Makes 1 cup, enough for 4 antipasti servings or 6 servings on a crudite plate
I have been making variations of this quintessentially Israeli salad for almost 30 years. Not only does it taste and look good, but it is so easy to prepare that I make it for last-minute dinner guests when I have no lettuce in the house. (Somehow my fridge is always stocked with raw carrots.)
From The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Morrow, 1992). © 1992 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. All rights reserved.
Couscous is a pasta by way of North Africa and should be easy to find in the grocery. (Boxes should come with both stovetop and microwave cooking instructions.) This salad is good for when you just can't face another typical pasta salad at your block party, church picnic or family reunion. And this is just one version—feel free to change the herbs or to add any great vegetables you see at the market that weekend.
My friend Didier Frayssou, a wine master who can match any dish to its soul-mate wine, has a quality I adore in French men: a sophisticated palate and a love of his mom's home cooking. I don't think I'd known him five minutes before he started telling me about his mother's farçous, a type of crepe or galette that's loaded with greens, most especially Swiss chard. Didier comes from Laguiole in the Auvergne, but farçous are a staple throughout Southwest France, where all the moms have their own way of making them.
A scattering of ruby-colored pomegranate seeds makes a memorable finish to this dish.
Deviled eggs are a must at Southern church dinners-on-the-grounds and camp meetings. This is a little more sophisticated version, with lemon zest and a touch of vivid red caviar.
Ingredients
Ingredients
A melon salad is not a typical opening to a meal in Italy.