Day 1 of 365 salads- winter.

Rugged up in jackets, hats and gloves we have just arrived home before the rain, from a long winters day walk, feeling warm and cosy as we step inside discarding all our paraphernalia. We could smell the chicken stock still slowly simmering on the stove as it has been since early morning. The stock will be the base of tonight’s Italian lentil soup and the rest can be frozen . 

With fresh rustic sprouted grain bread, soup and this simple, amazing salad, dinner will definitely shut out the cold winter day as night descends.

Serves 4 – 6

You need

1 big handful of snow peas, tails removed, washed and cut in half

2 bunches of fresh asparagus

2 tablespoons whole hazelnuts

Dressing

1 orange, washed

1 tablespoon hazelnut oil

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

natural salt of choice and black cracked pepper to taste

To make:

Wash asparagus, bend toward the base of each stalk and snap off the woody part of the stem and discard. Cut each asparagus stalk lengthwise on the diagonal 2 to 3 times as shown in the picture.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer and blanch asparagus for 35 seconds. Add snow peas to blanch for 10 seconds. Remove and plunge asparagus and snow peas into cold water to stop further cooking.

Heat a dry fry pan and toast the whole hazelnuts, this will only take a few minutes, don’t leave them as they quickly burn.

For the dressing: zest the orange, only removing the zest not the bitter white pith.

Juice the orange.

Place orange zest, juice, hazelnut oil, Dijon mustard and seasoning in a jar, screw on lid and shake to combine.

Place snow peas and asparagus onto serving dish, pour over dressing and toss lightly, sprinkle hazelnuts on top and serve.

Bon appetite

X 70’s girl