I love this book because it's broken up into seasons (i.e. my salad was from spring, when I could find dandelion greens at Whole Foods). Before embarking on this recipe I had used the beet roasting technique from this book (a subset of this recipe) and that's about it. Of course I read much of the cookbook. I learned that lucques is a type of olive, somewhat like my beloved picholine. I learned that I must go to France and eat my face off. And now, I know one collection of normal things that unite to make a fantastic fucking salad!
I won't give too much away regarding the details of the salad because I'm way too lazy. But here's the nutshell version: roasted tiny whole potatoes with lots of salt (WINNER), beets, boiled egg, fresh bitter-ish greens, fresh mustard vinaigrette dressing, and this herb crusted salmon, baked at low heat with a dish of water on the oven rack below it, rendering the salmon to be very soft (someone in my household thought too soft - however the leftovers made, and I don't use the phrase lightly, THE BOMB salmon burgers).
Would I make this again? Oh heck yes. I'd probably cook the salmon a little more traditionally so that it ended up firmer. Otherwise, this combination is one to remember. By contrast, my general salad philosophy can be put thusly: get large bowl, clean chop and add everything healthy in the fridge that needs to be eaten, make a quick vinaigrette, add protein, add nuts, add seeds, add dried fruit, mix in large bowl, eat from large bowl. But here I've made something more sophisticated and thought-out. It's like I went to salad school. Not every salad needs pepitas and red cabbage. Imagine that!
