Bastille Day Niçoise

To celebrate la Fête nationale, the French holiday we call Bastille Day, which honors a major turning point in the Revolution on July 14th, I put a slightly heretical spin on a couple of traditional French dishes...

Hot Salade Niçoise
A traditional salade niçoise was considered lower class fare from its advent in the late 1800s, and consisted of tomatoes, anchovies, and olive oil. Today it has expanded to encompass all kinds of riffs that various chefs either admire or abhor depending on how they view traditional respect or contemporary homage, yet they all share some very familiar flavors. My version, here, has been adapted to Kara's and my own tastes. Tomatoes, haricots verts, yellow bell peppers, crumbled new potatoes, torn basil leaves, and capers in place of the more traditional niçoise olives—all roasted—beneath seared tuna topped with a runny egg and drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette. Served hot. Delicious, especially as the last bites are just the remnants of the dressing and egg yolk, thickened with potato bits, and spiced up with a few remaining capers. If you take note of the blue, white, and red table setting, you can almost hear La Marseillaise. ;-)

Blueberry Soufflé
This is not a proper soufflé and it doesn't look like it either. But it tasted good and happened to be fairly healthy as well. Whipped egg whites, sugar, and plenty of blueberry compote (fruit cooked down in sugary syrup), topped with toasted almonds. It's served on one of our hand-painted plates with the company stamp from Rise, a local restaurant that specializes in soufflés and French cuisine.

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