Salade Niçoise

I hate to boast, but right now on Vancouver Island (the southern part, that is) the weather is wonderful. I love this time of year when it is early spring in the Pacific Northwest along the coast the sky, the landscape, and the sea are all shades of grey and green, with the occasional burst of blue when the sun comes out. You can see all the lichens and mosses hanging heavy on the tree branches, and the air is soft and damp, and the light dim. I love it so much – I feel like my whole body rejoices in it.

So it was too warm for a heavy meal this weekend, and I made salade niçoise for dinner, to have with soup:

I took the recipe from Laura Calder’s “Elegant Everyday Eating”. Apparently this may not be a true salade niçoise, due to the cooked vegetables (and I would imagine, the lack of tuna?), but it was good and I have no clue what the genuine dish should be. As far as I’m concerned, the anchovy lying across the top of the salad makes it authentic. (Maybe the tuna steps in to replace the anchovy for the feeble of palate?).  Anyway, very good and yes I would have it again. I’m starting to wonder if the dishes of Nice (niçoise) are identifiable by the anchovies? – Note to self, need to pick up on my reading and research.

Part of this project is to make classic French dishes I haven’t tried before, just to see what they are like. I am probably the only person who is surprised that I have so much liked everything I have made thus far.

Just to show you that spring truly has arrived here, I offer you proof from the back garden: snowdrops coming up. It’s too soggy for me to walk out to them, but they are there.