Recipes

Great British Garden Salad

Ingredients:

  • 120g of mixed salad leaves
  • 12 asparagus spears, trimmed
  • 100g of broad beans, podded
  • 100g of peas, podded
  • 8 radishes, mixed colours, finely sliced on a mandoline
  • 1 handful of hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
  • 2 banana shallots, finely sliced
  • 8 quail eggs
  • 50ml of hazelnut oil
  • viola flowers, or other edible flowers to garnish
  • oil, for deep-frying

Salad cream

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp of double cream
  • 1 tsp English mustard
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 tbsp of rapeseed oil
  • 1 pinch of salt

 

Instructions:

  • Preheat a deep-fryer with oil to 175°C
  • Deep-fry the shallot slices for a couple of minutes until crisp and golden brown. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil on kitchen paper as they cool
  • Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Gently place the quails eggs in the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes (this should give a soft-set yolk)
  • Plunge the eggs into iced water to stop the cooking process. Adding a little vinegar to the water will make them easier to peel. Once cooled carefully peel the eggs and store in water until needed
  • Bring another pan of seasoned water to the boil. Add the asparagus spears and blanch for 3 minutes then refresh in iced water, repeat with the peas for 2 minutes and finally the broad beans for 2 minutes
  • Drain the vegetables, pod the broad beans and cut the asparagus into 2cm lengths and place everything a large bowl with the beans and peas
  • Add the salad, sliced radishes and hazelnuts to the bowl. Drizzle over the hazelnut oil season with sea salt and toss everything together to coat
  • To make the salad cream, place the egg yolks, cream, mustard and vinegar in a bowl. Season with a pinch of salt then start whisking together while drizzling in the rapeseed oil
  • The cream should start to emulsify like a mayonnaise and thicken to a spoonable, creamy consistency
  • To serve, halve the quails eggs and arrange over the dressed salad. Scatter over the crispy shallot slices and spoon over the salad cream, serving any extra on the side. Garnish with flowers.

 

Courtesy Sally Abe