Spicy chicken liver salad? How un-French of you

Spicey chicken liver salad. [Photo/The New York Times]

Food in a traditional bistro in France — there are still some left — is anything but fancy, but can be undeniably satisfying. The dishes are simple, the wine is agreeable, the pace is brisk, and everyone is happy. All the classics are there. Steak tartare. Leeks vinaigrette. Choucroute with garlicky sausage. Thick slices of paté. Crisp duck leg confit and pan-fried potatoes. And it's all good. At least in my dream bistro or in my bistro fantasies.

Another category in the bistro menu comprises so-called composed salads. In some, a little tasty morsel of some part of some bird is the meaty flourish added to a good green salad, often with the addition of those little green beans the French love and maybe some boiled potatoes. Everything is dressed in a serviceable vinaigrette. In French it always sounds elegant, even if the ingredients are humble. Salade de gésiers — made with duck gizzards. Salade de foie de volaille — that’s chicken livers, bub.

It's just this sort of salad I've been craving lately. Then again, I'm a liver lover. In Paris, kitchens are notoriously small, both in restaurants and homes. Savvy cooks there produce simple meals, utilizing a minimum of space and equipment. A salad like this fits the bill nicely.

One little modern bistro I know has a chef who cooks traditional fare, but with a twist. He updates and reinvents his recipes by adding a few un-French elements, notably spices, to make, for example, a blanquette of veal infused with coriander or a steak au poivre with Sichuan peppercorns.

I've borrowed his concept a bit for my version of a bistro chicken liver salad using the Indian spice blend garam masala to provide a tasty, zingy coating for the livers. Garam masala, usually a mixture of cardamom, black pepper, cumin, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon, is easy enough to make at home in an electric spice mill, or you can buy it ready-made in a jar. (If liver isn't your thing, garam masala is also great on chicken breasts, mushrooms and a number of other things.)

This salad could be a first course, but could also be an excellent light meal, perhaps with a chilled melon starter and a little cheese assortment after.

For a warm-weather dinner, this menu is eminently doable, and it won't heat up the kitchen too much. Wash your salad greens, cook the green beans and make the vinaigrette. The fragrant peppery chicken livers need only five minutes in a hot pan.