Name: Valerie Berry’s Posh French Beef Salad with Ravigote Dressing
Yield: DÎner Pour 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 2tsp whole grain mustard; 1 onion, peeled and studded with 2 cloves; 900 g/2¼ lb brisket; 2 fat marrowbones (about 12 cm/5 in.each); large carrot; 1 shallot, finely chopped; 1 stick of celery; 4 medium leeks, trimmed (reserve 1 of the green tops for the stock), cut into 2 cm/¾ in.slices; salt; freshly ground black pepper; 1½ tbsp salted capers, soaked for 10 minutes and drained; 3 small gherkins, finely chopped; 80ml/3fl oz./generous ⅓cup red wine vinegar; 1½ tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped; 1½ tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped; 1½ tbsp fresh chives, finely sliced; 120 g/4 oz watercress; 1 large hard-boiled egg, finely chopped; small toasted sourdough bread slices

Preparation info

DÎner Pour
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Salmagundi

By Sally Butcher

Published 2014

About

Valerie is the multi-talented lady who styled all the food for Veggiestan, Snackistan and this book. An author herself, she possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of food and I have come to regard her as a bit of a mentor. Her most enviable quality, however, is her sheer unflappability

As she is from over the Channel, it seemed only right to turn to her to inject a soupçon of French flair into the proceedings. This salad is very moreish; she writes thus of it:

What I