I own a cookbook called The French Revolution, one of many cookbooks written by Michel Roux, Jr., published in 2019. As the back book cover states, “The French Revolution celebrates a true revision of the very best classics.”
Everyone most likely has heard of the French Roux family – specifically the brothers Michel and Albert, who were from France but moved to London and opened the well known La Gavroche. Two Michelin stars quickly followed.
Graduates from the kitchens of Le Gavroche include Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, and just about every other chef you’ve ever heard of, including, of course, Albert’s son, Michel Roux Jr, and Michel’s son, Alain. Michel Jr. still runs La Gavroche since he taking over in 1991, and maintains the two stars. He has also written a “memoir-cum-recipes” called A Life in the Kitchen, revealing his time growing up amongst chefs and in restaurants.
I like the chef’s approach in this cookbook to make French food simpler and maybe less intimidating. But anyone who’s cooked French food knows that there are many similarities with it and say, Italian food. Many recipes are quite simple, relying of course on the quality of the ingredients. Steamed asparagus with a vinaigrette is not a scary recipe, but your asparagus better be very perfectly fresh!
The recipe I chose to make is a simple recipe, with fun flavors à la Nià§oise. Think of a salade Nià§oise – tuna, olives, capers, anchovies, and so forth.
Rice Salad Nià§oise
200g / 7 ounces long-grain rice
2 red bell peppers, cut in half
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 salted anchovies, chopped
1 tablespoon capers
300g / 11 ounces canned tuna in oil, drained, flaked
100g / 3 1/2 ounces pitted olives, green and black roughly chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
100g / 3 1/2 ounces baby spinach leaves, washed
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Put the rice in a pan with plenty of water. Add salt, then bring to a boil and cook the rice for 25 minutes or until tender. Drain the rice well and spread it out on a plate so it cools quickly.
Put the peppers, skin side up, under a hot grill until blackened and charred. Leave them to cool, then peel off the skins and cut the flesh into thin strips. Discard the seeds and any white membrane.
Whisk the oil, vinegar, anchovies and capers together to make a dressing. Season with pepper and a little salt.
Put the rice in a serving dish and add the flaked tuna, pepper strips, olives, spring onions and spinach leaves.
Add the dressing just before serving and toss.
The salad is delicious. A hard-boiled egg would be a great addition.
I added extra green onion to the vinaigrette.
