Warm summer salad

When you think of casserole dishes, the first things that come to mind are comforting stews and hearty winter dishes, but this might help you to see your casserole in a new light and dust it off on a summer's day.

WARM SUMMER SALAD
2 sweet potatoes

1 onion

¼ cauliflower

1 small red pepper

8 cherry tomatoes, quartered

150g baby spinach

100g salted peanuts

Ottolenghi tahini and parsley dressing

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut each one into 6 - 8 chunks, depending on the size of your potatoes.
Cut the onion into 8 segments.

Put the potatoes and onions into the casserole dish and pour over the olive oil.
Mix well to coat the vegetables and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
Break the cauliflower into florets ad add to the casserole and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Leave to cool to room temperature.
Dice the pepper and add to the dish with the tomatoes, peanuts and spinach.
Toss gently to mix.

This would be fine served with a vinaigrette, but is brought alive with Yotam Ottolenghi's superb parsley and tahini dressing.

We ate ours accompanied by sesame and garlic flatbreads and an ice cold rose wine.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Selling Road Salad

Just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a Meet the Producers day at our fabulous Faversham stockist Macknade Fine Food

Not only was this a fantastic opportunity to meet their customers and share some of our passion for what we do, but it was also a chance to say "Hello" to the staff and enjoy the huge array of goodies on offer.

They now have a superb display of the Netherton Foundry range in the centre of the shop, as you can see.

One of the things that struck me, as I took a few minutes "off duty" to wander round, was how easy it is to eat your daily rainbow of fruit and veg, when presented with the tantalising selection on offer.  I promised that I would create a dish specially for Macknade from ingredients from the shop and having chosen red, green, purple, yellow and mauve a crunchy slaw style salad seemed the very best option.

The sheer quality of what I brought home made me want to do as little as possible to it, to  make the most of the freshness and flavours.

And so it is that we have the Selling Road Salad:

1 large yellow heritage carrot
1 large purple heritage carrot
2 leaves curly kale
½ red pepper

Dressing
1 dried chilli
½ tsp salt
50ml rapeseed oil
2 heaped teaspoons crunchy peanut butter
2 tsp runny honey
grated rind of ½ orange
Juice of 1 lime

Cut out the thick white rib of the kale and discard.
Bring some water to the boil in a large saucepan and throw in the kale leaves.
Blanch for 30 seconds - this will make the kale a beautiful vivid green.
Drain and refresh with cold water.
Squeeze out any excess water and chop finely.
Cut the carrots into thin julienne strips.
Chop the red pepper.

Throw all the vegetables into a large salad bowl and mix thoroughly - the easiest way to do this is with your hands.

To make the dressing, crush the chilli with the salt.
Place in a mixing bowl.
Add all the other ingredients and whisk together.
Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit your palate.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix well.

Leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
To tickle your tastebuds here are a couple of photos from the veg section............

........... and as if that weren't enough temptation, what about the stunning cheese counter and frankly irresistible bread.

So if you find yourself in the Garden of England, pop in to one the best farm shops we know and make the most of their fine produce.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foudnry.co.uk

Eat your greens

This is a very green salad - best served slightly warm and no cooler than room temperature.

200g green or Puy lentils
1" ginger in julienne strips
2 cloves garlic, halved

1 large onion
½ head Hispi cabbage
2 sticks celery
2 tblsp oil
Grated rind of 1 lemon

Vinaigrette

1 pack of feta cheese
Handful of sorrel or mint

Place the lentils, ginger and garlic in a saucepan and generously cover with water.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils are cooked, but are not mushy.

Halve and then finely slice the onion.
Heat the oil in a wok and add the onions.  Cook over a medium heat until just starting to brown.
Add the chopped celery and finely shredded cabbage.  Throw in the lemon rind.
Cook until the cabbage wilts and then remove from the heat and transfer to a serving dish.

Tip the drained, warm lentils on top of the cabbage and dress with a generous glug of simple oil, mustard and vinegar dressing.

Top with cubed feta and sorrel (or mint) 
Serve with bread or new potatoes.


© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015