Herb Garden Salad
Alain Passard is the chef-owner of the Parisian restaurant L’Arpège, awarded three Michelin stars, the highest possible rating from the most prestigious organization. He caused quite a stir when he “went vegetarian,” as he had come from the classic French tradition of cooking with meat stocks. This salad is inspired by a dish he created when he entered his veggie phase. This is well suited for cooks who grow their own herbs or are able to purchase good quality fresh herbs from their farmer’s market—otherwise, it can be somewhat costly at a traditional grocery store. Rinse the herbs under cold running water, then spin them dry in a salad spinner. Carefully remove the leaves from the stems (don’t cheat: use only the leaves, discard the stems). Use more herbs than lettuce. Nasturtiums (both leaves and flowers), cilantro, basil, and chervil are other herb suggestions.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the broiler. To make the toasts, arrange the bread slices on a baking sheet and brush one side with one tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil about 4 inches from the heat until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the slices over and toast. Remove from the oven while warm, and rub one side of each toast with the cut surface of the garlic. Transfer to a rack and set aside.
Step 2
To prepare the salad, combine the sherry and red wine vinegars and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large bowl. Add the greens, parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, mint, and microgreens. Season with salt and pepper and toss to evenly coat the greens with the dressing. Place the garlic toasts on serving plates. Divide the salad on top of the toasts.
fresh and dried herbs
Step 3
Herbs are the leaves and sometimes the flowers of a plant. Spices are seeds, bark, and dried berries. Some recipes and cookbooks will specify 1 teaspoon of a freshly chopped herb or 1/2 teaspoon of a dried herb. This substitution ratio assumes that the herbs are freshly dried and very potent with essential oils. The truth is, many dried herbs and spices are not stored correctly or not replaced often enough, so the herbs are actually less potent than their fresh counterparts. I almost always use fresh herbs.
