Salade 'Week-End'

                                                                          

Yesterday I was still a little hung-over from the excitement of the convention and the unusual for me late night. 

After cleaning and reorganizing the refrigerator--a terrible smell caused by a hidden plastic bag full of the liquid remains of a forgotten squash made it necessary--I realized that there were some other veg on the edge and what I needed to do was make a salad for dinner.

I had a good start with a simple potato salad I'd made the day before with some extra boiled potatoes--just added a bit of mayo, dill weed, and chopped celery and onion.

A bed of Romaine lettuce, the potato salad, tomato wedges, sliced cucumber, ditto onion, leftover cooked green beans, a little salt, a drizzle of olive oil and white balsamic vinegar and the fancy touch of a handful of shrimp, sauteed in a little butter and Sriracha sauce came together to make this not-quite Salade Nicoise.

Some ciabattas toasted with garlic butter and a glass of white wine made for a rather elegant summer supper.

And now for an early night.

If, On a Hot Summer Evening. . .

Sometimes, nothing sounds better than a salad. A Salade Nicoise is pretty much a full meal. There's a little advance prep that, ideally, could be done in the morning before things heat up. Boil potatoes, hard cook eggs, steam green beans, make vinaigrette (fresh basil, thyme, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper,) and pour some on the cooked potatoes, then use it to marinate the thin sliced onions. 

Come evening, it's just a matter of assembling the ingredients--lettuce (or spinach,) a small can of tuna in oil, sliced cukes, tomato wedges, the potatoes, green beans, onions, hard-cooked egg, some olives--Kalamata if you don't have the little French ones, some capers, and the vinaigrette. 

And if, after a too hot day, a cooling thunderstorm moves in, it's nice to sit on the porch with coffee and, for Himself, perhaps a drop of something stronger. . .