GEM AND HERB SALAD WITH MAPLE, LIME AND SESAME DRESSING

I used the salad leaves I had in the fridge, a combination of baby cos lettuce and mixed salad leaves. I also added the two green chillies as suggested. They were cayenne chillies from our garden but got rid of the seeds. They gave a nice crunchy texture to the salad. The dressing is soo good! One of these salads that can work very well as a side to many dishes. I have now made it several times and is turning into one of my favourites green salads. So yummy!!!

Ingredients

2 baby gem lettuces, washed and leaves separated

10g mixed fresh herbs (I like to use a mix of coriander, mint and basil)

2 green chillies, thinly sliced into rounds (optional)

20g spring onion green ends, thinly sliced into rounds

2 teaspoons mixed black and white sesame seeds, well toasted, lightly crushed and tossed with some flaked salt lime wedges, for serving

Quick pickled shallots

1 shallot, thinly sliced into rounds

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon caster sugar

¼ teaspoon fine salt

Dressing

60g olive oil

½ teaspoon fine salt

40g lime juice

20g maple syrup

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

5g fresh chives, finely chopped

Method

Put all the ingredients for the pickled shallots into a small bowl and mix to combine. Pickle for 15 minutes to 1 hour (but no longer, or they’ll become too soft).

For the dressing, mix the oil, salt, lime juice, maple syrup and sesame oil together just to combine. Don’t overmix or it will emulsify and thicken – the dressing should be light and thin.

When ready to plate, stir the chives into the dressing. Put the lettuce and herbs into a large bowl and pour over the dressing. Add the pickled shallots, chillies and spring onions and toss together.

Finish with the sesame seeds and serve with extra lime wedges for squeezing over.

Serves 4

Here served with Buckwheat crêpes with smoked salmon from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite Cookbook. I have made these pancakes (they are actually more pancakes than crêpes!) plenty of times and they are delicious, but this is the first time I served them with this salad. It was absolutely delicious and a recipe to keep.

Here served with Moqueca fish Pie from the same book. I can only say that this is one of the best fish pies we've ever eaten. Both hubby and I agreed it has mouth-watering flavours and it is such a comfort meal... We had to stop ourselves from eating the whole lot! Hopefully it will still be lovely when we have the rest for dinner tonight!

Here served with Smoky Frittata, an Ottolenghi recipe. A delicious vegetarian meal. I love this frittata but unfortunately I cannot find the smoked scamorza cheese, so I have been using fresh mozzarella instead. Would love to taste the real thing, but it's still delicious that way.

Comments

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