Foraging for spring greens is a much-anticipated activity in France. However, you don’t need to be in France there to enjoy the sport. Depending on where you live, wild greens in your area might include chicory weed, dandelion, purslane, Miner’s lettuce, borage, fennel, mint, watercress, or amaranth. Even if you’re not a forager, you can still create a salad that has the taste of the wild, like this one from La Vie Rustic – Cooking and Living in the French Style by Georgeanne Brennan.

To Create the Salad

You’ll need 4 cups of mixed greens to include such items as dandelion, arugula, mint, watercress, parsley and maybe radicchio. Make a vinaigrette with 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, and a little pepper too, if you’d like. Toss the greens in the the dressing and add 2 ounces of thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 1/2 inch strips. photo by Sara Remington

And, to keep in the spirit of the French countryside, why not a Vintage French Serving Set for tossing and serving the salad?

Spring Planting

Now is the time to think about spring  planting too, and La Vie Rustic has a fine, spring potager garden starter set – with 7 different varieties of vegetable seeds to plant in spring, accompanied by a garden map for a small space that includes planting, care, and harvesting instructions. Our larger, boxed Potager set includes 13 different varieties and three maps, plus 13 zinc garden stakes – everything you need for a year-round garden – except the sun and soil. To learn more about the French Style Potager kitchen garden and its importance to French life and food, click here.

Escargots

Escargots, unlike wild spring greens, are always in season and we are happy to say our little escargot sets of vintage stoneware are back in stock. No need to forage for the snails, though, because you can buy high quality canned snails in specialty food stores or on-line. The set comes with a recipe card for the classic snails in garlic and parsley butter.