I love a salad in the summer. The vegetables are fresh, the flavors crisp and cool and I don't feel overwhelmed and I-can't- believe-I-ate-the-whole-thing full, even when I clean my plate. To make great pleasure, every cafe and Brasserie we've been to in Paris has an amazing array of salads. This delightful beef salad is served with a light Dijon vinaigrette, haricot verts and Frisse greens. (Brasserie de l'Isle St. Louis, Arr. 4, Paris).This lightly savory chicken and egg salad is served over red and green baby leaf lettuce, with simple creamy champagne vinaigrette. On the bottom layer is crisp bed of haricort verts. (Le Petit Cler, Rue Cler, 7th Arr, Paris)

Lightly salty and crisp and cool, this salad features two of may favorites: Jambon and fromage! The ham is a slightly thicker slice, but has the flavor of Prosciutto and the cheese, well it's fresh mozzarella wrapped delicately in one thin covering of pastry and baked until melted and gooey on the inside and crispy and buttery on the outside. The salad greens pale in comparison on the Wow scale, but is a lovely blend of baby field greens and cucumber tossed in a very light vinaigrette. (La Relais, Rue Lamarck and Rue du Mont-Cenis, 18th Arr., Paris)

Any of theses salads would be easy to throw together, even tonight, no matter where you are. Tempted?