Salade à la Flamande

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small baking dish
• •2-quart saucepan
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Sharp chef's knife
• •Large mixing bowl and whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Bake the onion

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Leave the onion whole and unpeeled, set it in a small baking dish, and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until it yields gently under tongs and a thin knife passes through the center without resistance. The skin acts as its own little cocotte, concentrating sweetness without browning the flesh hard. If the skin splits, wrap the onion loosely in foil and finish baking; the flavor remains safely inside.

2. 2

   Simmer the potatoes

   While the onion bakes, put the unpeeled potatoes in a small saucepan and cover them with cold water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 18 to 25 minutes, until a knife enters with slight resistance at the center. Drain immediately. A hard boil or excessive cooking makes the flesh waterlogged, and waterlogged potato will not hold a julienne.

3. 3

   Cool everything fully

   Let the potatoes and baked onion cool completely, then chill them for 20 minutes if the kitchen is warm. Peel both. Weigh out 7 ounces (200 g) of potato and 3½ ounces (100 g) of baked onion so the original proportions remain intact. Taste a corner of the herring; if it is fiercely salty, soak the fillets in cold water for 10 minutes, drain, dry well, and taste again.

4. 4

   Cut the components

   Cut the cold potato julienne-fashion into coarse matchsticks about 2 inches (5 cm) long and ¼ inch (5 mm) thick. Chop the baked onion and dice the herring to roughly the same thickness. Cut the endives last into a similar coarse julienne, weighing 14 ounces (400 g) after trimming. If the potato begins to crumble, stop and chill it for another 15 minutes, then cut slightly broader sticks. Ça se rattrape; neat enough is better than mashed.

5. 5

   Whisk the vinaigrette

   Whisk the white wine vinegar in a large bowl, then add the oil gradually while whisking until the vinaigrette, the oil-and-vinegar dressing, looks lightly thickened. With no mustard to hold it, this is a temporary emulsion and should be used at once. If the oil gathers into separate beads, whisk briskly again. Ça se rattrape.

6. 6

   Compose and serve

   Add the potato, baked onion, and herring to the vinaigrette and turn them gently until coated. Fold in the endive, parsley, and chervil without crushing the matchsticks. The herring supplies the salt, so taste before deciding the salad needs anything further. Serve immediately while the endive remains crisp and the dressing gleams lightly over every cut surface. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The ratio is the recipe: 14 ounces (400 g) endive, 7 ounces (200 g) cooked potato, then 3½ ounces (100 g) each baked onion and herring. Weigh after trimming, cooking, and peeling, because those are the ingredients that actually enter the bowl.
• •Choose waxy potatoes such as Charlotte, Nicola, or small yellow potatoes. Floury potatoes belong in purée; here they break at the knife and drink the dressing before the endive receives any.
• •Use herring sold ready to eat in brine, not raw fresh herring. Taste it before composing the salad, since one cure may be gentle and another formidable; a short cold-water soak corrects excess salt without changing the dish.
• •Keep the vinaigrette bare: oil and wine vinegar only. Mustard would hold the emulsion longer, but it would also crowd the baked onion, chervil, and herring that should carry the bowl.
• •Chervil is not decorative parsley. Its quiet anise note gives the rich potato and herring a clean finish, so add it only at the end and do not cook it.
• •Serve with rye bread and a dry bière de garde from the Nord, or a crisp dry white wine. The salad is generous enough for supper and needs no fussy company.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the onion and simmer the potatoes up to one day ahead. Cool them completely, cover separately, and refrigerate; cold potatoes are easier to cut cleanly.
• •The herring can be drained, tasted, and diced several hours ahead, then kept covered in the refrigerator.
• •Cut the endive and chervil only when you are ready to compose the salad. Once dressed, the endive gradually softens, so this is best brought to the table at once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 217g)