Supper Club: 4 tasty salads to add to your weekly rotation

by IMAGE
27th May 2024

'Tis the season of the summer salad, here are four delicious ones to try this week.

Hot-smoked salmon rice and asparagus salad

Hot-smoked salmon is like poached salmon but with a smoky flavour – perfect for salads. The lemon dressing and herbs make the salad vibrant and bursting with flavour.

Hot-smoked salmon rice and asparagus salad

Serves 6

300g (10½oz) mixed white and wild rice (see intro)
6 spring onions, finely sliced
Large bunch of dill, chopped
Large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
3 eggs
200g (7oz) asparagus spears
200g (7oz) hot-smoked salmon slices, broken into large chunks

For the lemon dressing:

Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 lemons
180ml (6½ fl oz) olive oil
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Method

Cook the rice in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain and refresh under cold
water. Drain again.
Place the rice in a bowl. Add the spring onions, dill and parsley and season well with salt and freshly
ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
Measure all the dressing ingredients into a jug and whisk together well. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the
dressing and pour the remainder over the rice. Mix well, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for
about an hour.
Meanwhile, place the eggs in a pan of boiling water and cook for 8 minutes for soft boiled. Drain and
place in cold water before peeling. Cut each egg into quarters.
Remove the woody ends from the asparagus. If the spears are thick, cut them in half lengthways.
Slice the spears into 5cm lengths, then cook in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and refresh under
cold water. Drain again.
Tip the asparagus into the rice and mix to combine. Spoon into a serving dish and arrange the salmon
pieces and egg quarters on top. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle
over the reserved dressing to serve.

Top tips: This can be assembled up to 4 hours ahead of time (including dressing the rice), however, it’s not suitable for freezing.

Extracted from Cook and Share by Mary Berry (BBC Books).Photography by Laura Edwards.

Grilled Caesar salad with chickpea croutons

As your friend, I am telling you that grilling lettuce may change your life forever. At the very least, it’ll revolutionise your salad. Romaine is a hearty beast that stands up to the grill’s high heat, while its structure can hold its shape during cooking. This technique brings crazy flavour to a rather bland leaf, and the chickpea croutons and tahini Caesar dressing take this dish to a place you’ve only dreamed of.

Ingredients

For the tahini Caesar dressing

125ml tahini
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp gluten-free tamari
125ml water
fine sea salt

For the chickpea croutons

450g cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

For the salad

2 heads of romaine lettuce
coconut oil, for rubbing
fine sea salt

Method

To make the dressing: In a blender, combine all the ingredients and blend on high until smooth, adding more water as necessary, up to 250ml in total. Season with salt. Store leftover dressing in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.
To make the croutons: Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Spread the chickpeas out on a clean kitchen towel and rub them dry, discarding any loose skins. Pour the chickpeas into a medium bowl and toss with the coconut oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Transfer the chickpeas to a rimmed baking sheet lined with baking paper, and roast for 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Leave the chickpeas to cool, and serve them at room temperature. They will crisp up quite a bit once they’ve cooled, so don’t worry if they are still a little soft when you take them out of the oven. Store the chickpeas in an airtight glass container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
To make the salad: Remove the looser outer leaves from the romaine heads (and save them for another salad) so all that remains are the tighter, inner leaves.
Cut off the top quarter of each head (and save the tops for another salad). Slice the head in half lengthways. Rub both the outsides and cut sides with a little coconut oil and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of sea salt.
Preheat a grill on high (a stovetop grill pan also works). When it is very hot, place the lettuce halves on the grill, cut-sides down, and cook for 3-4 minutes until charred and grill marks appear. Flip and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
To serve, place a lettuce half on each plate and let guests dress and garnish the salads themselves. (The croutons will soften quite quickly once in contact with the dressing, so it’s best if diners add their own dressing.)

Extracted from Naturally Nourished by Sarah Britton. Published by Jacqui Small, an imprint of The Quarto Group. Photography – Sarah Britton.

Roasted fig and goat’s cheese salad with hazelnut and honeycomb

Land cress may be hard to come by, but it is perfectly substituted by watercress or a mixture of watercress and rocket (sometimes I find watercress on its own too overpowering). All these salad greens are fiery and peppery, which is just what’s needed to balance the sweetness of the figs. I use honey still in its comb, breaking it into chunks so that it becomes an integral part of the salad. It’s amazing and worth a try if you have never had it before.

Ingredients

125g baby figs, halved (alternatively use 3 regular figs, quartered)
2 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
40g blanched hazelnuts
120g land cress (or a mix of watercress and rocket)
70g firm goat’s cheese, sliced
30g honeycomb (or 2 tbsp runny honey)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
celery salt (or regular sea salt)
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6.
Place the figs on a roasting tray, drizzle with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
Place the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast until golden brown. Transfer to a chopping board and roughly chop when cool enough to handle.
Arrange the land cress on each plate, along with the roasted figs, chopped hazelnuts and goat’s cheese. Break the honeycomb into small chunks all over the salad (this is a bit messy but I quite enjoy it!) and finish with a drizzle of the remaining balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with a generous pinch of celery salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Extracted from Skinny Salads by Kathryn Bruton (Kyle Books). Photograph by Laura Edwards.

Donyana salad

This aromatic recipe draws inspiration from a dish I enjoyed on the breezy seafront terrace of Donyana restaurant in the historic coastal town of Akka. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a long history; it is mentioned in Egyptian texts from the 19th century BC, while in Greek mythology it is supposedly the place where Hercules found a medicinal plant to heal his wounds. Donyana is a derivative of the word that means “the world” in Arabic and, wandering through the city’s ancient winding streets and Ottoman-era fort, the mélange of influences that have gathered here over the centuries is tangible. Paying homage to that, this glorious mixture of textures and flavours celebrates local Palestinian ingredients.

Ingredients

2 fennel bulbs (about 300g in total)
1 Granny Smith apple, or other tart apple
15g dill, coarse stalks removed, finely chopped
15g parsley leaves, finely chopped
30g sweetened dried cranberries or sour cherries
50g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
juice of ½ orange, or to taste
juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
zest of 1 organic or unwaxed orange, removed with a zester
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Core the fennel and apple and, using a sharp knife or mandolin, finely cut both into very thin slices, saving any fennel fronds. Place in a bowl with the herbs and cranberries or cherries.
Toast the almonds in a dry pan over a medium heat until they turn golden brown, then add them to the salad.
Pour over the orange and lemon juices, orange zest and extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently and taste; you may want to add a squeeze more lemon or orange juice to adjust the acidity or sweetness to your liking. Scatter with the reserved fennel fronds, if you have them.
This salad can happily sit for 1 hour or so before serving; in fact, it even improves, as the flavours have a chance to harmonise.