French Cooking: Mixed Green Salad (Salade de Mesclun)
Mesclun is a ready-mixed Provençal green salad composed of several kinds of salad leaves and herbs. A typical combination might include rocket, radicchio, lamb’s lettuce and curly endive with herbs such as chervil, basil, parsley and tarragon.
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 30ml/2 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
- 5ml/1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)
- 75-120ml/5-8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 200—225g/7—8oz mixed salad leaves and herbs
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rub a large salad bowl with the garlic clove and leave in the bowl.
- Add the vinegar, salt and pepper and mustard, if using. Stir to mix the ingredients and dissolve the salt, then whisk in the oil slowly.
- Remove the garlic clove and stir the vinaigrette to combine. Add the salad leaves to the bowl and toss well. Serve the salad at once. #Variation# Mesclun always contains some pungent leaves. When dandelion leaves are in season, they are usually found in the mixture, so use them when available.