This week we are looking at summer salads. As you can see from the photographs, the focus is on colour, flavours and seasoning. These recipes are great standalone dishes that can also double as simple side salads for a larger spread or a barbecue if the weather allows.
Salads offer a world of possibility but so often we revert to the tried and tested staples. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but there’s plenty of flavour to be found beyond a bag of mixed leaves. Aside from all of this, the summer season also allows us to support as many local producers as possible.
I look to the Dublin-based McNally’s Family Farm or The Happy Pear farm for beautiful ingredients that bring our cooking to the next level.
First up I have chosen a Middle East-inspired mezze. These are flavours I always return to when the weather is decent; it feels like really clean eating without compromising on flavour. While I’m using lamb shoulder here, this can be substituted for any grilled meat, or omitted completely. The secret is in the cooking of the couscous.
This is a must-have store cupboard ingredient for bulking up dinners. It is cost effective, a great sponge for flavours, sauces and juices and cooks in less than five minutes. There are a few key points to cooking it properly. The ratio of liquid to grain is about two to one. Here you’ll see I have also added the juices and fat from the lamb shoulder to pump up the flavour.
For 400g of grain, I’ll always add a teaspoon of sea salt to ensure perfect seasoning. Turmeric adds the golden colour while ras el hanout spice provides the kick. This is a great Arabic blend with its origins in north Africa. It translates as “head of the shop” and would traditionally incorporate the best-quality ingredients available: the spice equivalent of “catch of the day”. It commonly blends cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, chilli, pepper, dried rose petal and coriander. These work wonders alongside lamb.
Pay attention to scraping the couscous with the back of a fork to achieve that really light texture. Feta cheese, pomegranate and mint leaves bring everything together. This is a salad I could eat forever.
The second recipe uses another beautiful but often overlooked ingredient. Chicory or endive comes in yellow (grown in darkness) or red. Both are crisp with a bitter-sweet flavour and pair nicely with citrus and sugar. I’ve served them here with a really simple dressing. As such, the ingredients need to be of high quality so I’ll spend a little more on olive oil and wholegrain mustard. Some crumbled goat’s cheese ties everything together while the croutons add texture. I regularly have stale bread left over in the house, and this is a great way of turning it back into something useable and delicious. I’ve used focaccia here. Simple food is often the best.
Recipe: Spiced couscous with crispy lamb shoulder and mint
Recipe: Chicory salad with goat’s cheese, croutons and mustard
