Aïgroissade
Aïgroissade is a simple, adaptable, lovely salad based on a traditional French dish from Provence. In my version, a colourful mix of lightly cooked then cooled fresh vegetables plus canned artichoke hearts and chickpeas are dressed in a garlic mayonnaise lightened with yogurt.
Choose whichever fresh vegetables you like e.g., potatoes, green beans, carrots, broad beans, courgettes, peas. Swap in haricot or cannellini for the chickpeas if preferred or even have a mixture.
Serve as an easy meal on its own or eat as a side dish.
Jump to Recipe
DISCOVERING AÏGROISSADE
It must be almost thirty-five years ago that I first read about Aïgroissade. Back then I was a vegetarian (later vegan) on a very tight budget, teaching myself how to cook. One of the books I found incredibly useful was Rose Eliot’s The Bean Book. Rather old-fashioned now, it was my bible – full of mainly budget recipes based on pulses.
But like most Aïgroissade recipes, besides chickpeas and fresh veg, Rose’s included tinned artichoke hearts. Completely unknown in my neck of the woods at the time (and, safe to say, beyond my budget even if I had managed to find them) my younger self was put off and never did make it.
Now, ingredients we once thought exotic are everyday items. I’m also pleased to say that my budget has improved from the tiny one I somehow existed on. So, I recently went back and started making and enjoying Aïgroissade.
AÏGROISSADE: FROM HOT VEGETABLE SIDE DISH TO SALAD
I think Aïgroissade, a traditional Provençal dish, deserves to be better known outside its homeland. While aioli, or garlic mayonnaise, pops up all the time on menus and in recipes, the vegetable dish that’s dressed with it appears largely unheard of.
Among my own cookbook collection, the only other mentions of Aïgroissade I’ve spotted, besides that in The Bean Book, are from Elizabeth David.
In French Provincial Cooking it appears as an aside to her short paragraph on chickpeas – pulses she considers having a ‘slightly odd flavour’. She says that after cooking, the warm chickpeas can be mixed with aioli and served as a vegetable with beef stew. ‘This dish, into which other vegetables such as haricot beans, cooked artichoke hearts, French beans and potatoes can be mixed, is a Provencal one, called aïgroissade’.
In Mediterranean Food David gives a brief recipe for Aïgroissade Toulonnaise (that’s from Toulon, by the way, not Toulouse which isn’t in Provence). She doesn’t give amounts for ingredients but simply tells us to make an aioli, cook a mixture of vegetables (‘green beans, artichokes, dried haricots, chick peas, etc’) then strain them and mix with the aïoli in a warmed dish. ‘Do not reheat’ she says.
Clearly then, Aïgroissade was traditionally meant to be served warm. However, modern taste (including mine) seems to prefer Aïgroissade cool as a salad. The other important difference between the classic version and mine is that I simplify things further by making a lighter, cheat’s version of aioli.
I decided to stick to the original name though. Apart from anything else, it’s quicker than writing or saying Vegetable & Chickpea Salad with Garlic Mayonnaise every time.
MY VEGETABLE & CHICKPEA SALAD WITH GARLIC MAYONNAISE
So simple, my version of Aïgroissade barely needs a recipe either.
I was inspired to make the one you see photographed in this post when I got the first green beans of the season in my Moorland Veg Box delivery. Along with chickpeas and artichokes, green beans seem to be the constant ingredient across different recipes.
To those I added new potatoes and carrots. I would have loved to include broad beans. But having neither fresh nor frozen, I put in courgette instead. But that’s one of the beauties of Aïgroissade – its adaptability to whatever vegetables you have.
Start by simmering the vegetables in salted water until only just tender. I keep them fairly chunky at this stage so they’re less likely to get waterlogged. Obviously, some will take longer to cook than others, so add the hardest veg to the pan first (e.g. carrots, potatoes) and the quicker cooking ones later (e.g. green beans). Frozen veg will only take a minute or two.
When the veg are done, drain and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle, chop into bite-sized pieces and put into a big serving bowl with the chickpeas and sliced artichoke hearts.
THE DRESSING
If you want to make a classic mayonnaise or garlicky aioli using raw egg, then go right ahead. However, I’ll be taking the quicker route of using jarred mayo.
It’s interesting that in The Bean Book Aïgroissade recipe, the mayo is lightened with the same amount of natural yogurt. Because, finding mayonnaise a bit much in large quantity, that’s exactly what I always do for mayo-dressed salads. A couple of examples: Potato Salad with Smoked Mackerel and Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw.
I like it pretty garlicky so grate two fat cloves (more lovely organic produce from my veg box) into the combined mayo and yogurt. Depending on the saltiness of your mayonnaise, you may not need to add any salt. But don’t stint on the black pepper.
AÏGROISSADE SALAD
When the creamy dressing tastes right, gently fold it through the cold vegetables. At this point you can cover it and place in the fridge for up to twenty-four hours. Just remember to take it out and let it come back to room temperature before serving.
I like to fold a generous amount of chopped parsley into the Aïgroissade just before eating, plus a little more on each serving.
With fresh vegetables, protein in the form of pulses, plus filling potatoes, you can serve it on its own. To increase the protein content, quarters of hard-boiled egg are a great addition. If you’re feeling particularly hungry, then some crusty homemade bread is nice alongside.
But I think the salad is a good side dish too. More interesting than a potato salad and, packed with vegetables, you can probably get away without doing another salad dish.
We ate most of the Aïgroissade you see in this post as part of an easy, cold dinner on a hot day. Earlier on, I’d made a herby, pancetta-wrapped Italian Pork Meatloaf and left it to cool – I think it’s even better this way than hot.
Come dinner time, all I had to do was slice up the meatloaf and serve it with a big pile of the creamy, garlicky vegetable and chickpea salad. Some gherkins on the side gave crunch and nicely acidic pickled flavour.
Proof that simple things really can be delicious.
I hope you’ll try my version of this little-known but easy Provençal dish. Let me know how it went in the comments.
Aïgroissade
A simple salad based on a traditional French dish from Provence. A colourful mix of lightly cooked then cooled fresh vegetables plus canned artichoke hearts and chickpeas are dressed in a garlic mayonnaise lightened with yogurt.
Serve as a meal on its own or as a side dish. Swap in whatever vegetables, beans pulses you have.
Ingredients
- 400 g salad potatoes scrubbed or peeled
- salt
- 200 g carrots topped and tailed
- 200 g green beans topped and tailed
- 200 g shelled broad beans or peas, or young courgettes, sliced
- 180 g tinned artichoke hearts, drained sliced
- 150 g cooked chickpeas
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Dressing
- 4 rounded tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 rounded tbsp natural yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic grated or finely chopped
- ground black pepper
- salt optional
Instructions
-
Cook the vegetables.
Cut the potatoes and carrots into large chunks.
Put the potatoes only into a roomy saucepan. Cover generously with cold water and season generously with salt.
Put on a lid and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes then add the carrots. Simmer until both are almost tender, then add the green beans plus fresh broad beans and/or peas if using.
A minute or two before all the fresh vegetables are cooked, add the courgette plus any frozen vegetables and simmer until done.
-
Drain and cool the vegetables.
Strain the vegetables in a colander and leave until cold.
When cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and transfer to a serving bowl along with the artichoke hearts and chickpeas.
-
Make the dressing.
Stir together the mayonnaise, yogurt and garlic.
Season generously with black pepper then taste to see if it needs any salt (some jarred mayonnaise can be quite salty).
-
Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss to combine.
Salad can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours at this point: bring it back to room temperature before serving.
Fold in the parsley just before serving, reserving a sprinkle to serve over each portion if liked.
Leftovers should be refrigerated and eaten within 2 days.
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