Rue Grognard, the street/staircase I lived on
In 2004, I spent a semester at L’Ècole des Beaux Arts de Lyon, learning about art, food and an appreciation for a slower life. Two hour lunch breaks allowed for farmers market visits and a cooked mid-day meal. Expensive, quality produce trained me away from pre-package foods, and living in my studio apartment, one that had a bathroom half the size of my entire place, and a tiny kitchenette without a full-sized fridge and stove/oven took a bit to get used to. But considering the school closed every day at 4:30, and was not open on the weekends, and restrictions that included a student-sized budget along with an unfavourable exchange rate, I was encouraged to meet the challenge of providing cheap, seven course dinner parties that could be accomplished on a double hot plate and microwave, with the largest appliance on hand, a potato peeler. Many evenings I spent entertaining my new school mates, mostly German exchange students, but also, a few French, one Pole, one Turk and Anna, an ex-pat who had been away from Vancouver for so long, she had forgotten just how Canadian she was. I have such fond memories of this little kitchen, talking about art, the world, love and food, until the wee hours of the morning…
On the few occasions I was able to eat at a restaurant, I came across the infamous Salade Lyonnaise. The ingredients are always the same because, like Champagne, it’s just not the same if it’s different.
C’est la vraie recette de la salade lyonnaise:
Préparation : 20 mn
Cuisson : 5 mn
Ingrédients (pour 4 personnes) :
– 4 oeufs
– 200 g de lard fumé
– 400 g de pissenlits
– 4 tranches de pain un peu rassis
– ciboulette
– huile
– vinaigre de vin rouge
– moutarde
Préparation :
Trier et bien laver les pissenlits à l’eau vinaigrée.
Préparer une vinaigrette moutardée.
Détailler le lard en lardons, le pain en dés. Faire rissoler les lardons dans une poêle anti-adhésive, puis revenir les croûtons dans la même poêle dans le gras rendu par le lard.
Pendant ce temps, faire pocher les oeufs : porter à ébullition une casserole d’eau additionnée de vinaigre d’alcool. Casser l’oeuf dans une tasse, utiliser la tasse pour le transvaser dans l’eau bouillante sans le disperser (si la casserole est assez grande, ajouter les autres oeufs, toujours 1 à 1 ). Au bout d’1 mn à 1 mn 30 , l’oeuf est mollet, le sortir délicatement de l’eau et le mettre à égoutter dans un bol.
Servir les pissenlits assaisonnés avec la vinaigrette, répartir dessus les lardons et croûtons chauds, couronner le tout d’un oeuf poché encore tiède et décorer de ciboulette ciselée. Servir aussitôt.
Basically, there are 4 components:
Dijon mustard helps emulsify and mix the oil with the vinegar. The result is a creamy vinaigrette.
The dijon vinaigrette:
Traditional Version:1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil and a spoon of dijon mustard. Place all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake. The dijon acts as an emulsifier, resulting in a nicely mixed oil and vinegar and a creamy texture.
My Version: Any kind of acidic vinegar, I like apple cider vinegar, but white wine or red wine will also work well. Definitely NOT balsamic.
I used arugula and dill here.
Salad Greens:
Traditional version: the greens used are bite sized frisée
My version: I don’t like the texture of frisée, so I use a mix of any leaf greens.
Toss greens with vinaigrette and plate. Arrange the following bits, in any combination atop of the greens:
Lardon: (optional) These are cubes of bacon, but really, it seems more closely related to back bacon. Sometimes they are browned, but the bouchons that I would frequent added the lardon uncooked (it is smoked and safe to eat). Many English version recipes substitute lardon for regular bacon.
Croutons: All the recipes state that croutons are used, but I don’t have a memory of croutons in my salad, and I don’t usually use them in my version. However, I can see how croutons would add a lovely bit of crunch.
Poached egg: And the crowning glory is the poached egg, and this element is simply mandatory!
Et Violà!
This dish works well as an appetizer. With two eggs, it is also substantial enough for a poor-man’s dinner, but really, I like it for breakfast best. And that is absolutely NOT very Lyon!
