Provence Salad With Adlay

I substitute adlay for rice in this traditional Provence salad, and the results are outstanding!

You can see the round grains of adlay, which I used instead of rice for this Provence salad, nestled among the tomatoes and other ingredients.

What ingredients make you think of Provence? Many come to my mind, and several that go in this salad are tied to the traditional cooking of southern France as much as any other—tarragon, with its powerful, licorice-like scent; thyme, whose small, dark-green leaves perfume the Provençal air; and anchovies, carrying the briny taste of the Mediterranean Sea.

I’ve been making this Provence salad for years, but always with rice, which is the traditional way. But after my recent post about how to cook adlay, I started to wonder: which of my favorite recipes might taste good using adlay? Since adlay makes a good substitute for rice, this recipe quickly came to mind. I’m glad I thought of it, because adlay works extremely well. Actually, I prefer it with adlay, because adlay seems to absorb all of the dressing better than rice, and the adlay version tastes just as good as leftover salad the next day, whereas the texture of the rice version tends to break down overnight, making the leftovers less tasty.

As I explained in the prior post, adlay (aka Job’s tears) is a gluten-free grain grown in Asia. You can buy dried adlay in Asian grocery stores, and it is cooked the same way as rice. For this recipe, you’ll need 2 to 2 ½ cups of cooked adlay, which you’ll mixed with fresh vegetables, thyme, and an anchovy-based dressing that will transport you to Provence. It is a great summer salad, and though my recipe includes tomatoes, endives, and olives, I hope you’ll add other summer vegetables to suit your taste, like thinly sliced cucumber, zucchini, or fire-roasted red bell pepper. In my photo above, you’ll see I added cucumber, even though it’s not listed in the ingredients below.

The traditional process for mixing the dressing has a number of steps, some of which I’ve shown in the photos. However, I’ve recently figured out that the dressing tastes just as good, and is much quicker to make, if you blend all of the dressing ingredients at the same time (an immersion blender works really well for this). So in the directions, I’ll give you the “express” method, then give the old-school approach of adding a few ingredients at a time.

Ingredients (measurements are approximate; feel free to adjust to your taste):

For the dressing:

• 4 anchovy filets (or 2 tablespoons of canned tuna)

• 1 teaspoon capers

• 1 clove garlic, chopped

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1 sprig of fresh tarragon, leaves removed and chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

• 2 yolks from hard-boiled eggs

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

For the salad:

• 2 to 2 ½ cups cooked adlay (or cooked rice, if preferred) (see How to Cook Adlay, a GF Grain)

• 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes

• 1 Belgian endive, sliced into thin rounds (I had a really large endive this time, so I quartered it before slicing it, giving me about 2 cups)

• 12 oil-cured olives, pitted and coarsely chopped (Niçoise olives or other black olives work too)

• 2 whites from hard boiled eggs, chopped

• ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme leaves

• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper

• Other ingredients you may wish to add: thinly sliced cucumber or zucchini or fire-roasted red bell pepper, skin removed and coarsely chopped

Instructions:

• Place all of the dressing ingredients in a jar and use an immersion blender to combine until smooth (or use a traditional blender)

• (Traditional method—as shown in photos: Use a fork to crush the anchovies, garlic, tarragon, capers, and salt together until they form a paste, then add all of the 2 chopped eggs—yolks and whites—and vinegar and whisk together; don’t add the olive oil yet, but add it during the final mixing of the ingredients, when you add the thyme.)

• Pour the dressing into a glass or stainless steel bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients

• Add the adlay (or rice) to the bowl with the tomato, endive, olives, egg whites, thyme leaves, and white pepper and mix until all ingredients are coated in the dressing (if you didn’t include the olive oil in the dressing, add that now as well)

• Allow the salad to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving, so the flavors can meld

  

  The different steps of mixing the dressing by hand—or you can just put it all in a blender!

  

  The chopped tomato, endive, and olives and the cooked adlay.

  

  A salad bursting with flavor and color!