Like any recipe it’s all about the ingredients when it comes to a salad
It seems like it would never happen but at last the sun has appeared and we seem to be experiencing a semblance of summer.
With it we can discard notions for rich, comforting food and concentrate on light, cool flavours. I swim most days in the sea with a friend and we often talk about food. This week’s subject was the lack of salads available on menus. We both reminisced about how Salad Nicoise was a staple in the 1980s. It was a simple but delicious combination of tuna, salad ingredients, olives, beans and boiled eggs dressed in a classic vinaigrette.
Like any recipe it’s all about the ingredients. I used to always fill up a good bit of my suitcase from trips to Italy with good quality tinned tuna. No need for the air miles now as it’s readily available. You can source locally grown green beans now and they’re worth cherishing while they’re here. Add some good eggs, leaves, cucumber, tomatoes and olives and you have a feast. In the recipe here I’ve blended half the tuna with mustard and lemon to make a “tonnato”, an Italian tuna sauce that really adds something to the whole dish. Arrange the remaining ingredients on top and serve in the middle of the table with a glass of something chilled.
You could serve the salad with bread but new season potatoes are available now and are just a joy. Give them a scrub, cook in salted water and toss in butter – stunning. Or here the hot potatoes are sliced and tossed in a dressing with scallions and dill. Perfect with the salad, on its own or with grilled meats.
The arrival of the summer blackcurrant crop coincides with the end of the elderflower season. The creamy white flowers that have flourished are coming to an end but are still, none the less, there for a last pick. I’ve included a recipe for elderflower cordial here to preserve them for a while or add some flower heads to vinegar or warm honey to capture their essence for the coming months. The recipe here combines the two summer ingredients in a cooling dessert. The elderflowers are whizzed into a light jelly with sparkling wine. The resulting wobbly confection is served with some blackcurrant sorbet. The blackcurrants are cooked with glucose, sugar and lemon before being blended. Freeze the mixture, fork it up a bit and then blend again before giving a final freeze. Scoop and serve with the jellies for a dish that is the very essence of summer.