Salad verte with croûtons

A fresh green salad with crunchy croûtons and a delicious dressing is perfect for barbecue sides (and practising French!). Once you’ve mastered this dressing, you can have fun creating your own salad combinations.

Ingredients

For the croûtons

• ½ large baguette or 1 small baguette, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil

For the vinaigrette

• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp English or French mustard
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

• 2 lettuces (e.g. Romaine, Little Gem or butterhead), torn into small pieces
• handful of salad leaves (e.g. watercress, rocket or baby spinach)
• handful of soft fresh herbs (e.g. chervil, tarragon, parsley or chives), roughly chopped or torn

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5.

2. Put the bread on a baking tray and sprinkle with the dried herbs. Drizzle the oil over the bread and bake for 10 minutes, or until crunchy and golden-brown.

3. To make the vinaigrette, put all of the ingredients into a jam jar. Tightly screw the lid on and shake well until combined.

4. To make the salad, put all the ingredients in a large bowl. Top with the croûtons and drizzle over a little of the vinaigrette. Any remaining vinaigrette can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

Salad verte with croûtons