Tarteletter med Honsesalat

There's a stretch of Danish summer, late June into July, when the asparagus is still good and the days have grown long enough that nobody wants to eat indoors. This is when tarteletter come out of the cupboard. Not the hot version with the cream sauce that belongs to confirmation lunches and grey Sundays, but the cold one. The picnic one. The one you carry to the beach or the garden or the allotment in two separate containers and assemble at the table.

Tarteletter med honsesalat is the same dish in summer clothes. The flavors are familiar to any Dane: poached chicken, asparagus, mushrooms, the smoky note of bacon. But here they're bound in a light dressing of mayonnaise and creme fraiche instead of a hot bechamel, and they sit in a cold pastry shell instead of a steaming one. It's a dish built for hot weather and outdoor tables, and it has the relaxed grace of food that knows it doesn't need to perform.

The whole thing is straightforward, but two things matter more than the rest. First, poach the chicken slowly. A bare simmer, never a boil. Tender chicken is half the dish. Second, never assemble until the moment you eat. The shells go soft within fifteen minutes of meeting the wet salad, and a soft tartlet shell is a small tragedy. Keep them apart until the last second. The season decides the rest, and in July, the season is generous.