I made this the other night to accompany some (home-cured) duck prosciutto. The duck was good but the salad took all the praise, so I thought I’d blog it in its own right. This is such a versatile salad, it would accompany roast chicken or grilled fish as a main course, and it would also work well as a first course salad with some grilled goat’s cheese or Roquefort.
Ingredients
- 150g freshly podded garden peas
- a generous handful of whole hazelnuts
- 150g mange tout peas, finely sliced across the pod
- 3 sprigs of mint
- half a bag pea shoots
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200’C.
- Pod the peas and decide whether to blanche or not – personally I like them raw, but if you do decide to cook them, just throw them into a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes then drain under cold water.
- Scatter the hazelnuts on a baking tray and place in the hot oven for 4 minutes, keeping a close eye on them as they will go from toasted to toast in seconds. (I tend to roast a whole bag at the same time and save some for other recipes or tomorrow’s breakfast.)
- Slice the mange tout across the pod as finely as you have time for.
- Do the same with the mint leaves.
- Toss the green ingredients all together with a small amount of dressing of your choice. See below for the one I like.
- Scatter the cooled hazelnuts on top, along with any other ingredients you plan to include.
For the dressing
- 1 espresso cup organic extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons vinegar – organic apple cider vinegar works well
- two cherry tomatoes
- half a teaspoon mustard
- half a clove of garlic
- salt and pepper
Put all the ingredients in the Nutribullet and blend. This quantity makes enough for now and for future salads. The cherry tomatoes are my secret ingredient – they give the dressing extra body and a sweeter, fresher flavour.
The Power Recipes 