A rotisserie chicken will fix that

A weekend of lows (Arsenal losing to PSG in the Champions League final), and highs (a salad that can heal a broken heart)

At some point in everyone’s summer, we need a hefty main course salad, ideally something we can make ahead, for perfection something that won’t object to being carted in a container on the 73 bus, to a neighbour’s party, or to the beach, something that will retain its character without becoming sweaty or soggy – I can do enough of that for all of us. In short, we need a hero salad, one that will remain zingy and delicious despite all that modern life can throw at it.

It was pondering this as I stood in the queue at the butcher’s on Saturday and I did what I often do when I don’t know what to do, I bought a rotisserie chicken. Then in the greengrocer’s next door, I heaped my basket with the first French apricots and fistfuls of green beans. Savoury, sweet, tart, crunch, this is what recipes are made of.

I wanted to make something substantial for lunch on Sunday, but I knew we were going to the Marine Bar on Saturday night to watch the Champions League Final between my beloved Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain and that win or lose, I might not be in the best state to create something wonderfully full of health the next day. So before we set out, I tumbled together the contents of my shopping basket in a lemony, mustardy dressing and prepared the croûtons to scatter on at the last minute.

We went to the bar. Arsenal lost on penalties. Our new PSG friends set off red flares of joy. We all shook hands and went home.

Marine Bar scenes, as PSG won. Photographs taken by my friend Suzannah as I was verklempt.

On Sunday, we watched Arsenal’s parade of love through the streets of North London on television (we may have lost the Champions League, but we did win the English Premier League) and ate the salad that assuages all disappointment. I watched the streets that were my home for thirty years filled with people in their red and white shirts, carrying flags, setting off their own flares of joy, little kids on their parents’ shoulders, old ladies with walking frames, young men and women singing and chanting. On Monday, the news reported that there were over a million people at the parade and there had only been sixteen arrests. Meanwhile, in Paris, PSG “fans” celebrated their win with such violence, there were almost nine hundred arrests.

Garlic & Pearls

If you haven’t discovered this podcast yet, I’m quite excited for you. Muriel Zagha (French) and Suzanne Raine (English) are now over a hundred episodes deep into what makes the French French and the English English, and where those two cultures sometimes intersect. From revolution, Orangina and the gardens of André Le Nôtre, to willow pattern plates, Labradors, rhyming slang, Brigitte Bardot and the cultural importance of the French waiter, their podcast is endlessly fascinating and often very funny. It’s my favourite dog-walking podcast, in fact it’s my favourite podcast, so I was completely thrilled to be invited to talk to them about what English people sometimes get wrong about life in France, the highs the lows, the obsession with yoghurt, whether bidets are still a thing, and the shade of being called originale. Do give it a listen, and do subscribe to this most delicious of weekly treats. You will not regret.

You can find the podcast here, or find it in your favourite podcast provider.

Or just press play below!

Garlic & Pearls: What We Get Wrong About France, With Debora Robertson, Expat Extraordinaire

Salade de poulet aux haricots verts et aux abricots

Chicken salad with green beans and apricots

This is such a happy combination: shredded chicken in a lemony-mustard dressing, sweet-tart apricots, crunchy beans, garlicky croûtons, shards of fried chicken skin – and, as an added bonus, you can make it ahead without it losing any of its charm.

SERVES 6