Cucumber and Pea Salad

I’m not sure about you, but my children struggle with composed salads – they’re fine with lettuce, cucumber etc. but as soon as I make a pretty plateful of mixed salad ingredients they shy away. I can totally understand that some salads can be challenging, but such is my love of eating any kind of salad that I keep on trying – they will one day love them too, I hope!

Anyway, I think a good starting point as to be unchallenging vegetables that are usually enjoyed, where they’d be tempted to at least to try a little (I could at this point mention ‘ratatouille-gate’ which has become part of family folk lore – I served Big S some ratatouille when she was about 2 and a half – she hated it so much that she has never forgotten the mushy tomatoey experience!!). I think most children enjoy peas and cucumber, so that’s the basis of this recipe. D and I love it, the girls actually said it was ‘quite nice’ – result!!

Pea and Cucumber Salad (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

serves 4

• 2 cups of frozen peas
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• 1/2 bag fresh pea shoots
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

– Place the frozen peas in a bowl and pour over a kettle of boiling water, set aside for about 5-10 minutes to thaw
– Halve the cucumber length-wise, scrape out the seeds with a spoon and cut into fine half moons
– Whisk together the oil, vinegar and seasoning. It has to be very sharp to ouster the sweetness of the peas.
– Drain the peas, combine with the cucumber, chives and dressing.
– Toss well. Taste and add more vinegar or seasoning as required
– Arrange the pea shoots on a platter, pile the cucumber and peas on top, using any remaining vinaigrette to dress the leaves around the edges.
– Sprinkle over a few more chives and serve.