Les Salades

In Nice, salads can be served either as an hors d’oeuvre, an accompaniment, or the main part of a meal. There are two kinds of salads: the cool, tart, crisp green salads, such as watercress, lettuce, and dandelions, and the warm salads made with vegetables, rice, meat, or fish.

The dressing is usually a simple vinaigrette. In a large glass or china bowl, a clove of garlic is crushed, salt and red wine vinegar, and then the oil and freshly ground black pepper are stirred in.

Good red wine vinegar and pure olive oil (the Extra Vierge label means a pure oil extracted from the olives without the use of chemicals or heat) are essential to a good vinaigrette. You may make it thicker with mustard or the yolk of a hard-boiled egg by adding them first to the vinegar, and then thinning the mixture with the oil.