Spring is Springing

Radishes peeping out in the Spring sunshine.

Spring, glorious spring. Or rather the hope of new life and Summer to come. So what happens as soon as April comes along? Every newspaper, magazine, blog and television talk show goes on a "how to get your summer body" rampage. Its everywhere. Stop enjoying the comforting foods of winter and start eating celery and drinking protein shakes. Bah! 

I love the spring. There are beautiful blossoms peeping out everywhere and new leaves unfurling. The birds are a lot more active and the sun is shining. Its still fresh, don't get me wrong but its a clean, crisp, promising fresh. So yes, I do automatically start thinking about lighter menus for our evening meals and get stuck into all the beautiful organic spring bounty that Riverford, Sainbury's and Waitrose have to offer. I'll be honest, I have a problem, I LOVE new season asparagus and broad beans. We've been eating a lot lately and they are so good, even for the third time this week!  I've also been planting my own spring vegetables. I have radishes on the go and some baby tomatoes.  Fingers crossed they survive the combination of blackbirds (they dig in my pots), the slugs and the strange weather, it is supposed to snow again this weekend. I ask you, how do the farmers cope?

All this spring loveliness got me thinking about salads. The average shop bought salad is pretty dull and boring, lets be honest, and they look pretty uninspiring on the supermarket shelves with a few leaves of iceberg lettuce, some tomatoes, cucumber and if you're lucky a piece of feta cheese or maybe a few slices of carrot. Then the "super food" salads are so high in carbohydrates that I don't want to eat them. They're packed with pasta, quinoa, black beans, pearl barley that it no longer feels like a salad to me. I don't actually buy pre-made salads but in the catering industry I am faced with them on a daily basis and keep an eye on what our competitors are doing for the lunch time trade.

We were recently invited to a "bring and share" at a friend's house and I thought that people generally forget the salads when they go to these events that I decided to make two of my favourite salads. Neither of these are my recipes, although I have changed both up slightly over the years. I have to give credit, where credit is due. The first was a recipe we as a family were introduced to in 1997 by an exchange student who had come to stay with us for 6 months. Mayte is German and she made this salad for us one evening when we were hosting a barbecue. What a revelation! Since then it has been replicated on many an occasion and Kyle told me after the "bring and share" that this is his favourite salad. I shall refer to it in the recipes below as Mayte's Salad. The second is a salad that Kyle's sister Bronwyn first made for me when Kyle and I had only been together for a few months. She bought it to my birthday lunch and it was an instant hit. I have been making it ever since. This shall henceforth be known as Chick Pea, Avo Salad.

Mayte's Salad

4 Medium leeks or 3 large, trimmed, washed and finely sliced
8 Eggs, hard boiled, peeled and chopped. Free range or organic, I used Riverford eggs
230 g Cornichons, drained and roughly chopped (essentially 2 jars)
350 g Whole kernel sweet corn, drained
350 g Mature cheddar, diced into small cubes, I used SO Organic range from Sainbury's
100 ml Crème fraiche
200 ml Real egg mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to season

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until coated in the mayonnaise and crème fraiche mixture. Season to taste and serve.

Chick Pea, Avo Salad

2 Tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 Avocados, peeled and diced
1/2 Jar Pepperdew peppers, drained and roughly chopped, I use the mild ones as I'm never sure of people's tolerance for heat
200 g Feta Cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to season

Toss all your ingredients together in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. You can use Grandmere's salad dressing recipe, Un bon jus pour la salade, from my first blog Food Memories, to dress the salad or you can use the juice of one and a half lemons and a drizzle of olive oil. Adjust the seasoning to your personal taste.

Serve either salad with a good piece of char-grilled steak or a crispy piece of fish. Eat as much or as little as you like, but most of all enjoy! In case you're wondering what wines to drinks with these we washed them down with a Kleine Zalze, Bush Vine Chenin Blanc, 2014 bought at Waitrose and a delicious Pazo das Bruxas, Albarino, 2014.

What are your favourite salads? I'd love to hear about them and if you don't mind sharing them please send the recipes through to [email protected] and I'll give you a shout out in the next salad edition.

Xxx