A PERFECT GREEN SALAD

a free, emulsion-based recipe from my book.

Hello folks - this week, a recipe from my book, on the house. We’re in the thick of a brand new 101 series on emulsions, so I thought I’d share one you can whip up in half an hour this weekend to eat alongside a roasted chicken, a big bowl of Sunday Sauce or a pasta bake. We’ve got new music from Daniel Avery and a great new book on British food from Ben Benton.

Enjoy, B. x

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“Chef, can I dress yet?”

“Not yet, 2 minutes”

This conversation happened maybe 30 times, waiting for the go ahead, the green light to dig my hands into the bowl in front of me and tangle together the mix of bitter radicchio, sweet gem lettuce and other thoughtful lettuces. I’ve thrown in some pickled shallots and chives for some savoury bite and lying in wait at the bottom of the bowl is a pool of sweet, sour, salty and bitter mustard vinaigrette.

If I pull the trigger too early, dress the salad, cover it with an avalanche of parmesan and then plonk it on the pass before the other sections are ready to send their share of the ticket, it’ll sit under the lights and wilt before my eyes, before being slung into the bin. Dressing a salad right at the opportune moment, the final seconds before it hits the dining room, is just one of the many little secrets I picked up working the larder section, a corner of the kitchen that focuses on cold starters, raw fish and meat and smaller warm dishes.

On paper, a salad is a really simple plate of food, but an awful lot can happen in a salad bowl. It was here that I really learnt how to taste and season my food. Salad leaves, raw vegetables, meat and fish are inherently bland ingredients. On the larder section you have to use a series of seasonings, dressings, emulsions and other flavour enhancers to bring those ingredients to life, to make them sing and hold their own alongside a roasted piece of meat (these tend to steal the limelight).

A salad should be an interesting thing to eat, perhaps presents the best opportunity to add texture and bright, vibrant flavour to a meal, whether as a standalone dish or as a side. I have fond memories of working and learning on every larder section I was trusted with. It was my first time working with carpaccio, dressing raw venison with salty parmesan and earthy pickled walnuts. In Australia, I experienced buying and curing fish, stunned by the simplicity of the process, in a moment the whole concept totally demystified. I was able to easily pull off what I thought was reserved for the cheffiest of chefs with the world’s sharpest knives. Salads and raw bits, in the right hands, are some of the best bites out there.

For me, the green salad is the simplest (and best) expression of what salad is and should be. A tangle of vinegary leaves and herbs topped with salty cheese is a welcome guest on any dinner table and the perfect sidekick to an infinite list of main courses. Start with lively greens - peppery rocket, crisp gem, or tender butter lettuce, bitter winter leaves if they’re around. You want salad leaves that actually taste like something. Add cool cucumber, buttery avocado, and a rebellious handful of herbs. Dress with a punchy vinaigrette and toss just enough to make the leaves shimmer. Shower with salty cheese and you’ve made a perfect green salad that’s fresh, confident, and proof that vegetables can absolutely steal the show.

When exploring the world of salads, it’s important to start here. Once you’ve mastered the simple green salad, you can move through the rest of this chapter. Learning how to clean the lettuces, pick the herbs, how to add acidity, sweetness, and balance a dressing and then how to marry everything together in the bowl is no mean feat, but I reckon you’ve got it. Don’t be afraid to add a shot of water to your dressing. This dressing is a fantastic all rounder, modelled on a classic french dijon dressing, but with an egg yolk for a rounded finish. It can sometimes come out a little too punchy, a little too salty or sharp or sweet. I find a little drip of water can level the playing field.

To make this more of a main event, you can serve with garlicky croutons for extra crunch, scattered with good anchovies for some more umami or add some grilled chicken or tinned sardines for some protein.

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A PERFECT GREEN SALAD

Serves: 4

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 5 mins

Total: 25 mins

INGREDIENTS

For the Pickled Shallots

90g White Wine Vinegar

60g Sugar

30g Water

2 Shallots

For the Dressing

1 Egg Yolk

50g White Wine Vinegar

3 Tsp Dijon

3 Tsp Honey

50g Olive Oil

50g Sunflower Oil

For the Salad

2 Heads of Soft Leaf Lettuce

2 Baby Gem

90g Rocket

10g Chives

5g Dill

10g Parsley

5g Tarragon

½ Lemon Zest

10g Parmesan Cheese

METHOD

Start with the pickled shallots. Peel the papery skin from the shallots and cut into thin rounds. Separate the rounds into individual rings and pop into a heatproof bowl. Warm the vinegar, sugar and water in a small saucepan until just below simmering. Stir to dissolve the sugar and then pour over the shallots while warm. Cover and set aside to cool to room temperature. You can also pop the raw shallots into a microwave container with the pickle liquor and cook on high for 1 minute.

To make the dressing grab the bowl you plan to dress your salad in (the largest you own!). Set over a scale so you can weigh the ingredients straight into the bowl. Tip in the yolk, mustard, vinegar, honey, 1 tbsp of cold water, a good pinch of fine salt and a few twists of pepper. Whisk together before slowly adding the oils to create a creamy, emulsified dressing. Taste and add more sugar, vinegar or salt as needed. You want the dressing to be sweet, sour, salty and loose.

Scatter in your salad leaves, a handful of pickled shallots and finely chop the chives before adding them, too. Pick the remaining herbs from the stems, adding them straight into the bowl. Keep them in large, toothsome pieces, they’ll add texture and serious pops of flavour to your salad. Season with a little fine salt and gently tumble the salad together. It shouldn’t need more than a few turns to coat the leaves in the dressing.

Build the salad high on a plate, build the salad with larger leaves on the bottom and smaller on top, it should be tall and proud! MAke sure you’ve got herbs and pickled shallots scattered throughout. Top your salad with freshly grated lemon zest and a generous cloud of finely grated parmesan. Serve right away.

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Tremor (Midnight Versions) by Daniel Avery

A reimagining of last year’s Tremor as a darker, late-night companion built for the dancefloor. Avery strips the songs down and rebuilds them around pulsing techno rhythms, pushing the club DNA that was only hinted at on the original record to the front. The tracks are leaner and more immediate, basslines throb under ghostly vocals while synths shimmer over top. Despite the heavier emphasis on rhythm, the emotional weight remains intact. You can catch Avery at Phonox every Friday night this month. I’ll be there.

Album Highlights: Neon Pulse, Haze, Until The Moon Starts Shaking

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All You Can Eat by Ben Benton

I gobbled this book up on the train to Yorkshire last week, which felt apt, as it is an account of Author and host of the spectacular Go To Food Podcast, Ben Benton’s travels through the British Isles, searching for the root of what and how we eat as one of the most multicultural countries in the world. The findings are fascinating, delivered with a pithy charm, Benton writes brilliantly on crab sandwiches, desi spiced fried fish, sad seaside towns and inspiring shacks by the beach. A meandering, warm, hunger-inducing read.

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Thanks for reading folks - B x