You know that phrase used in American burger restaurants ‘take a walk through the garden’? Well, this is the elegant, English equivalent re-imagined onto your plate.
What is it with me and competitions? I never ever, ever win them. Even if only a few others have entered I still don’t win. I came across a Twitter competition last week to win a copy of Rachel Koo’s new cookbook and hamper of goodies – it’s oozing great design and I’d love to have it, but despite hardly any other entrants, I of course didn’t win. I’ll put it on my lengthy cookbook wishlist.
Anyway, in the attached article was a picture of her English Garden Salad, it looked so pretty and sent my imagination flying. I’m not even sure what exactly was in Rachel’s as I only caught sight of a small picture on my phone, so I just ran with the idea and created my version of an English spring garden salad.
Combining miniature new potatoes, pink and crunchy radish, cucumber ribbons, herbs and leaves, all bathed in a chive vinaigrette, this is my interpretation of an English garden at this time of year.
English Spring Garden Salad (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)
Serves 2
- 2 handfuls of miniature new potatoes, boiled or steamed until tender then left to cool
- Small bunch of radish, cleaned, topped and tailed and quartered or halved
- 1/3 rd cucumber, made into thin ribbons with a potato peeler
- 4 mint leaves, finely chopped
- Small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
- A scattering of salad leaves
Chive vinaigrette (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp slat
- Pinch of sugar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
– First make the dressing – whisk together all the ingredients, taste
– Toss the new potatoes and radish in a little of the vinaigrette, place in the centre of a platter
– Drape the cucumber ribbons over the potatoes and place the leaves around the plate
– Scatter over the herbs
– Drizzle over a little more vinaigrette
– Eat straight away
3 Responses
such a beautiful salad 🙂
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
The salad is so simple but looks so appetising. We have been trying to adapt our salads and our homemade dressing. We do something similar but think we try this soon. Thanks for sharing.
Gorgeous! Unfort, that only works in your neck of the woods where root vegetables still have flavor. Even the most organic, local tiny potato here tastes of nothing compared to British tubers. 🙁