Are we the ONLY people in southern burgundy who don’t have a proper vegetable garden? Actually, yes. Vegetable gardening is essential here. I grow herbs, and maybe a cherry tomato or two, but I’m a flower gardener at heart.
But I’m quite clever about having friends with gardens. And really, when they show up with baskets of lovely things fresh from their garden, why should I bother? They give me veggies, I make them cookies. Everybody’s happy. Photo, above: a bouquet of veggies from friends Pete and Dee.
Summer is shutting down here, and I’m left with an interesting variety of courgettes, or squashes. Zucchini, of course, and I’m lucky to have yellow crookneck squash. They don’t know or grow it in France, but I’ve cunningly gifted some southern seeds to friends with greener thumbs. Then our neighbors Marc and Janine showed up with a big round orangey-yellow courgette (in photo, right, along with their mighty fine tomatotes) and I’m not quite sure what it is, but it’s said to be a specialty of Nice.
Happily I stumbled across a mixed squash salad which inspired this week’s recipe, in sisters Sandy Hoope and Donna Kelly's wonderful blog Everyday Southwest. Their salad has Tex-Mex twinges, but we’re going to take it off into Mediterranean territory. Either way, this is my new favorite summer salad. It’s pretty, it’s tasty, it’s different, and it’s easy. Summer doesn’t get much better than that.
RECIPE: Courgette Carpaccio with Fresh herbs, Walnuts, and Parmesan
You really need a Mandoline Slicer
Slice some zuchinni and/or summer squash very thin. Do the same with a seeded bell peppers, cutting crosswise. Arrange veggies on a large platter. Pick a generous handful of fresh herbs and chop them fine. They should be a mixture of: mint, tarragon, and parsley. (Other fresh herbs are fine, but this combination is pretty important to this salad. Don't skip the mint, it adds a unique, fresh taste).
Sauté some chopped walnuts in a bit of butter in a black skillet, sprinkling them with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, tossing, until fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
Just before serving, sprinkle the squash with sea salt and pepper (but not before–the salt will draw the water out of the squash). Drizzle lightly with French Dressing #1. Top with the chopped herbs, pecans and shavings of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Say au revoir to summer!
Favorite Reads: Thanks to Cindy at The Daily Basics, I've discovered the 'Rather' series by C.A. Belmond. OK this is chick lit, fluffy yarns that are not intellectually challenging but are engaging and amusing, and set in European locations. I'm deep into the first one, set in France, A Rather Lovely Inheritance. Perfect reading for the hammock chair under the weeping willow at the château.
Our reader's blogs: Go right this minute to Genie's site at Paris and Beyond, and take a little tour of a very personal Paris. The photos will transport you. For more southern cooking (from way down in Texas!) try Melanie's blog, Brave the Kitchen. For your Italian fix, do not miss Fern's dreamy blog, An Expatriate in Rapallo.
Unless otherwise attributed, all POSTS, PHOTOS and RECIPES on this blog copyright ©2011 Lynn McBride. All Rights Reserved.
10 thoughts on “The Last Salad of Summer”
I should’ve waited to look at this post until I was home, now I’m drooling all over and can’t get home to cook until later. Looks delicious Lynn, thank you for sharing that recipe. I think home grown vegetables are the best!
XXX Ido
ooooohh,Lynn,THIS is my kind of salad. I am printing out the recipe as I write and I will make it on the next warm day, which should be this weekend.
And there won’t be many more of them here on the coast of Maine, I assure you. I’m wrapped in my big blue spa robe for the first time since April and I’m happy to have it, although the sun is streaming in my windows as I am look out over the water of the Back Cove in Portland…I say, Life is Good!
I am in a flurry of the “last weekend guests of summer”, so I will hit the Farmers’ Market this afternoon for courgettes and tarragon and pray for good weather. My bumper crop of parsley and mint is out on the terrace of the apartment (we have a gardener’s lottery and I won/lost depending on POV!)
I’m trying hard to live your French life in the US; you inspire me to try, at any rate. I always bless you for this blog!
PS: The ice cream cones…oooh la la, fabulous!I stuck mine in a bundt pan filled with sugar…it worked OK, but not ideal. I think the flat waffle cnes would work better using this method. I vow to keep up with the daunting research and report in on a timely basis !
That looks wonderful and squash are just peaking here in Oregon. I have just learned that our once-a-week Hood River farmers’ market has found an indoor location and will continue until the snow flies or the ground freezes. I am delighted to have fresh goodies to look forward to. This has been a sensational year for tomatoes and I don’t think I have eaten a meal without about three punds of them in a long time. The plants seem to add more overnight. I have found that you can add tomatoes to almost everything. I made a desert tart into a meal by changing peaches to tomatoes. Summer is waning, but technically there are five days left. Today, however, it rained for the first time in months. Welcome to Oregon.
I guess Brad has his shopping list for the Saturday farmer’s market tomorrow. And I just bought a cheap Mandoline myself, so this would be good for christening it. I didn’t plant a vegetable garden this year because we were gone for so long, but I really miss the last burst of summer.
Love this! As Summer is just hitting its stride here in San Francisco, this salad will be glorious for a couple of months. The thinly slices squash looks like heaven, I can’t wait to try it 🙂
AHH – now I have something else I need to remember to pack/ship to Nice! Thank you Lynn!!!!
Lovely photos and lovely salad idea. We get all excited when the black walnuts from France show up in the markets here. Tarragon doesn’t seem to be part of the Italian kitchen vocabulary, but then neither are dill and cilantro, and we make use of both here, terrace grown. In the very small town where we used to live in Connecticut the only time people used to lock their car doors was in August so no one could leave zucchini ‘presents’ for them. Ha. Thank you very much for mentioning my blog!
Hello Lynn, I love your recipes and had added many of them to my recipe book. Thank you for sharing them so generously with everyone.I am very excited about trying your French Dressing #1! Can you say how long will it keep? Keep them coming!
Annie
Lynn, this is my kind of salad and a keeper for sure. I have a mandoline, but it makes me nervous, so I’ll recruit my husband for the job.
Love your barter idea of cookies for vegetables. Tres clever.
Sam
Thank you for mentioning my blog, Lynn. I hope to see you around Brave the Kitchen again soon. P.S. I love your blog. Every time I visit, I spend the rest of the day daydreaming about France…French wine…French food….