tbs Kikkoman soy sauce
• 2 tsb cornflour
• corn oil for frying

Preparation:

Pork slices marinating

1. Cut the pork off the bone and into small slices (doesn’t matter how irregular they are).
2. Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients except the cornflour and marinate for at least half an hour.
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan or wok, not enough for deep frying, but more than just a tbs. A few tbs let’s say.
4. Add the cornflour to the pork, stir to coat, add more if necessary, it should be fairly dry; the whole thing tends to form a ball at this stage, don’t worry, you can separate the pieces when they are in the pan.
5. Fry briskly until the pork is cooked through and is crispy all over, turning it several times and separating the bits with tongs or cooking chopsticks.
6. Serve with plain boiled rice, or with lettuce leaves, mint and the green parts of spring onions.

I used to add an egg to the mixture before the cornflour. That makes a different type of batter around the meat, but requires more oil to fry.

After adding the cornflour

Not French at all, as you have guessed. Not really anything, I just invented it. It’s a taste I like. Actually, come to think of it, the inspiration probably came from a book I bought about 45 years ago, my first book of Chinese cuisine by Kenneth Lo: The Complete Chinese Cookbook. I still have it on a shelf next to me as I write.

The salad ingredients

Not exactly Weight Watchers stuff… but lighter if you use salad as an accompaniment and not rice. Just roll up pieces of pork and some mint and spring onion tops in large green lettuce leaves. You can add a dipping sauce if you like.

Ready to roll...

Served here with polenta

Bon appétit!

Day 72 – a French word: acidulé, a (French) recipe: petite salade acidulée

Acidulé, adjective (acidulé (m.), acidulée (f.), acidulés (m.pl.), acidulées (f.pl.) = a sharp, sour, tart taste (pronounced assi-du-lé, as it is written, no particular stress).

A word used mostly of fruit, sometimes of sweets (candy), cf. English acid drops (in French, bonbons acidulés).

A very short entry today, a super simple recipe, more of an idea really. My English grandmother, who only learnt to cook in the 1950s because up to then she had always had a staff, had a standard list of very few, very easy recipes, which were usually quite successful. This one of hers is a simple salad to go with rich food such as duck, goose, pork, even English sausages. It takes the edge off the richness of the rather fatty meat. It is a salade acidulée aux oranges et à l’ail.

Salade acidulée

This is one of those recipes where I don’t need to give you ingredients (but they are oranges, a lime, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper). I hardly need to give you instructions in fact. Just take an orange per person, a nice juicy one (blood oranges are good for the colour they add); don’t skin it with your fingers in the usual manner, but take a sharp knife to it and trim off the skin and the pith at the same time. If your oranges are large, cut in half and then slice fairly thickly, about 0.7cm per slice and arrange in individual dishes. Pour any juice back over the orange. Squeeze some lime juice, drizzle olive oil, add salt and pepper and a little grated garlic.

Some of you may recognize English sausages - one of the things I miss about England!

Each person will toss his or her invidual salad as and when. Try it, it’s really good, refreshing and light with the meats mentioned above, as well as any other vegetables you may choose.

And here with duck breast and chips

Bon appétit!

Day 71 – a French word: chaud, a French recipe: salade de chèvre chaud

Chaud, adjective (chaud (m.), chaude (f.), chauds (m.pl.), chaudes (f.pl)) = hot (pronounced show (for the masculine singular and plural), showed (for the feminine singular and plural).

Du chocolat chaud = hot chocolate; une journée chaude = a hot day; des marrons chauds = hot (roasted) chestnuts; des braises chaudes = hot coals.

The film Some Like it Hot = Certains l’aiment chaud; but the film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof = Chat sur un toit brûlant (literally burning).

The verb chauffer = to heat (je chauffe, tu chauffes, il/elle chauffe, nous chauffons, vous chauffez, ils/elles chauffent = I heat, you heat etc.)

My recipe is for a salade de chèvre chaud = salad with toasted goat’s cheese. Very much a standard starter in French restaurants, or sometimes as a cheese course on longer menus, I have made it a main course by adding this and that.

Salade de chèvre chaud

Crottin de chèvre, about 4cm across

About 3cm thick. This is a whole cheese, not a slice, fairly hard. If too fresh it will melt.

For two people you will need:

• 2 crottins de chèvre (little round fairly hard goat’s cheeses – see photos)
• 2 slices of wholemeal bread
• some nice, firm lettuce, good and green, not iceberg, or other salad greens of your choice
• a ripe avocado
• a ripe pear
• 10 little slices of smoked duck breast (or petals of parma ham)
• 1 lemon or lime
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Prepare the lettuce leaves (or other salad leaves of your choice) and place them on a plate to form a bed for the cheese.
2. Peel the avocado and cut it into slices, place half on each plate, squeeze a little lemon juice so that it keeps its colour.
3. Peel the pear, cut into chunks, place half on each plate, squeeze a little lemon juice so that it doesn’t go brown.
4. Cut the crusts off the bread so that you have two pieces about 7cm square, and toast them. Allow to cool and place on top of the lettuce.
5. Place 5 slices of smoked duck breast on each plate in a fan shape (vegetarians just leave out this step).
6. Squeeze a little lemon on the lettuce, and drizzle olive oil over the salad ingredients on the plate.
7. Season with a little salt and pepper.
8. In a small frying pan, put a little olive oil (a teaspoonful, no more) to help the cheese not to stick. Cut each crottin in half horizontally and place in the hot pan, outside skin downwards to begin with. Cook for a minute, and turn with a spatula, very gently. There will be a skin trying to stick to the pan, slip the spatula under this skin so that it is on top when the cheese is turned; cook for a minute on the other side. Again very carefully lift the half crottin, with the skin that will be trying to stick to the pan, and place two halves on top of the bread on each plate. The cheese is not meant to melt all over the place. It should almost keep its shape, just go brown and soften a little.

Salade de chèvre chaud as a main course

Bon appétit!

Day 59 – a French word: aubergine, a (French) recipe: salade Marocaine aux aubergines

Aubergine, feminine noun (une aubergine, l’aubergine, des aubergines) = eggplant (pronounced oh-bear-jean with a soft j, with equal stress on each syllable).

Une aubergine is used to denote a bruised and violet bump resulting from a fight (il a une aubergine au front = he has a violet coloured lump on his forehead).

Aubergine is also a colour, of course, and then becomes an invariable adjective.

No information on the etymological origins of the word seems to be available.

Une aubergine used to be the familiar name for a lady traffic warden, the kind who gives parking tickets, because of the colour of their uniform. That colour has now changed to an awful bright blue (at least you can see them coming a mile off), and they are known as pervenches (= periwinkles, a blue flower). The proper term for a traffic warden is une contractuelle. I don’t know why these are all female? Maybe just Paris? Where I live it is men that give parking tickets. Often.

Salade marocaine aux aubergines

My recipe is a salade marocaine aux aubergines,  a Moroccan eggplant salad, called zaalouk in its country of origin.

Moroccan aubergine salad, main ingredients

For four people you will need

• 3 large aubergines
• 6 large cloves of garlic
• 8 large cocktail tomatoes (larger than cherry tomatoes, that you buy on the stem)
• some good quality tomato sauce, or pasta sauce
• 3tbs olive oil
• 1tbs honey
• 1tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp chopped dried whole chili
• 3tbs chopped parsley
• 2tbs chopped fresh mint
• salt
• pepper

Preparation:

Aubergine frying

1. Put a saucepan of salted water to boil.
2. Cut the aubergines with their skin into dice sized cubes.
3. Peel the garlic and cut three cloves in half. Finely chop the other three.
4. Poach the aubergines and the halved garlic cloves for 10 minutes in barely boiling water.
5. While this is going on, cut the cocktail tomatoes in half and fry gently in olive oil. When they soften, add a tbs of honey, the other three garlic cloves, finely chopped. Stir and continue to fry gently.
6. Add 1tsp cumin, 1tbs chopped parsley, 1/4 tsp chopped dried chili (optional, this dish should not be hot, just full of flavour).
7. Drain the aubergine and add to the pan, stir and crush the cubes with the back of the spoon.
8. Add 3tbs tomato sauce and continue cooking until the aubergine is quite soft and no longer forms cubes.
9. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
10. Serve sprinkled liberally with more chopped parsley and fresh chopped mint.

Salade d'aubergines marocaine

This “salad” can be served hot as a vegetable with a meat dish, alone as part of a vegetarian meal, warm as a salad, or cold. It keeps well until the next day, and so can be used in two different ways. It is smooth, slightly sweet, slightly chili hot, with lots of textures and flavours to discover.

Salade d'aubergines marocaine

Bon appétit.

Day 56 – a French word: pamplemousse, a French recipe: salade de pamplemousse au concombre

Pamplemousse, masculine noun (un pamplemousse, le pamplemousse, des pamplemousses) = grapefruit (pronounced paan-pler-moosse)

BUT mousse by itself is a feminine noun (une mousse, la mousse, les mousses) = froth, or a mousse (as in chocolate mousse for example), or moss, or slang for a beer.

My recipe for today is for salade de pamplemousse au concombre.

Salade pamplemousse concombre

For 4 people, you will need:

• 2 grapefruits
• 1/3 cucumber
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• a fresh red chili if you like it
• a few lettuce leaves
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
• 2 tsp oriental sesame oil
• the juice of a lime
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

Halve the grapefruits and, with a grapefruit knife, remove the segments into bowl. Keep any grapefruit juice for another use.

Wash the cucumber and cut into 1cm slices, and each slice into six triangular pieces with the peel. Add to the grapefruit segments.

Cut each cherry tomato into four pieces. Add to the grapefruit.

Make the dressing: in another bowl combine the honey, nuoc mam, sesame oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the grapefruit, cucumber and tomato and mix well. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving, stirring occasionally to blend the flavours.

Place washed and dried lettuce leaves on individual serving plates. Spoon the mixture on top of the lettuce carefully, heaping it up, and only adding about a teaspoon of liquid. You don’t want the plate swimming in dressing. Finely slice the chili on top if you are using it.

This is in fact a Vietnamese inspired dish. But since Vietnam was at one time a French colony, I am allowing myself to include Vietnamese dishes among my French recipes. Their food is so delicate, inventive and full of flavour that I can’t resist it!

Cucumber and grapefruit salad

Bon appétit.

Day 45 – a French word: mâche, a French recipe: croustillant de canard sur lit de mâche

Mâche, feminine noun (la mâche, de la mâche, but one doesn’t say une mâche or des mâches) = lamb’s lettuce.

Not to be confused with the verb mâcher = to chew (je mâche, tu mâches, il/elle mâche, nous mâchons, vous mâchez, ils/elles mâchent)(= I chew, you chew, he/she chews, we chew, you chew, they chew). Do you remember the lost ‘s’ denoted by the circumflex accent (^)? This comes from masticate, (mastiquer en français).

Il ne mâche pas ses mots = he doesn’t mince his words, he’s not afraid of plain speaking.

Lamb’s lettuce is not as frequently used as other salads, but it is becoming more “fashionable”, especially since it is now presented ready washed in packets. That’s the problem with lamb’s lettuce, it’s tricky to wash, because it grows on sandy soil which get stuck between the lower leaves. But it is worth the trouble, its emerald green adds sparkle to any dish, and it has a pleasant chewy texture and fresh flavour. I bought my mâche fresh this morning from a local farmer.

Croustillant de canard

My recipe today is for a croustillant de canard sur lit de mâche (crispy duck on a bed of lamb’s lettuce). Let me explain. It consists of a cuisse de canard confit (a duck leg and thigh preserved in duck fat), and radishes and lamb’s lettuce. I think in our family it was my brother who first cooked a cuisse de canard confit crispy this way, my son also does a great version, but some people, in the south west of France particularly, thought it pretty heretical.  I find it less rich and definitely economical, as one duck leg and thigh will do two people.

Une cuisse de canard confit

You will need for 2 people as a main dish:

• one cuisse de canard confit (I used a frozen cuisse, tinned is better for this recipe, there is more duck fat)
• a couple of good handfuls of mâche
• about 10 good sized radishes
• a little raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper

Mâche et radis

Preparation:

1. Wash the lamb’s lettuce in a basin of water, swishing it around so that any sand falls to the bottom. Repeat several times with fresh water.
2. Dry delicately in a tea towel.
3. Nip off the root end but try to keep the rosette whole, it looks better.
4. Clean and trim the radishes. Dry.
5. Arrange the lamb’s lettuce on two plates, slice the radishes.
6. Unless you make your own, duck legs are sold in tins surrounded with duck fat. Remove the duck leg leaving a little fat around it.
7. Place it in a heavy frying pan, one which is not going to be damaged by the shredding process, warm it up, and with two forks, remove the meat from the bone; discard the bone, but keep the skin.
8. While continuing to heat the meat, separate it with the two forks until it is completely shredded.
9. Gradually pour off the duck fat (into a pot which you will keep for frying vegetables). Keep stirring and shredding the meat, turning it frequently so that it crisps on all sides. And continue pouring off any excess fat.
10. When the duck is golden and completely crispy, divide it in two and arrange a little pyramid in the middle of each plate.
11. Sprinkle half a tsp raspberry vinegar over the salad (not over the duck), and add several grinds of black pepper and some fleur de sel or salt flakes.

This dish is not as fatty and rich as plain confit, because the grease has been progressively poured off. And the thick salad leaves offset the duck perfectly.

Bon appétit.

Day 40 – a French word: déglacer, a French recipe: salade tiède de raie aux câpres

Déglacer, verb = to “un-glaze”, in other words to scrape the pan juices and dissolve them in a liquid (no one word translation) (pronounce day-glassay).

Conjugated in the present: je déglace, tu déglaces, il/elle déglace, nous déglaçons, vous déglacez, ils/elles déglacent (the ç in the ‘we’ form just serves to keep the c soft, an sss rather than a k).

You will find this term in very many French recipes (but only rarely on a French menu) as sauces are so important in French cuisine. Various liquids are used for déglaçage: water, stock, cream, alcohol, juice.

My recipe for today, Salade tiède de raie aux câpres (a warm salad of skate and capers), makes the salad dressing en déglaçant le plat avec du vinaigre (by scraping the pan juices and dissolving them in vinegar).

This recipe used to be called raie au beurre noir (skate in black butter) but it has since become dietetically (is that an English word? I can’t find a proper translation) incorrect to cook butter until it blackens (it tasted very good, but was very bad for one). It is also sometimes still called raie au beurre noisette (butter which is cooked only to the stage before a beurre noir).

Skate is a very underrated fish, but try this dish, it may just change your mind. It has no bones as such, just easily removable cartilage in the centre of its ‘wing’.

Un petit morceau de raie

You will need for 4 people:

• 600gr skate, skinned at least on one side (ou quatre petits morceaux de raie)
• butter and oil for frying
• capers
• white wine vinegar
• mixed salad leaves (I used lettuce, baby spinach, chicory, red chard leaves)
• salt, pepper

Les ingrédients

Preparation:

1. Wash and dry the piece(s) of skate.
2. Wash and dry the salad leaves.
3. In a non stick frying pan, put a scant tbs oil and two tbs butter. Heat to melt.
4. Fry the skate, skin side down to start with then turn over, and if the piece is wide enough cook on the sides as well. This will take up to 10 minutes; make sure the fish is cooked through to the bone, none of the flesh should remain pink.
5. Meanwhile, lay the lettuce on individual serving plates. Finely slice the chicory and red chard leaves into thin strips. Place these on top of the lettuce, and add a few spinach leaves.
6. Season the salad with salt and pepper (and a little lemon juice if you wish).
7. Remove the fish from the pan onto a board, but keep the pan and the cooking juices warm.
8. Carefully remove the central cartilage without disturbing the flesh. You should have whole sides of “meat”. If you tear it up too much, it will not be presentable. Place the fish on top of the salad leaves.
9. Put 4 tsp capers and 2 tsp white wine vinegar into the pan and with a wooden spatula stir and scrape up all the juices sticking to the pan. This is known as “déglacer le plat”, to unglaze the dish.
10. Share the capers and juices between the servings as a dressing.
11. Serve quickly so that the fish is still warm.

La préparation de la salade

Some of the salad leaves I used (notably chicory and red chard leaves) are rather bitter. You can use any salad of your choice.

If you do not wish to fry the fish, you can just as easily poach it in either salted water, or a court bouillon with vegetables and herbs. You will then have to make some other type of dressing.

And while we are on the subject of olive oil (are we on the subject of olive oil?), here is a link to a very good food website, A Spicy Perspective, and a Greek olive oil giveaway. It explains in detail how olive oil is produced in Greece, with lots of lovely pictures. And who knows, you might just win 3 gallons of the stuff!

http://aspicyperspective.com/2012/02/fennel-salad.html

Bon appétit.

Day 26 – a new French word: poivron, a new French recipe: salade de poivron rôti

Poivron, masculine noun (le poivron, un poivron, des poivrons) = bell pepper (pronounced pouah-vron with minimum attention to the final n, no s heard in the plural, equal stress on the two syllables).

Not to be confused with un poivrot = a drunkard (pronounced pouah-vroh)

Bell peppers grow easily in the climate of the lower two thirds of France, and even further north in good summers. They are much used in ratatouille (the now famous French summer dish) and in poulet basquaise, for instance. They give colour to fish and chicken dishes,  and crunch to salads when used raw.

My recipe for today is salade de poivron rôti, a roasted bell pepper salad with garlic and olive oil.

 

For each person you will need:

• A medium sized red bell pepper (green just will not do)
• A small clove of garlic
• A small fresh red chili
• 3 tbs olive oil
• A little salt and pepper
• A few sprigs of fresh parsley

Preparation:

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Wash the pepper and place whole in a dish in the oven. When the skin of the pepper starts to burn and blister, after 20 minutes or so,  take it out and wrap it in newspaper or a cloth tea-towel (the steam makes the skin come off more easily).

 

Poivron rôti

3. When it has cooled, remove the skin,  stem, core and all the seeds. You do not need to dry the pepper. Cut into strips about 1/2cm wide (1/4″) and place in a shallow dish.

4. Chop (don’t squeeze or grate) the garlic finely. Sprinkle over the pepper.

5. Chop the parsley finely and sprinkle over the pepper.

6. Cut fine slices of chili and place on top of the salad.

7. Grind black pepper and sprinkle a little salt. Pour 3 tbs olive oil.

8. Toss and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

This salad can be served at room temperature (personally I prefer it that way, the flavours are better), or chilled. If any is left over, it will keep, covered, in the fridge for a day or so.

 

Salade de poivron rôti

 

The ingredients of this salad are rich in vitamin C and D, and the garlic is good for your blood pressure, among other things. Here is an article in French which enumerates the medicinal properties of garlic (today’s reading exercise!).  Roasted pepper salad looks lovely and summery. You can eat it as a light meal with some crusty bread, maybe followed by a bit of cheese, or as a salad to accompany grilled meat or barbecued sausages. It doesn’t matter if it is swimming in olive oil, any that is left is full of the flavour of garlic and pepper: dip bread into it, it’s delicious, or drizzle some over hot pasta.

Bon appétit.

Day 21 – a new French word: lardon, a new French recipe: salade d’épinards aux lardons

Lardon, masculine noun (le lardon, un lardon, des lardons) = a cube or a stick of bacon (pronounced lar-don (like dong but no nasal g on the end), stress slightly on the first syllable, no audible s in the plural).

 

Lardons, so you can see exactly what I mean

Lard = a piece of fat pork (NOT lard, which is saindoux) (pronounced lar, you don’t hear the d)

Larder = a verb, to introduce long thin pieces of beef fat usually into a roast to make it more moist (nothing to do with larder in English, a place to keep food) (pronounced lar-day, stress on the first syllable)

Larder de coups = to stab repeatedly

All the above seem to have no single word as a translation, but rather lengthy explanatory phrases!

 

My recipe for today is salade tiède d’épinards aux lardons (warm salad of baby spinach leaves with bacon bits), which can be either a side salad or a light main course.

 

Salade tiède d'épinards aux lardons

 

For 4 people you will need:

• A large packet of baby spinach salad leaves (about 300gr)
• 200gr of lardons ( if you can’t get these in the country you are reading from, slices of bacon cut into pieces are perfectly acceptable, or even streaky bacon slices, crumbled after cooking). I used allumettes (match-stick sized lardons).
• Some stale bread to make croûtons (little fried bread cubes)
• 1/2 tbs oil
• Vinegar and pepper

Preparation:

1. Begin by removing any tough stalks and washing the spinach, then pat it dry carefully.
2. Heat the  serving plates.
3. Cut the bread into 1cm cubes.
4. Put 1/2 tbs oil in a frying pan, heat, and add the lardons. Lardons seem to have more water in them nowadays, and a little “starter” oil seems to get them crispier.  When they are as crispy as you want them, put them to keep warm in the oven, leaving as much bacon fat in the pan as possible.
5. Fry the cubes of bread, shaking so that they turn golden on all sides. Put in the oven with the lardons.
6. Put the spinach leaves into the pan, stir around and remove. This should take only a few seconds. They should be very slightly wilted, not cooked. In French we say “fatiguer“, to make them tired!
7. Transfer the spinach onto serving plates, top with the lardons and the croûtons, add a little pepper and sprinkle literally a few drops of vinegar (no salt or oil is needed for the vinaigrette, the bacon is already salty and oily enough).
8. If you wish, you may add pine nuts, other nuts, and even a poached egg if you need something more filling.

Bon appétit.

Day 17 – a new French word: noix, a new French recipe: salade de céleri aux noix et aux dattes

Noix, feminine noun (une noix, la noix, des noix) = generic word for nut, more especially walnut (pronounced nwaa, the x is not heard)

Noix de cajou = cashew nut, noix de pécan = pecan, noix du brésil = brazil nut

But also une noix de beurre = a teaspoonful of butter (walnut sized)

It is the walnut season. So my recipe for today is salade de céleri aux noix et aux dattes. I bought some beautiful “medjoul” dates at the market this weekend, it is the season for them too, they are fresh and fleshy and delicious.

 

Celery, walnut and date salad

 

For 4 people you will need:

• 1 head of celery (un pied de céleri)  (the green leafy kind, not celeriac)
• 1 red onion
• 12 walnuts (or 24 halves if you buy them ready shelled)
• 4 large dates
• Walnut oil (de l’huile de noix), shallot vinegar (du vinaigre à l’échalote), salt, pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash the celery, keeping the leaves for soup. Use all the outside stalks: chop into small slices about 3 or 4mm thick. This cuts across all the fibres and makes the little pieces tender. Keep the heart to eat raw another time with cheese.
2. Peel and finely slice the onion.
3. Shell the walnuts, break each into 4 pieces.
4. Pit the dates, chop each into 6 pieces.
5. Mix these ingredients either in a bowl or on individual serving plates. Make a vinaigrette with 1/2 tbs shallot vinegar, 1/2 tbs walnut oil, 1tbs corn or peanut oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix well and season the salad.

Bon appétit.