This is a most beautiful joyous thing to eat! French in origin, it's a savoury cake made with all sorts of interesting bits and bobs. Whatever you have left over or lying in the fridge, you can instantly transform it into a delicious bake. They're easy to make and you'll probably never produce the same one twice. It's been known to have a nibble of one at breakfast, particularly if you've thrown in cooked bacon and sausages, and with a scrambled egg and grilled tomatoes on the side, it's almost a full English. When hunger pangs hammer before lunch (as they often do), a thin slice of cake salé is unbeatable to keep you going those few extra hours. A picnic outdoors is where the cake salé really reigns supreme. It's the perfect combination of savoury meats or vegetables enveloped in its own 'bread' and very easy to eat with your fingers. Served cold, you just need a lovely tart pickle or sauce on the side, and served warm with a salad gives a wonderful light lunch. For your next dinner party, why not serve fingers of cake salé as canapes? To go really upmarket, you could incorporate smoked fish or cheese and use a small cookie cutter to present tasty bitesize discs. How about a cake salé muffin for teatime? It's ideal for the young ones when they get home from school, and rather more fortifying than a packet of crisps or a chocolate biscuit. And at dinnertime, a full size loaf tin can provide enough of a side dish accompaniment to any mains. You'll be hard pressed to find an occasion when a cake salé remains forlornly abandoned or ignored.
What especially makes this such a versatile food is the myriad combination of ingredients which - with imagination - will give you and your fellow diners a mouthwatering impatience to tuck in to a colourful, eyecatching and satisfying morsel. See the recipe here for the Tricolor Peppers and Arabiki Sausage version, pictured. Give it a go and show us your versions!