Quiche with fennel & smoked salmon

For ➍

150 g smoked Atlantic salmon strips 

1 fennel 

200 g snack tomatoes 

1 roll puff pastry 

100 grated Emmenthal cheese 

1 dl milk 

4 eggs 

1 tbs butter 

1 ts dill black pepper & salt 

140 g arugula, lamb's lettuce, beetroot 

2 tbs olive oil 

1 tbs white wine vinegar

Cut the fennel in 2. Remove the hard core and cut into strips.

Cut the snack tomatoes into 2.

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.

Melt the butter in a pan and stew the fennel for 5 m. Season with salt and pepper.

Break the eggs and mix in the milk. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the puff pastry with baking paper in a cake tin. Press the edges well and remove the excess dough. Prick the pastry base several times with a fork.

Divide the fennel over the puff pastry and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Divide the salmon strips over it and cover with the egg mixture. Place the halved tomatoes on top, cut side up. Sprinkle with the dill and place 45 m in the preheated oven.

Mix the olive oil with the white wine vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Mix into the salad mix.

Cut the quiche into wedges and serve with the salad.

Fresh tuna & salade niçoise (French Riviera salad)

For ➏
400 g green beans, trimmed
750 g small potatoes
vegetable oil for brushing
20 g drained bottled capers
400 g lettuce (2 heads), leaves separated & large ones torn into pieces
1 bunch cherry tomatoes
100 g small brine-cured black olives
4 hard-boiled large eggs, quartered
3 tbs fresh parsley & basil, finely chopped
750 g (2,5 cm thick) tuna steaks*
ice-bowl with ice-cubes
20-25 cl (or 10 tbs for the salad +10 tbs for (optional) extra) salade niçoise dressing**

Cook beans in boiling salted water 3 to 4 m. Transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. Add potatoes to boiling water and simmer 15 to 20 m, then drain. Halve potatoes while still warm (peel if desired) and toss with 2 tbs dressing in a bowl, then cool.
Prepare grill for cooking.
Brush tuna with oil and season with salt and pepper, then grill on lightly oiled rack, uncovered, turning over once, until browned on outside but still pink in centre, 6 to 8 m in total. Let tuna stand for 3 minutes, then break into large pieces. Put tuna on a large platter and drizzle with 2 to 3 tbs dressing and top with capers.< Add potatoes to platter with tuna. Drain beans and pat dry. Toss beans in bowl with 1 tbs dressing and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to platter. Toss lettuce in bowl with 2 tbs dressing and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to platter. Toss tomatoes in bowl with 1 tbs dressing and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to platter. Arrange olives and eggs on platter and sprinkle salad with parsley and/or basil. Serve salad with remaining dressing on the side.

*You can do a light salad without the tuna. If you must, you can use canned tuna. If you prefer fully cooked tuna, try the marinating tuna recipe.
**Or try a lemon & mustard vinaigrette.

The salade was named niçoise by tourists, and originally meant a typical salad of the region, consisting mainly of tomatoes and olive oil. It became popular in the 60's, when scarcely clad, tan-hungry tourists from all over Europe were drawn to the French Riviera. The discussion thrives on about the original recipe of la sallada nissarda, mainly omitting green beans and potatoes from the now widely spread recipe.
The city of Nice is only a part of France since 1860. Before the treaty, it went its own way, mostly with Sardinian and Italian allies and influences, tough it was occupied by French (and Spanish) armies before. The Italian freedom fighter Garibaldi, born in Nice, tried to make it a part of Italy.
Picture in salade niçoise dressing shows the fishing nets on the beach of late 19th century Nice.
Read more Provençal recipes: salade niçoise dressing, Provençal garlic sauce, old-fashioned salade niçoise, Saint-Tropez (Provençal) chicken.

Kibbeh & fattoush (Lebanese lamb meatballs & bread salad)

For ➍
500 g lamb minced meat
100 g of rucola
4 meat tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 little-gem lettuce rougette
½ lemon
1 flat flat parsley
4 sprigs of mint (fresh)
1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
120 g bulgur
2 pita bread
3 tbs raisins
3 dl vegetable stock (½ cube or 1 ts powder dissolved in 3 dl hot water)
6 tbs olive oil
1 ts ground cumin
1 ts ground coriander
½ ts cinnamon
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
black pepper & salt

Put the bulgur in a bowl and pour over the stock. Cover and simmer for 10 m. Let it cool down.
Cut the red onion and garlic into julienne.
Deseed the tomatoes and cut into pieces.
Cut the unpeeled cucumber into 2, length wise. deseed with a spoon. Cut in 0.5 cm thick slices.
Chop the parsley leaves roughly. Pull the mint leaves from the stalks.
Roast the pita bread in the toaster or in a preheated oven.
Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a pan and glaze the onion and garlic with the cinnamon, cumin, cayenne pepper and coriander. Mix with the bulgur and the raisins through the lamb meat. Add black pepper and salt. Roll the mixture with your hands into balls. Shape each ball into an oval so that they get the shape of a lemon.
Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a pan and bake the balls golden brown, 4-5 m.
Mix the lettuce leaves with the rucola, the cucumber, the tomatoes, the chopped parsley and the mint leaves.
Squeeze half the lemon (you need 2 tbs of juice). Stir 3 tbs olive oil in and add black pepper and salt. Mix the dressing under the salad.
Trim the pita bread in coarse pieces and mix under the salad.
Serve the baked balls with the salad.

Kibbeh, Arabic for 'balls', can be made from lamb, camel or beef. Sometimes they are covered in mashed potatoes before baking. Serve them while still hot, with a salad, like in this proposition, while or a snack with yogurt (or sour cream) and lime wedges. They can also be served at room temperature and they go great with pita bread, hummus, babaganoush and/or tabbouleh.
Kibbeh look-alikes are calle quibe or kibe in Portuguese. In the Dominican Republic they call it quipe or pipe.
Fattoush is a classic Lebanese bread salad, that can be eaten on its own or with meat.

Chickpea salad with hummus dressing

For ➍
500 g dried chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
some bay leaves
a few sprigs of thyme
salt
cayenne pepper
cumin powder
turmeric
1 red onion
red wine vinegar
1 red pepper
1 cucumber
2 avocados
6 lettuce hearts
olive oil
pepper
400 g feta cheese
½ bunch chervil
½ bunch parsley
½ bunch coriander
200 g black olives
3 ts tahini (sesame paste)
2 egg yolks
2 ts mustard
2 cup peanut oil
3 tbs yogurt
½ lemon
3 tbs

Let the chickpeas overnight soak in water.
Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a saucepan with water. Top with the crushed and peeled garlic, a few bay leaves and thyme sprigs on. Season with salt, cayenne pepper, cumin and turmeric. Bring to boil.
Meanwhile, make the salad. Peel and halve the red onion. Cut into half rings. Make the rings apart and put them in a large bowl.
Sprinkle the onions with red wine vinegar. Let marinate while you cut the rest of the vegetables.
Peel the peppers and remove seeds and seeds. Cut the flesh into strips.
Cut the cucumber into cubes.
Peel the avocados and cut the flesh into cubes.
Add the bell pepper, cucumber and avocado red onion.
Heat a grill pan over high heat.
Clean the lettuce hearts clean and halve them. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill them in the hot pan. The lettuce hearts must be undercooked. Add them to the rest of the vegetables.
Spoon ¾ of the al dente cooked chickpeas out of the water and rinse immediately under cold running water. Drain in a colander. Let the remaining chickpeas continue cooking until they are cooked through.
Mix the cooled chickpeas with the rest of the vegetables. Crumble in the feta. Pull the leaves of the coriander, chervil and parsley. Put the herbs together with the olives from the rest of the vegetables.
Drain the rest of the chickpeas. Catch the cooking liquid. Fish the thyme and bay between the chickpeas.
Put the chickpeas with the garlic in the blender. Add a few tbs of cooking water and tahini to it. Season with salt, cayenne, turmeric and cumin powder. Mix until hummus and allow full
cooling down.
Put the egg yolks in a cup with mustard and a dash of water. Pour into a fine stream the oil and mix with a hand blender until mayonnaise.
Mix the yogurt, lemon juice and a portion of the home-made by hummus. Flavour* with tahini or extra cumin.
Serve the salad with hummus dressing.

*Optional

Radicchio salad @ microwave

For ➋
40 g blue cheese
40 g chive oil
25 g hazelnuts, peeled
10 g chives
120 g radicchio, half of a head
olive oil
salt
50 g buttermilk

(Optional: Place blue cheese in the freezer. While this step is purely aesthetic—frozen cheese will curl prettily when it is peeled—the freezer is a good place to store blue cheese so that it's always ready for salads and such.)
Make the chive oil with blanched fresh chives, blend them with oil, strain through a sieve.
Heat oven to 165°C.
Spread hazelnuts on a sheet pan and toast until golden brown, about 30 m.
As the hazelnuts toast, agitate the sheet pan every 5 m for even browning.
Remove hazelnuts from oven and transfer to a large zip-lock bag. Lay the bag flat on a work surface and smooth it so that nuts spread out in an even, single layer. Roll a rolling pin over the bag, repeating until hazelnuts are crushed into small crumbles.
Mince the chives.
Wash radicchio and pat dry with a paper towel. Remove any damaged or wilted outer leaves. Cut radicchio into quarters.
Dress each piece with a generous amount of olive oil.
Place radicchio in microwave-safe dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Cook on high for 40–50 s. Puncture plastic with a knife to allow steam to escape.
Remove from microwave. Radicchio should be warm and wilted, with just a little crunch remaining.
Cut white core from the radicchio and assemble leaves in a serving bowl. Dress with salt, minced chives, buttermilk, and chive oil.
Just before serving, sprinkle hazelnuts over salad and shave or crumble blue cheese on top.

Gazpacho of lettuce, garden peas & chives

For ➍
2 onions
25 g butter
1 lettuce
450 g green peas (frozen)
75 cl water
1½ chicken stock tablet
25 g chives

Chop the onions. Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the onion 3 m. Remove the leaves of lettuce. Wash and dry them and cut into strips.
Put the peas, lettuce, water and stock cubes in the soup pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 m on low heat.
Keep some chives for garnish. Cut the rest of the chives.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the chives and puree in a blender. Season with pepper and salt.
Let the soup cool for 30 m to room temperature. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 3 h.
Garnish the soup with the  chives and serve with sliced cereals bread.

Panzanella (Italian bread salad)

For ➌-➍
4-5 thick slices of stale, springy country bread with a good crust*/**
1 small red onion
1-2
 tbs red wine vinegar, plus more to taste
1 medium, crunchy cucumber, thinly sliced (you could also peel if you like)
1 handful rucola, washed and pat dry
salt & pepper, to taste***
extra-virgin olive oil
10-12 basil leaves

Pass the slices of bread under running water and let sit in a bowl to soften while preparing the other ingredients.
Slice the red onion very thinly and place in a small bowl. Sprinkle with 1 to 2 tbs of red wine vinegar and cover with cool water. Let sit 10 m (this will take some of the edge off the raw onion).
When the bread pieces are springy to the touch, tear and crumble the bread in your hands (depending on the type and freshness of your bread, the crusts may be too hard. If so, you may wish to remove them, but some like the chewiness of the crust). If the bread is still too hard, you can sprinkle on some more water, but keep in mind that you’ll be adding vinegar and oil to the salad as well, which the bread will also soak up. If you have added too much water, simply give your bread a squeeze to remove the excess liquid before adding to the salad. Place the bread in a large bowl with the cucumber and rucola.
Drain and add the onion to the salad. Season with a good pinch of salt***7*, a few twists of pepper, a healthy dose of olive oil, a splash or two of red wine vinegar, and toss until well combined.
Add the basil leaves, torn into pieces just before serving****.

*the bread should make up half of the volume of this salad
**ciabatta would work well
***use chopped anchovies instead
****this dish is best eaten about an hour after preparing, to give time for the flavors to combine. That said, it does not keep well for more than a day because the fresh ingredients tend to get ruined by the vinegar.

This is an early version without tomatoes, which now have become a staple ingredient in most recipes. You could add 2 tomatoes, peeled, sliced

Lemony green salad

For ➍
1 large clove garlic, crushed (or grated, or mashed into a paste with a pinch of salt)
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs good balsamic vinegar
1 tbs anchovy paste or finely chopped anchovies (or more to taste)*
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
juice of 1 lemon (I always use a full lemon)
1 head crisp romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 stalk celery (2 stalks if small), sliced into half moons
½ cup grated Parmigiano cheese
salt, if needed, and lots of freshly ground black pepper to serve

Add garlic to a large salad bowl
Add olive oil and stir and let sit for a few minutes.
Add vinegar, anchovy, Worcestershire, and lemon juice, and stir. For a thicker dressing, add half the Parmigiano now. You can let this sit while you prepare the rest of your meal.
Dip a lettuce leaf in to taste your dressing. If it doesn't taste fiercely of lemon juice, garlic, and anchovy, add more of those, to taste. The balsamic and Worcestershire should be in the background.
Just before serving, add lettuce and celery and toss.
Add Parmigiano and freshly ground pepper before a final toss.
Serve immediately.

*Replace with salt for a completely vegetarian salad.

Grilled halloumi & quinoa salad

For ➋ (as main dish) or ➍ (as side dish)
2 ts red wine vinegar
½ ts sugar
1 small clove garlic, chopped
⅛ ts red pepper flakes
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 Persian cucumber or ½ regular cucumber, peeled & diced
1 scallion, chopped
100 g quinoa, rinsed & drained
20 cl water
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon
4 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbs chopped mint
3 handfulls of lettuce leaves, arugula, or other salad greens
200-250 halloumi cheese, cut into 8 slices

In a medium bowl, whisk together red wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a dash of salt and pepper. Add cucumber and scallion and toss to combine. Cover and let stand.
Place quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over low heat. Simmer for about 15 m, or until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 m. Fluff quinoa with a fork and spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil and 2 ts lemon juice. Add cooled quinoa, parsley, mint, and lettuce to the bowl and toss to coat.
Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium heat (no oil) and grill the halloumi until golden, about 2 ms on each side. When done, squeeze a little lemon juice over the cheese.
Arrange quinoa salad on 2 plates and top with the halloumi and cucumbers (without liquid).
Serve with a glass of iced tea.

*Add a stock cube.
**Make up to a day ahead and refrigerate. Add the lettuce and grill the halloumi just before serving.

Dover sole salad

For ➍
4 Dover sole fillets (or another white fish)
100 g baby spinach leaves
150 g celeriac
1 lettuce
1 zucchini
1 red onion
a handful of chervil
4 dl vegetable stock
2 dl walnut oil
olive oil
vinegar
thyme & bay leaf
salt

Select the inner leaves of the lettuce, wash and spin dry. Wash a few sprigs of chervil and the spinach leaves. Let them dry.
Cut ½ red onion into rings. Take a large bowl. Mix the vegetables.
Peel the celeriac. Cut into small cubes. Cut the other ½ onion finely and fry in olive oil, add the celeriac cubes and moisten with broth. Season with salt, thyme and bay leaf. Let the celeriac gently simmer.
Mix fine, sieve and finish with walnut oil. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into thin slices. Rub the slices with olive oil and grill briefly on both sides. Season with salt.
Pat the sole fillets dry, dipping slightly in olive oil and grill on a hot grill. Turn after a few s a quarter. Season with salt.
Put a pile of mixed salad on a plate. Arrange the warm courgettes and sole fillets. Finish with some sauce.

Prawns & dill salad (or burger)

For ➍
800 g large prawns, peeled & cooked, chopped
1 small red chilli, chopped
1 bushel of fresh dill
4 tbs yuzu or lime juice
2 tbs corn meal*
4 tbs aïoli
1 cucumber, sliced
¼ ice berg lettuce, cleaned & cut
1 tbs olive oil*
4 buns*

Mix the chopped prawns with the chilli, dill and juice. Add salt & pepper. Let rest for 15 m.
Prepare the lettuce and cucumber.
Add the the shrimps' mix and aïoli.
Serve with roasted buns or fresh, cooled quinoa.

*Alternatively for a burger version: mix (uncooked, peeled) prawns with chli, juice, dill and corn meal. Add salt & pepper. Refrigerate. Form 4 patties the size of the buns. Bake them in olive oil. Meanwhile cut the buns and roast them. Put ice berg letttuce on each bun. Cover with a pattie. Add some cucumber slices, some aïoli and some extra dill. Close the burger.

Warm mushroom salad with hazelnuts & pecorino

For ➍
50 g hazelnuts
2 tbs finely diced shallots
3 tbs sherry or a white wine vinegar
9 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 kg button or assorted mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
2 tbs salted butter
175 g salad greens such as frisé or arugula
25 g mix of fresh herbs (chives, tarragon...)
1 ts fresh thyme or a couple pinches of dried
1-2 sliced shallots
125 g pecorino or Parmigiano

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet for 8 to 10 m, rolling them around once or twice to make sure they toast evenly. Rub nuts in a dish towel to remove skins then let cool. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely.
Whisk the shallots, vinegar, ½ ts salt together in a bowl and let sit for 5 m (this will soften and almost pickle the shallots), before whisking in 5 tbs olive oil.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter until the butter foams. Add half the mushrooms, half the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Sauté the mushrooms for about 5 m, until they’re softened but not limp (cooking time will depend on the type of mushrooms).
Transfer mushrooms to a plate then repeat with the second half. When they are cooked, return the first half of the mushrooms to the pan then toss in sliced shallots, cooking for an additional 2 m.
Spread salad greens on a plate. Sprinkle fresh herbs on top, if using. Spoon hot mushrooms over the salad greens. Pour three-quarters of the vinaigrette in the sauté pan and swirl it in the pan until heated. Season it with ¼ ts salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour over salad and toss carefully.
Use a vegetable peeler to shave cheese over the salad. Sprinkle with hazelnuts. Serve immediately.

Seared salmon & fennel salad

For ➍
2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced, fronds reserved
2 bunches (about 200 g) rucola, stemmed
4 salmon fillets (150 g each), skin on, scaled, pin bones removed, skin dried*
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
3 tbs olive oil
vinaigrette:
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 ts grated lemon zest
2 ts fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
½ ts sugar
¾ ts sea salt
freshly ground pepper

In a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the extra–virgin olive oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic, sugar, salt, and lots of pepper. Cover tightly and shake vigorously to blend. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Set aside.

Chop the fennel fronds (3 tbs). In a large bowl, combine the fennel, 2 tbs of the fennel fronds (saving the rest for garnish), and the rucola. Toss lightly to mix and set aside.

Season the salmon on all sides with a little salt and pepper. Place a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, swirl 3 tbs of olive oil to coat the pan. Add the salmon, skin side down, and cook until the skin is crisp, about 4 m. Carefully turn the salmon and cook until the fillets are almost opaque throughout, but still very moist, about 4 m more. Transfer to a warm plate.

Shake the dressing vigorously again and then toss the salad with it. Arrange the salad on 4 dinner plates. Place a salmon fillet in the center, on top of the salad, garnish with the remaining fennel fronds, and serve immediately. A white Rhône wine will fit perfectly.

*To skin-dry salmon (or any other fish), remove as much water of the skin as possible. Draw a knife blade back and forth over the fish, the way a wiper blade moves across a windshield. The pressure compresses the skin and squeezes the water to the surface, and the knife blade carries it away. Repeat this until no more water rises to the surface. Wipe the knife blade clean with a paper towel to remove what looks like grayish scum.

Read a similar recipe: grilled salmon & fennel salad.

Chicken Po' boy

For ➋
2 small baguettes or ciabatta (or 1, cut in 2)
1 skinned chicken breast
cornmeal or flour
groundnut oil
mayonnaise
shredded (iceberg) lettuce
½ lemon

Split the bread lengthwise, put together and warm in a hot oven.

Slice the chicken into 6. Roll in cornmeal or flour. Fry the pieces in hot oil till crisp, 4-5 m.

Take the bread from the oven. Spread mayonnaise on all sides. Put lettuce on bottom halves. Add chicken pieces. Squeeze some lemon juice on them. Put the top halves on and press down.

Serve warm.

This is a lighter version of the New Orleans classic po' boy. Made with French bread, they can be filled with fried oysters, shrimp, fish, soft-shelled crabs, crayfish, roast beef and gravy, roast pork, meatballs, smoked sausage and more, dressed with a range of condiments (usually mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes) or undressed. It goes back to the oyster loaves from the 19th century, when buns would be scooped, heated and filled with grilled oysters. The name 'po' boy' (from poor boy) seems to have derived from the cheap sandwiches with trimmings the Martin Brothers offered at their Coffee Stand (photograph) to the unpaid streetcar strikers in 1929.
The po' boy is one of the many American submarine sandwiches, loafs of bread loaded with ingredients.
Try another classic American sandwich. Try another Louisiana dish.

Beef slices with oloroso sherry

For ➍
4 slices beef steak, approx. 150 g each
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 rosemary sprig
1 garlic clove, finely diced
230 g jar piquillo peppers, drained & sliced
6 tbs dry Oloroso sherry
4 flat-leaf parsley sprigs, chopped
4 mint sprigs, chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 crops lettuce, sliced
extra virgin olive oil

Slice the steaks up into 1 cm wide strips.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan or wok over a high heat until it shimmers. Add the beef and rosemary and stir-fry for about 1 m. When the meat starts to turn a bit brown, add the garlic and pepper slices. Cook for 1 m more and then pour in the sherry. Let it bubble furiously until the alcohol has evaporated. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley and mint. Season to taste.

Divide up the lettuce between four plates, followed by the beef mixture, making sure each serving gets some of the juices. Shake a few drops of extra virgin olive oil over the beef, and serve with a glass of the Oloroso sherry.

Tartine niçoise (Tuna salad sandwich)

For ➋
140 g canned tuna, drained*
2½ tbs mayonnaise
2 ts chopped, fresh parsley
¼ ts ground black pepper
2 slices pain de campagne or sourdough bread
1 tbs lemon aïoli
1 handful loosely packed butterhead lettuce leaves
2-3 tbs niçoise olives
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced crosswise
½ ts chopped, fresh chives

Toss together the tuna, mayonnaise, parsley and black pepper. Set aside.
Drizzle half the lemon aïoli on each slice of bread. Layer the aïoli-seasoned surfaces of each slice of bread with half of the butterhead lettuce, prepared tuna salad, niçoise olives and hard boiled eggs.
Sprinkle the tartines with chopped chives and serve.

*Try with freshly grilled, marinated tuna.

This is a quick take on the traditional salade niçoise with fresh tuna. Read recipes for salade niçoise & old-fashioned salade niçoise.

Lettuce & almond salad

For ➍
handful roasted & salted almonds
crisp curly lettuce
2 oranges, quartered*
sugar
dressing:
2 tbs butter, melted
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
lemon juice

Melt the butter with the garlic. Set aside to cool. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.

In the bottom of the salad bowl put the quarters* of two oranges.

On top of the oranges put the lettuce, then a few roasted, salted almonds. Sprinkle with a very little sugar.

Mix the orange, lettuce and almonds together with the dressing.

Serve on its own or with roasted or boiled chicken.

*To prepare oranges for salad, cut them in half lengthwise, then into quarters. Cut the pulp from the skin with a sharp knife.

Read more Elizabeth David recipes: roasted peppers, chicken & rice salad, fish parcel, poaching an egg.

Shark & sea spinach salad

For ➍
4 shark steaks*
mixed lettuce**
6 cherry tomatoes**
sea spinach***
1 garlic clove
salt & pepper
oil

Cut the shark's steaks into cubes. Roast them with a little bit of oil and crushed garlic. Let it cook at least for 5 m until brown.

In a wok, cook the sea spinach with a tiny bit of water until soft and tender, no longer than 4 m. They should result crispy.

Alternatively, slice a shallot, sauté it in some butter, add the blanched sea spinach. Do not brown.

Prepare the salad with the cherry tomatoes. Add oil and a pinch of salt**.

Lay the salad on a plate, add the shark on top. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Spread the sea spinach beside.

*Use monkfish instead. Or white fish fillets. Don't cube them.
**Use only sea spinach instead. Double the quantity.
***The fish and spinach version will also work with regular spinach. Or use samphire.

Read more sea vegetables recipes.

Grilled shrimp & fiddle head fern spring salad

For ➌-➍*
500 g fiddle heads or green asparagus
250 g spring peas, washed & halved
½ container cherry tomatoes, halved
1 can black olives, halved
250 g jumbo wild shrimp
olive oil
smoked paprika
salt & pepper
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
10 cl prosecco
1 shallot, minced
juice of 1 lemon

Get a pot of water boiling, fire up the grill, and get an ice water bath ready. When the water is boiling, add the salt and blanch the fiddle heads for about 1 m, maybe a touch less if you've got really nice fresh fiddle heads. Some recommend cooking them for 10 m to avoid risks.

In a bowl, add the raw spring peas, the cherry tomatoes and olives. Toss.

Toss the shrimp in olive oil with smoked paprika, salt and pepper.

Toss asparagus in olive oil with salt and pepper. Throw the shrimp and asparagus on grill. Cook the shrimp for about 2 m a side (depending on how big they are) and the asparagus about 3 m before turning and leaving them on for another 3 m. Remove and cut the asparagus to about the same size as the spring peas and fiddle heads. Mix.

To make the dressing, mix the prosecco with equal parts olive oil, add the minced shallot, lemon juice, salt, pepper. Add the tomatoes, peas, and olives, and then top with the shrimp, asparagus, and fiddle heads

Serve with a good rosé.

Fiddle heads or fiddle head greens are the unfurled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable.

Salade lyonnaise (French poached egg salad)

For ➊
1 handful frisee lettuce, torn into small pieces
2 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled
3 tbs croutons
1 poached egg
shallot vinaigrette

Layer a chilled salad plate with torn frisee, crumbled bacon, croutons, and a poached egg.
Finish the poached egg salad with a drizzle of shallot vinaigrette.

More recipes from the Lyon region: goat cheese spread, matefaim salé, braised chicken with cream sauce.