Presque-Niçoise

Eastside Road, September 2, 2010—

I CALLED IT "faux-Niçoise" over at FaceBook, a little earlier, but that was unjust: there was nothing faux about this meal. Context: it was h o t today, over a hundred degrees, and no one wants to eat a lot, much less prepare much of anything, in this kind of weather. Potatoes and green beans were out of the question. So Lindsey tore up some lettuces, opened a can of tuna, got some anchovies and capers out of the icebox. Oh, and hard-boiled a couple of eggs: that doesn't heat up the house very much.

I made the usual salad dressing, mashing up a clove of garlic with some good sea salt (Ile de Ré), steeping it in some good olive oil (Turkey), then whisking in a splash of excellent wine vinegar (Eastside Zinfandel). Olives? Potatoes? Green beans? We never missed them.

Rosé, Côtes du Ventoux, "La Ferme Julien," 2009