Glover Gardens Salade Nicoise Inspired by Le Bistrot in Edinburgh

I love Salade Nicoise, that fresh tart-tangy French creation in which every bite is a slightly different-tasting winner. But I had no idea there were deep-seated feelings, arguments and controversies over just what comprises a Salade Nicoise until I set out to share my recent experiences with this delectable salad with you.

I arrived in Edinburgh two Saturdays ago, having concluded some business meetings in Norway and awaiting a workshop that was to start on Monday at our offices in Scotland. It was 10:00 a.m. and my hotel room wasn’t ready, which gave me time to walk around that beloved town. It was a rainy mess, but it was still enchanting. I started with the markets on Castle Terrace and nearby Grassmarket.

I’ve visited these markets before and have a whole post worth of wonderful pics from an enjoyable time last summer, but on that rainy December Saturday, I just meandered slowly and people-watched. Or perhaps I should say, mammal-watched. Look at that patient dog above, probably wondering if a tidbit will come its way.

I started looking for a place for lunch, along with everyone else in the free world, and had a difficult time finding a restaurant or pub with a spare seat for me. That wasn’t really surprising; a rainy Saturday during the holiday season in Edinburgh near The Royal Mile isn’t the best time to be competing with aggressively hungry and wet tourists for a table.

I could have walked further afield and found something easily, but the rain and my now-sopping tennis shoes and socks were a strong reason to find a warm place close by and “sit a spell”, as my grandmother used to say. Luckily, I remembered a lovely French restaurant nearby where I had dined with colleagues, looked it up on my phone and learned that it didn’t open until noon… and if it wasn’t open yet, it couldn’t be full of patrons yet, either… right?

Success! It was only 11:45 and Le Bistro wasn’t open yet, but they were happy to usher me into their lovely, warm dining room. It was charming but unfussy, and dolled up for the holidays.

I discreetly took off my wet shoes beneath the table, hoping that if separated, the shoes and socks would dry a bit, and sat contentedly with some bread and butter while the very welcoming staff continued to prepare for the lunch crowd.

Choosing a Salade Nicoise to Start

Le Bistrot had a great price on a 2-course meal and I knew immediately I’d have to have the mussels for my main selection. It is very hard to resist mussels when in Scotland, because most are locally grown and harvested, and they’re plump, tasty and perfectly prepared. Knowing that the mussels would be very filling, I decided to go with the Salade Nicoise for the first course.

Salade Nicoise might seem like an odd choice in the winter, especially on a cold day, but I thought it would be the perfect starter for the heavier mussels – and I was right. It was also an inspiration.

The salad was simply perfect. I loved the way it was both composed but casual, with the ingredients each grouped. There were way more capers than I would have thought appropriate prior to enjoying this salad, but I ate them all! The shaved gruyere was a great addition, and the greens and radicchio were very lightly dressed with some kind of lemony vinaigrette. The anchovies were firm and mild, and the black olives, boiled egg and croutons completed the dish.

In a word:

YUM!

I was amazed at how simple and delicious it was. I had forgotten how much I like Salade Nicoise, and had never made it at home. I whipped out my list of “dishes to create in the Glover Gardens way” and added it immediately.

Here Come the Mussels

Then it was on to the mussels, which were also perfect.

The restaurant had started to fill up by now, but the service remained excellent. My request for Tabasco was promptly filled.

I was warm, dry and happily full – thank you, Le Bistrot! I was also inspired to make a Glover Gardens version of Salade Nicoise to share my delight with The Grill-Meister. The mussels were inspiring, too, but we had already figured out how to successfully cook them, just last year, and I blogged about it here.

Open to New Things

Making Our Own Salad, Inspired by My Experience at Le Bistrot

I love to cook after a long trip; it’s a tactile activity and a refreshing way to recharge my batteries. It’s also an opportunity to put into play the ideas I collect while dining at so many different in restaurants in the countries I visit. So I wasted no time after returning home this time and conjured up our Glover Gardens Nicoise-Inspired Salad on Sunday night. I didn’t use a recipe, just choosing the ingredients I wanted to see on our plates and throwing together a lemony vinaigrette.

It turned out really well.

While it’s not a recipe, here’s my list of ingredients:

• Greens: fresh basil leaves, arugula and torn romaine
• Grape tomatoes
• Radishes
• Red onions
• Kalamata olives
• Boiled tiny potatoes
• Cooked French green beans
• Capers
• Boiled eggs
• Anchovies
• Seared fresh tuna coated with our Zippy Sicilian spice mix
• Artichoke hearts

I made a light lemon vinaigrette with the juice of one lemon, some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic mayo, with salt and pepper added, tossed the greens with the vinaigrette to make a base layer, and then arranged the rest of the ingredients, using the same “composed but casual” approach as Le Bistrot.

Purists would have been dismayed by the fresh, seared tuna, the radishes, the potatoes and green beans, the artichoke hearts, etc., but the Grill-Meister was delighted! He raved about the combination of flavors, the light vinaigrette and especially how perfect the seared tuna was with the salad. (I glowed.)

What’s All This about a Controversy?

When I was looking at various recipes to learn about the salad called nicoise and its history, I learned that it’s called nicoise because it originated in the French city of Nice, and that there are some mighty strong feelings about this classic dish. Mighty strong. It reminded me of how people feel about their holiday stuffing, or dressing, as it’s often called. I tackled that one, for once and for all, in the post below (in case you’re looking for the perfect dressing recipe since Christmas is around the corner 😊).

North-South Best Dressing Recipe Ever (with Sausage and Two Breads)

But back to the nastiness about nicoise, or not-nicoise, as many claim when the nicoise in question doesn’t fit their mental model. There’s a rather dry but detailed article in Wikipedia about it here, and a shorter but much more entertaining discussion of the controversy in a post called THE SALADE NIÇOISE DEBATE from the web site, The Gentleman’s Portion. It’s a delightful and funny read; I highly recommend it. There’s also a recipe for a Salade Nicoise with salmon.

The gist of the debate is that there are Salade Nicoise purists – but they don’t all agree on what the fundamentals are. So there are purists who are mad about the definition of the salad by other purists – and then there are those (like me) who feel that it’s a canvas, a general idea, a style, upon which you can riff and make your own. But to avoid the scorn that’s been heaped upon others who dared to call their salad Nicoise, I’m staying safe on this one and calling ours Nicoise-inspired.

What are the ingredients held dear by the various purists? It seems that the only ones everyone agrees upon are tomatoes, anchovies and olive oil. Other ingredients that might be in the fundamental recipe (depending upon which purist camp you’re in) include canned tuna, black olives and boiled eggs. Lettuce is controversial, and so are boiled potatoes and green beans. The famous French chef Escoffier added the potatoes and green beans sometime in the late 1800s, and Julia Child’s recipe a century later also include those ‘highly questionable’ (according to the scoffers) ingredients. There are as many strong opinions about Salade Nicoise as there are versions.

Salade Nicoise in the Winter? Really?

Gordon Ramsay called Salade Nicoise “the finest summer salad of all” – so why have it in the winter?

Because we can, my friends. Because we can.

The ingredients are readily available all year long, and it’s really nice to have those tastes in this summer-reminiscent dish in the winter when so many other foods are heavy – and even more so during the holiday season when the dishes aren’t just heavy, they are RICH. That’s probably why Le Bistrot serves this salad in the winter, and it’s definitely why we wanted it at Glover Gardens – but also, it isn’t always cold in the winter in Southeast Texas, so a sala is often apropos even for a main course.

We traveled to Gumbo Cove in Mississippi yesterday and brought our Nicoise-Inspired Salad leftovers with us. It’s cold here, but the salad was terrific alongside warm slices of locally-made crawfish pie.

Another perfect meal. Another travel-inspired experience translated to our plates.

Life is good. Just don’t “out me” to the Salade Nicoise purists. 😁

How do YOU nicoise your salad?

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