Friday, October 4, 2013

FFwD: Salade Niçoise


Today we are making the famous Salade Niçoise as the designated recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group.




Salade Niçoise, of course, is a classic French recipe but order this salad anywhere and you are likely to get a different salad every time. One cook might include haricot vert, another a handful of broad beans (also known as fava beans). You might see sliced artichoke hearts, or different kinds of lettuce, even raw peppers and fines herbes (such as parsley, chives, chervil and tarrragon). And there are vinaigrettes with or without garlic. There does not really seem to be any rules for making this salad, but rather there are constants.




The elements that seem to be present in most recipes for Salade Niçoise, including Dorie Greenspans´s, involve boiled small potatoes (ideally new potatoes), green beans, hard-boiled eggs, lettuce, shallots, canned oil-packed tuna, ripe tomatoes, Niçoise olives, capers, and anchovies.




Having regards to the fact that we were ten people around the table today, I tripled the recipe. And since no one really enjoys anchovies in their salad (neither those preserved in oil, nor those kept in coarse salt), I decided to skip those. The capers were replaced with some wonderful caper berries (love those) but other than that – no change to Dorie´s basic recipe.




The dressing for the salad was made of Dijon mustard, olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.

Accompanied by some lovely Savory Sesame and Fennel Cookies, the Salade Niçoise was just perfect for our late lunch today.




Savory Sesame and Fennel Cookies (Ka´ach Bilmach)
(adapted and translated by yours truly from the German edition of "Jerusalem, A Cookbook", by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi)
makes about 30-40

Ingredients for the Cookies
  • 4 cups AP flour (I used strong flour)
  • 6 1/2 tbsps olive oil
  • 6 1/2 tbsps unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp fin sea salt
  • 6 1/2 tbsps water (300ml)
  • 2 tbsps sesame seeds
  • or
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seeds, slightly crushed
Plus
  • 1 egg for brushing, whisked
  • sesame seeds and fennel seeds to sprinkle on top (optional)



Preparation of the Savory Cookies
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, baking powder and sesame seeds or fennel seeds.
  3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the oil and butter. 
  4. Gradually add the water and mix until a dough forms.
  5. Knead for a couple of minutes (I did this step by hand).
  6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  7. Form 35 grams (1 ounce) dough balls into ropes. 
  8. Form each rope into a ring and place on your parchment paper lined baking sheets.
  9. Proof the unbaked cookies for 30 minutes (covered with kitchen towel and in a draft free area).
  10. Brush the cookies with the whisked egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds or fennel seeds. 
  11. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until lightly golden on top. 
  12. Let completely cool on wire racks.



To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group liked Dorie´s Salade Niçoise, please click here.



54 comments:

  1. Your salad looks wonderful, and so do those cookies. Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thank you, Beth - this was an easy recipe and the hungry crowd at our house loved the salad and the cookies.

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  2. Great looking salad and an inspired pairing with those cookies!

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  3. Love the colourful Niçoise, Andrea and
    look @ those cookies!
    Savoury cookies...that's a great idea. We should incorporate cookies into more of our meals, not just desserts.
    Love the presentation in the brie container, too.
    Have a great w/end, dear. oxo

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    1. Colette, you should have seen the look on the face of the salesperson when I asked for the Brie containers for my blog...I love those containers and somehow I thought they would be perfect for these savory cookies.And they were - French salad - French cheese containers. Savory cookies are rather common in Germany and I often bake some cheese crackers or cheese straws to eat alongside our soups for example.

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  4. I never realized there were so many variations on this salad. I've always had it pretty much the way Dorie made it, funny. And I agree love your cookies.

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    1. Diane, not funny, just true - there are endlees variations of this salad - cooks have filled voluminous books with Salade Nicoise recipes.

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  5. Love the cookies. Your salad looks fantastic. I need to get busy making my salad. My family is not fond of anchovies so I will leave them out.

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    1. Geraldine, no anchovies for us either - no one likes them in their salad at our house, neither our family nor our guests. Thank you so very much for stopping by - hope all is going well!

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  6. Andrea, I love the idea of serving savory cookies with a salad. I love a full table! I hope your guests enjoyed this delicious salad. It's a favorite of mine. So many of my favorite ingredients. Have a great weekend! And happy Dorista anniversary!

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    1. Betsy, thank you and Happy Dorista Anniversary to you as well!!! Great recipe, delicious salad, fabulous ingredients, wonderful guests - I could not ask for more!

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  7. This is one of my favorite salads to order and to make. As soon as we get back from our travels (we're flying to Texas) I'll be making this salad. The cookies look lovely too! Thank you for sharing Andrea!

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    1. Monet, hope all your travel is going well - how nice to read that the Salade Nicoise is one of your favorite salads! Stay safe and hugs to Baby Lucy!

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  8. This was one simple and delish lunch!

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    1. I could not agree with you more. Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. WOW, I have never heard of sesame and fennel together much less in a cookie! I'm intrigued! Although, not enough to make a batch... your salad looks great too! I love your variety of lettuce, it looks more like fall leaves and it is very pretty!

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    1. Alice, this cookie recipe is based on an Italian cookis with fennel seeds - very traditional and delicious - so this is certainly no invention of mine but they taste fabulous and certainly fantastic enough to bake over and over again.
      P.S.: The lettuce is called "oak leaf lettuce" - a very fitting name for this very pretty salad.

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  10. Your salad looks good, but the cookies have my heart!

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    1. Thank you then - salads are a little bit difficult to photograph and these cookies seem to have stolen the show.

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  11. Your salad looks very special and delcious and I know you are feeding your company in grand style. There seems to be some discussion about the "classic" Salade Niçoise. Why is it that everything is a controversy? I just discovered that as a Libra, I abhor conflict (I really don't believe in signs/astrology but I do not like conflict.) I helped a friend edit a newsletter yesterday and she just kept complimenting me (you) on my little angel charm. It is so beautiful. I received "River Cottage Veg" and love it - hope to make Ribilitto this week. I won't print any recipes or my adaptions until we can talk after your company leaves. I am cooking with Beth Lee - Jerusalem - and hadn't even noticed the cookies. Love fennel. Nice post, Andrea.

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    1. Mary, thank you so much for your wonderful comment - how wonderful that the little angel is receiving so much attention! Tomorrow I will be going to a fair and hope to meet the artist there as well. I will tell her about all the compliments that her little angle received from you and your friends - I am sure that she will be delighted!
      Controversy and tons of discussion about the true recipe for this wonderful salad - so true and so very interesting. The former mayor of Nice got so upset about all of this, that he published a book about the "real food from Nice".

      Looking forward to sharing The Veg River Cottage recipes with you - hope you are well, dear friend!

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  12. Anchovies preserved in coarse salt? Now that's new to me!
    Your spread was gorgeous, Andrea. The other nine persons in your table must have been very grateful to be there.

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    1. Adriana, whole anchovies preserved in salt (also called "acciughe salate") are available at Italian markets and are often considered to be of superior quality to those preserved in oil but they have to be washed well before you use them in this salad. Well, the guests were happy and other than a few crumbs from the cookies, they were no leftovers.

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  13. The salad is so fresh, so colorful, and the cookies look so delicious, golden! I also love Dijon mustard, so this combination for me is a hit!
    Grüße von München ;) Guten Sonntag!
    Inês

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    1. Liebe Inês, ich hoffe alles ist gut in München! Thanks for the lovely comment - I will hop on over to your blog today to see how you are doing!
      Liebe Grüße!

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  14. Oh those cookies look awesome and such a perfect accompaniment with any meal, I have bookmarked these to try :)

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    1. Karen, I hope you will get a chance to make these lovely savory cookies one day - the recipe is as easy as can be and you will enjoy them with all kinds of different foods, I am sure. If you get a chance to make them do let me know how you liked them, I would appreciate your feedback.

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  15. Superbe salade Niçoise, les photos ainsi que la décoration sont superbes tel que toujours. Ayant tout récemment eu l'opportunité d'aller à Nice je peut confirmer que cette salade m'a réellement l'air authentique, félicitations !

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    1. Mon cher Nicolas, merci mille fois pour le gentil commentaire! J´apprécie beaucoup tes rémarques et ton feed-back!

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  16. I'm sure your guests and family enjoyed this lunch immensely.

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    1. Karen, yes, they did - but this is such an easy salad to prepare that it was also fun to put together. Friday´s lunch reminded me that I have to make this salad more often. Thanks for the comment - have a great trip to Germany!

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  17. I love the larger caper berries as well - they seem much more dramatic in presentation.
    I am also very intrigued by the cookies.

    My Joe landed safely in Berlin last night - I told him he has to bring me back at least one kitchen related souvenir!

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    1. Cher, those caper berries are wonderful - they are indeed more "dramatic" and since we like regular capers as well as the caper berries, I used htose.
      P.S.: Glad to hear that your Joe landed safe and sound in Berlin - I heard that the weather is beautiful there right now and hopefully he will find a wonderful kitchenware store there and buy a great gift to bring back home to the US.

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  18. Andrea - your Salade Niçoise looks absolutely beautiful! And the recipe sounds very much like mine, except Mark and I love the anchovies! (We have eaten a lot of them here in Venice.) Also, the savory cookies look perfect - I love the cookbook Jerusalem, and his other one, Plenty. I think Ottolenghi is one of my new heroes! Liebe Grüße aus Venedig. ~ David

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    1. Ach! I meant to tell you that there are lots of Love Locks on the Academia Bridge in Venedig! I think of you every time I cross!

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    2. David, how nice! I saw some Love Locks in Antwerp the other day - just a few, attached to a fence but it was fun to see them there too. Thanks for letting me know!

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    3. David, those anchovies - it seems tp be a love/hate thing with these - the kids do not really appreciate them so I left them off. Thank you so much for the nice comment - hope you are having a great time in Venice.

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  19. Beautiful looking salad!! I think we see caper berries.. One of our favorites!

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    1. Thank you, yes, I did include caper berries in the salad - they are my favorite way to enjoy capers and the rest of the family tends to agree with me.

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  20. The lighting in your photos is phenomenal. Truly a wonderful lunch! Have a great week, Andrea!

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    1. Liz, thank you - glad that enjoy the photography - not always that easy to capture the perfect light for those food pictures!

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  21. Sounds a regular salad, but since you got nailed on food photography and selecting the colofull ingredients....
    should i called this food porn???
    great job my friend!

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    1. Dede, do not know abot that...but do know that we all enjoyed this classic French salad and that the sun was shining when pictures were taken!

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  22. A shopping I must go…. A shopping I must go….. la la la la la la to get all those vegetables.

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    1. Ha... why not...around here there are still so many vegetables to be found in the market, it is hard to resist. Thanks for stopping by!

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  23. Oh Andrea, So enjoyed your post and your photos are just gorgeous! Interesting that a recipe could cause so much conflict. I wish that you could have been with us in Seattle…it would be so nice to meet you. You are definitely a kindred spirit! I can’t wait to try the sesame and fennel cookies…they sound delectable! Have a great day…I’m finally getting around to commenting on everyones blog, after being away for so long.

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    1. Kathy, thank you very much - would have loved to be there but, alas, Seattle seemed a bit too far...maybe next time we can all meet somewhere "a bit closer to home", I would really enjoy that!
      Thank you also for commenting on the lovely French classic salad - so delicious, yet so many different versions!

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  24. I still remember my very first Nicoise salad at my friend's house who was taking a cooking lessons from an Italian. It was soooo good! I tried a few varieties myself but always her recipe is the best (maybe because it was first one I tried?). Hehe. I need to check out the recipe. I also love your sesame cookies. Looks so delicious!

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    1. Nami, sounds like your friend has a fabulous recipe for this wonderful Frencg classic. We often just forget about this recipe, at least I do and I truly believe that we should make this more often.

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  25. Everything looks delicious. I have Jerusalem but haven't made those cookies yet. After seeing yours I'm excited to try them.

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    1. Jora, you should definitely give these lovely savory cookies a try. Thank you for the comment!

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