Here's my idea of a simply perfect entree: made from absolutely fresh salad ingredients from the garden and greenhouse--lettuce, tomatoes, carrots--dressed with a vinaigrette made with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard(no salt needed)and a dab of home-made mayonnaise, and with a centrepiece of a few small thin slices of that gorgeous Bulgarian sheep's milk feta you can get in the supermarket now plus olives from our own harvest.
Grated carrot salad forms the 'backbone' as it were of this entree—this salad is probably the most common and popular entree in French cafes—and there you can also buy ready-prepared tubs of it in traiteurs and at the supermarket. But it's dead easy to make. You just grate the raw carrot, add the vinaigrette(it is also nice with mayonnaise) and hey presto! Light, tasty, digestible and colourful, it makes a perfect entree on its own or combines easily with lots of things. Grated celeriac is also delicious done this way, as well as grated fresh beetroot and grated turnip.
Nice one Sophie. I've always been stumped by how to make vinaigrette. What are your quantities for the ingredients above. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFor the vinaigrette above, I use two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, one and a half tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar and a half-teaspoon of Dijon mustard, shake it up in a jar--et voila! I do not use salt in the vinaigrette(the mustard takes care of that) but sometimes add pepper. If I'm using more acidic vinegars, such as red wine vinegar or cider vinegar, rather than balsamic, I add less of it--one tablespoon vinegar to two of olive oil.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sophie. I love your window into French food.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank _you_, Kaye!
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