Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise de Volaille
Cold roast chicken, ciseled lettuce, and a shining coat of homemade mayonnaise, arranged with capers, olives, anchovies, eggs, and lettuce hearts, then tossed at the table as the canon intends.
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Salads
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 381, Salads, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Salade verte d’hors-d’œuvre proves that restraint is a technique: dry leaves, crisp vegetables, and just enough vinaigrette to brighten each surface without weighing down the first course.
Salads
French
Weeknight
Picnic
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
5 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings
Salade verte d’hors-d’œuvre teaches restraint. Before you touch the saucepan for the beans, know one true thing: vinaigrette clings to dry vegetables and slides off wet ones. Water leaves the salad dull, heavy at the bottom, and strangely underseasoned. Dryness is not housekeeping; it is the technique.
The original entry assumed a garde-manger, the cold-station cook, with trays of prepared leaves and vegetables, not a saucier, a stockpot never off the fire, or a salamander. At home, a salad spinner, one small saucepan, and a mixing bowl replace that cold station honestly. I’ve given one balanced arrangement for four because a home cook needs quantities; the canon did not demand these exact vegetables, and neither do I.
Those trays and endless choices are brigade scaffolding. The dish itself is the proportion: mostly leaves, a few crisp contrasts, a restrained vinaigrette, and enough air in the bowl for everything to remain itself. One cook, one stove, one evening. Dry every element completely before the vinaigrette touches it. That is the step that decides the salad.
Salades d’hors-d’œuvre belong to the French cold table, from Parisian bistros to bourgeois dining rooms, where an opening plate is meant to wake the appetite rather than satisfy it. Classical manuals deliberately declined to impose a fixed formula, asking instead that these salads remain light and sightly, whatever the market or prepared larder supplied. The green salad became the most immediate home expression of that rule, but judgment, not a prescribed list of ingredients, remains the tradition.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
tender green leaves, such as butter lettuce and mâche
Quantity
5 loosely packed cups (5 oz / 140 g)
washed and thoroughly dried
pale inner frisée leaves
Quantity
1 loosely packed cup (1¼ oz / 35 g)
washed and thoroughly dried
slender green beans
Quantity
1 cup (4 oz / 115 g)
trimmed
medium radishes
Quantity
6 (3 oz / 85 g)
thinly sliced
medium cucumber
Quantity
½ (5 oz / 140 g)
thinly sliced into half-moons
fresh chives
Quantity
2 tablespoons (¼ oz / 6 g)
finely snipped
red wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g)
cold water
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g)
sunflower or grapeseed oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
divided
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tender green leaves, such as butter lettuce and mâchewashed and thoroughly dried | 5 loosely packed cups (5 oz / 140 g) |
| pale inner frisée leaveswashed and thoroughly dried | 1 loosely packed cup (1¼ oz / 35 g) |
| slender green beanstrimmed | 1 cup (4 oz / 115 g) |
| medium radishesthinly sliced | 6 (3 oz / 85 g) |
| medium cucumberthinly sliced into half-moons | ½ (5 oz / 140 g) |
| fresh chivesfinely snipped | 2 tablespoons (¼ oz / 6 g) |
| red wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) |
| cold water | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) |
| sunflower or grapeseed oil | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Salad spinner
- •3-quart saucepan
- •Large wide mixing bowl
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Wash and dry
Separate the leaves and wash them in a deep bowl of cold water, lifting them out so any grit remains behind. If the leaves look tired, leave them in fresh cold water for ten minutes; they will regain some crispness. Spin them in small batches, then spread them on a clean towel until no droplets remain. Wet leaves repel vinaigrette, and no amount of extra dressing repairs that.
Tear only the leaves too large for one bite. A knife bruises tender edges, while small whole leaves give the finished salad its loose, sightly shape. - 2
Blanch the beans
Bring a small saucepan of water to a lively boil and add 1⅔ teaspoons of the salt. Drop in the green beans and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until vividly green and tender enough to bite without squeaking. Move them immediately into ice water, then drain and dry them as carefully as the leaves. If they soften too far, chill them at once and cut them slightly shorter; ça se rattrape, and the leaves will restore the necessary crispness.
- 3
Prepare the contrasts
Cut the cooled beans into two-bite lengths. Slice the radishes thin enough to bend without becoming transparent, and cut the cucumber into neat half-moons. Keep the vegetables separate and cold until serving. A professional cold station would hold each element on its own tray; a towel-lined container and a few small bowls do the same work at home.
- 4
Emulsify the vinaigrette
Whisk the vinegar with the remaining ⅓ teaspoon salt until the grains dissolve. Add the Dijon mustard, cold water, and pepper, then pour in the oil slowly while whisking until the vinaigrette becomes smooth and lightly creamy. Taste it on a leaf, not from the spoon, because the salad is what must be seasoned. If the vinaigrette separates, whisk it again with a few drops of cold water. If it tastes too sharp, add oil a teaspoon at a time; if dull, add vinegar by the drop. Ça se rattrape.
- 5
Dress with restraint
Reserve about one cup of the driest leaves, then place the remaining greens, frisée, beans, radishes, and cucumber in a wide mixing bowl. Spoon half the vinaigrette around the sides rather than pouring it onto one spot. Toss upward gently with clean hands or salad servers, taste a leaf, and add only as much of the remaining vinaigrette as the salad needs. If a puddle forms, lift the salad into a clean bowl and fold in the reserved dry leaves, leaving the excess dressing behind. The salad should gleam, not swim.
- 6
Arrange and serve
Lift the dressed salad loosely into a wide shallow bowl without pressing it down. Turn a few radish slices, cucumber half-moons, and green beans toward the surface so the arrangement looks generous but unforced, then scatter over the chives. Serve immediately as a light hors-d’œuvre. For a picnic, carry the vinaigrette separately and perform the final toss at the table. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Tender leaves provide softness, frisée supplies a clean bitterness, and the beans, radishes, and cucumber bring three distinct kinds of crispness. Change the products with the market, but preserve that balance. The source gives judgment as the rule because no single shopping list can improve on good seasonal produce.
- •If the fresh radishes or cucumber are tired, omit them rather than asking them to perform raw. Blanched frozen peas, thawed and dried thoroughly, are an honest cold-pantry replacement.
- •Make-ahead salad means prepared, not dressed. Once vinaigrette touches the leaves, salt begins drawing out their water and the crisp texture has a short life.
- •Serve with a dry, bright white wine if the salad opens a larger meal. Keep the vinegar restrained, since an aggressively sour dressing makes any wine beside it taste flat.
Advance Preparation
- •Wash and dry the leaves up to one day ahead. Wrap them loosely in a clean towel, place them in a covered container, and keep them cold.
- •Blanch the beans and prepare the radishes and cucumber up to six hours ahead. Store each separately so the cucumber cannot dampen the leaves.
- •The vinaigrette keeps for up to three days in a covered jar in the refrigerator. Let it lose its chill, then shake or whisk it back into an emulsion before dressing the salad.
- •For a picnic, pack the vegetables in a towel-lined container, the leaves above them, and the vinaigrette in a tightly sealed jar. Toss only when everyone is ready to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
120 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
2 g
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