Montone Weather Report: brrrrfect.

Last Sunday I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to literally bake away to a crisp of my former self. We were having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave, and I wasn’t ready for deep August heat. Yes, I was cranky.

Along about Wednesday, in the middle of the afternoon, there was a gust of wind, a thunderstorm, a hailstorm and good-bye ‘aria Africana’, hello Siberia! Its been steadily cooling off since Wednesday with last night feeling somewhere around mid-October.

Today it is light and breezy and warm in the sun and just about brrrfect for a salad Nicoise on the roof. This type of composed salad is one of my favorites, it’s pretty to look at and better to eat.

Here’s the basics:
Lay out a bed of clean, fresh greens on a plate. Lightly dress with a bit of good olive oil and a tiny splash of red wine vinegar.
Arrange some cut tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt and few crumbles of dry oregano.
Hard boil some eggs, slice and top with a bit of anchovy and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Add some good quality canned or jarred tuna pack in oil. Italian oil packed tuna is truly delicious so go for that if you can.
A few string beans are good if you have them, or a few slices of salami, a piece of cheese, couple of olives….you get the picture.

Serve with a very light wine and some breadsticks. And sit in the sun while you eat because it’s still pretty chilly in the shade.