Lamb's lettuce is the emblem of Nantes market gardening, protected by IGP and grown under low shelters on a bed of sand. In the city it is a winter salad with walnuts, apple and a mustard vinaigrette.

Mâche is small, dark, nutty and faintly sweet, and Loire-Atlantique grows more of it than anywhere else in France. That leadership came from a technique rather than luck: Nantes market gardeners worked out a sous-abris system in which the soil is covered with roughly a centimetre of sand, which warms faster and helps the seed germinate evenly. The protected zone for Mâche Nantaise IGP covers more than 200 communes across Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire and the Vendée. The season opens in autumn and runs through winter, and the classic Nantes plate pairs the leaf with walnuts and apple.

Where to eat Salade de mâche nantaise in Nantes

The editor picks for Salade de mâche nantaise in Nantes are still in research. Meanwhile, see the Nantes signature-dishes index or the Nantes food guide.

Make it at home

Serves 420 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 300g mâche (lamb's lettuce), washed and spun very dry
  • 80g walnut halves
  • 1 crisp apple, cored and cut into matchsticks
  • 100g smoked lardons (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons walnut oil
  • 2 tablespoons neutral oil
  • Salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan over a medium heat for 4 minutes until they smell nutty, then tip out and chop roughly.
  2. If you are using lardons, fry them in the same pan until crisp and drain on paper.
  3. Whisk the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper together, then whisk in both oils in a thin stream until the dressing thickens.
  4. Toss the mâche with the apple in a wide bowl. Add just enough dressing to coat, using your hands so you do not bruise the leaves.
  5. Scatter the walnuts and the lardons over the top and serve at once, while the leaf still has its texture.

Editor tip. Mâche collapses under dressing faster than any other leaf, so dress it at the table. Wash it in several changes of cold water: it grows on sand.

Common allergens: Nuts, Mustard, Sulphites.