This is only a Parc Vinet salad when the garden is lit with the floodlights of the Parc Vinet ballpark directly behind all three restaurants and we’re harvesting enough greens to fill a bowl. Although this light salad seems a bit un–Joe Beef, it is in fact the best partner to a browned-out meal of wine reductions, marrow, and other consorts. We use whatever herbs and greens we have to make it, and this is what you should do, too. Let’s say 40 percent bitter greens, 40 percent sweet greens, and the rest in fines herbes. Just don’t go and put in rosemary. If it’s got woodsy stems, keep it out of the bowl. And do not use commercial salad mix. That’s not the point of this salad.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 1 large salad
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Regardless of the amount of greens you have—let’s say the cutting-edge foodie in you bought frisée, oak leaf lettuce, small green radicchio, Boston lettuce, watercress, chervil, and nasturtium flowers, and you have chives, mint, and flat-leaf parsley in your garden—gently wash them in cold water. Then gather a few leaves at a time in a clean cloth and spin like a biblical sling (rapidly, like in David and Goliath). Keep the greens in a freezer bag in the fridge. Tear the big leaves right before serving, and then add the fresh herbs and flowers to them. Nowadays, food is often presented in rather rustic ways, which is fine, except when pieces are bigger than your mouth and you and your cute date end up looking like ruminants. (Easy, we haven’t called anyone a cow yet!) That’s why you need to adapt the big leaves.
Step 2
We dress the salad lightly and evenly with our Apple Vinny (page 196). If you bite into the salad and dressing squeezes out between your teeth, that’s gross, and it means you have used way too much dressing.
Step 3
We also finish the salad with a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds, which are easy to make. Here is how to toast a big batch for finishing off quite a few salads: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). In a bowl, toss together 2 cups (130 g) raw pumpkin seeds, 2 tablespoons canola oil, and 1 tablespoon sea salt, coating evenly. Spread the seeds out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. They can burn quickly, so keep a close eye. That means a timer and a rubber band on your thumb! When they smell good and are popped up and light brown, transfer them quickly to a wide bowl. Let cool before using.
