Salade de bergère

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Salade de bergère

Salade de bergère.
Photograph by Alan Robinson

By Mike Robinson of The Field

Monday, 16 June 2008

Mike Robinson has an Alpine offering for the summer months.

What a miserable year it has been so far, what with credit crunches (which sounds like an unpleasant chocolate bar), staggeringly high fuel costs and about 18 months of appalling weather. Owning a pub gives you a feel for the mood of the populace and I can tell you that folks are in the doldrums. So thank goodness for food. One of the few things guaranteed to cheer one up is a tasty meal, especially when accompanied by sunshine – theoretically guaranteed in June.

I was wandering aimlessly through the pub garden, which is positively burgeoning at this time of year, and it occurred to me that one of the most uncelebrated types of food in this country is salad. When we think of it we imagine the hideous pile of iceberg lettuce and cucumber that makes up the average pub attempt, usually wilting on the side of a hot plate that also contains warm food. I have never understood the reasoning behind this but it is a dreadful and heinous crime.

Salad should encompass a multitude of foods. It can be as delightful as a concoction of spring leaves, or full-on hearty and bursting with potatoes and meat. In short, a salad is whatever you want it to be.

I would describe this salad as Alpine. When I lived in the French mountains many years ago my wife and I used to go to a little auberge (mountain restaurant), stay the night and eat wonderful food. The owner was an ex-executive chef of Gleneagles hotel, so he knew how to cook. The place was rather romantically named the Gite de Lac du Gers (or "hostel by goat lake” – not so lovely in English) and was accessible by Land Rover by means of a terrifying mountain track.

When we finally arrived at this breath-taking spot, we ordered a bottle of rosé and the house special, a salade de bergère (shepherd’s salad). Being the carnivore that I am I was sceptical to say the least, but I was blown away. Try this, you’ll never look back.

Salade de bergère
Serves 6 as a main course

1 head frisée lettuce
1 head oak leaf
1 head radicchio
12 slices thinly cut baguette
1 clove garlic
6 crottins (little goat’s cheeses) cut in half
100g (4oz) wild mushrooms
50g (2oz) butter
Dressing
Salt and pepper
12 slices prosciutto
12 slices salami or chorizo
12 slices bresaola

Wash the lettuces well and tear them into manageable pieces. Rub the slices of baguette with garlic and pop half a crottin on each. Heat a pan and drop in the mushrooms and butter – feel free to add the remains of the garlic to the pan as well. Stick the baguette slices in the oven at 375ºF/190ºC/Gas Mark 5 for 10 mins.

Dress and season the salad and put a pile of leaves on each plate. Toss in the mushrooms, then tear up the meat and drape it over the salad and add the croutons with their goaty topping. Tuck in and savour the experience.