Golden Beet Salad

I love beetroot and I love the patterns when you cut them opten and all the wonderful differently coloured varieties. Their earthy flavour goes really well with a sweet dressing, though by that I don't mean adding honey, maple syrup or sugar. Instead I'm referring to the type of vinegar I use. With red beetroot, balsamic is wonderful but it discolours the beautiful golden colour of these beets, which unfortanatley oxidise very quickly anyway.

500 g golden beet
2-3 tbsp elderflower vinegar
6 tbsp elderflower oil
sea salt
freshly ground black or white pepper

Make the dressing. Peel the beetroot and grate finely. Mix and serve immediately.

Hazelnutty Salad

Yesterday, I bought hazelnut oil for the first time and of course had to try it out straight away. I used a bag of winter baby leaves, chopped toasted hazelnuts and a very simple dressing. I found I'd made too much dressing so I covered the remainder with cling film and stuck it in the fridge.

1 bag of baby leaf lettuce
chopped toasted hazelnuts
Herbamare organic herb salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp organic balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp hazelnut oil
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Rocket Salad with Balsamic & Maple Syrup Dressing

Dressing:
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
3tbsp balsamic vinegar
9tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3tsp maple syrup

wild rocket

This amount of dressing is probably enough for about 250 - 300g of rocket leaves.

Leafy Salad with Balsamic Dressing

This week's organic box contained a huge bag of the most amazing baby lettuce leaves with a couple of nasturtium blossoms and calendula petals for added colour. So I decided, not to use the usual vinaigrette dressing but something a little more delicate.

sea salt
freshly ground pepper
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
6tbsp extra virgin olive oil


Mix and pour over the lettuce. Toss gently and serve immediately.

Cucumber and Radish Salad

1 cucumber, optionally peeled, deseeded and sliced
200g radishes (that's probably about 20-25 pieces), sliced
about a thumb's length of fresh ginger, grated
2tbsp sherry vinegar
1-2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
1/2tsp Dijon mustard

1. For the dressing, combine all the ingredients.
2. Place the cucumber and radish slices in a bowl and pour over the dressing. Mix well and leave to marinate at room temperature for 1/2-1 hour.

Tip:
I've started to scoop out the seeds of shop bought cucumbers as they contain so much water but leave them in if using an organic one.

Fabbie Vinaigrette

This recipe is derived from a vinaigrette recipe I found years ago in the Cranks cookbook Entertaining with Cranks. I make it in bulk because we eat lots of leafy salads but it also works well on left over baby potatoes and for a quick tabouleh.

Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste (or HerbamareTM)
juice of 2-3 lemons
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
2-3 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard or a mix of Dijon and whole grain mustard
dried herbs (optional)

Mix well and add to 500ml extra virgin olive oil.

Pour into empty olive oil bottle. Shake well before use.