Summer is definitely with us and I confess that I am not a huge fan. I can hear the groans already. Trying to cook in this heat is not too much fun. Particularly if it happens to be a day of baking with pastry! But I persevere, being the complete martyr and of course, reminding everybody regularly of my suffering. Good job I love it so much.
Of course not everybody wants to turn on their oven in this heat so here is one of my favourite salad recipes. Apologies, it does involve using a hob, but the pain is only brief!
Lemon Summer Salad
This salad is light, crispy and perfect addition to a picnic or BBQ. If anything is left over, a fantastic lunch box filler!
Ingredients:
150g fine green beans
150g sugar snap peas
50g frozen petit pois
1 x crispy red skinned apple
100g feta cheese
5 x spring onions.
Dressing:
1 x lemon
Olive oil
Black pepper
A large pinch of Lemon Myrtle, Droitwich salt and dill seasoning
Bring a pan of water to the boil.
Top and tail the fine beans and half.
Add the beans and sugar snap peas to the water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 2 minutes. Then add the frozen peas. Bring the water to the boil and remove from the heat. Drain and run under really cold water. This will help to retain the lovely bright green colour.
Meanwhile, juice the lemon and add an equal amount of good quality olive oil, a good grinding of black pepper and your large pinch of Myrtle’s seasoning. Core and thinly slice the apple and add to the lemon mix and stir, making sure that the apple is coated to stop it discolouring.
Chop or crumble the feta.
Thinly slice the spring onions.
Put all of your ingredients together and toss so that they everything is coated in the lovely lemon dressing.
Extra notes from Jane
This salad makes a great foundation salad, and you can make lots of changes….
Adding feta or a soft curd cheese like ricotta is a lovely addition.
Or adding some torn chicken, works well in this salad.
I love adding broad beans to the mix, when fresh and in season.
If you prefer things with a little more heat, try adding a little chopped fresh red chilli to the mix.
If you are looking for fresh salad ideas, hop back through our blog posts for more ideas and a particular favourite of mine is the Mocktail v Cocktail blog.
You will also find a video about this in the “Foodies Across the Pond” YouTube channel that I do with my lovely friend Lisa, where we chat all things food. It would be amazing if you would head over there and subscribe to our videos as we do it for the love and it would be great to know that someone is watching!
Enjoy the summer
Jane
x