Valentine Warner's summer salad
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This fresh summer salad with baby broad beans, fresh peas, carrots and fresh mint is a fresh, healthy summer dish. The homemade vinaigrette adds a great zing.
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
When you're chopping herbs, use a very sharp knife so you don't damage the leaves.
- 300gbaby carrots
- 250g podded baby broad beans
- 1 bunch of radishes with tops
- 100g freshly podded peas
- Small handful of fresh mint
- 6 lemon balm leaves (optional)
- A small bunch of fresh chives
- Large handful of fresh, young curly parsley leaves
- Ground black pepper
- 1 baby gem lettuce or similar amount of preferred leaves
For the vinaigrette
- 2tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 good tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 heaped tsp caster sugar
- A good pinch of flaked sea salt
- 3½ tbsp sunflower oil
- 3½ tbsp olive oil
Method
- Wash but don't peel the carrots and leave a tiny green tuft at the stalk.
- Half-fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the beans and cook for 2-3 mins until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon to a colander, cool under running water and then peel.
- Cook the carrots in the boiling water for 4 mins until just tender. Drain and rinse under running water until cold. Peel the beans and carrots in a salad bowl.
- Remove the leaves from the radishes, adding the good leaves to the salad bowl and discarding the damaged ones. Cut all but the tiniest radishes in half and chuck them all in. Pod the peas and put them uncooked into the bowl. Strip the mint leaves from their stalks, tear and add them to the bowl, along with the torn lemon balm, if using. Snip the chives in half, chop the picked parsley leaves and scatter both over the salad. Wash and roughly tear the lettuce leaves, then add to the bowl.
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk the vinegar, mustard, sugar and salt in a bowl until smooth. Gradually whisk in the oils until the dressing becomes thickened, glossy and emulsified. Season with more salt, if necessary, and a couple of twists of black pepper. Spoon some dressing over the salad and toss together well. Joy!
This recipe is from What to Eat Now - More Please! by Valentine Warner and published by Mitchell Beazley - www.octopusbooks.co.uk. Valentine's new show What to Eat Now starts on BBC Two from 6th July at 8.30pm.
Nutritional information
Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.
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