It has been a long few months but we have almost made it through the winter. Spring is fast approaching and the sun has actually been shining a few days this past week. We are no longer freezing, it is not constantly grey and dark outside (although as I am writing this the sun has decided to disappear again – but at least it won’t be in hibernation for months on end) and I have even ditched my heavy winter coat for my spring jacket.
Yet winter is not officially over (don’t put those winter coats away for good just yet!) and the supermarkets and outdoor farmers’ markets are still packed out with winter vegetables. This is the perfect time to make the most of the final winter vegetables out there as they are cheap and healthy. We all associate winter with being dark and grey but actually a lot of the vegetables available during these months can be packed full of colour. My Celebratory End of Winter Salad is vibrant, colourful, healthy and quick to make. The only actual cooking required is boiling a few eggs. I add a honey and mustard dressing to the salad.
You can buy any of the ingredients from a standard, local supermarket. You can also pick up fresh vegetables from a local farmers’ market. My local market is based on Kollwitzplatz (Thu 12-19:00 and Sat 9-16:00) that I would recommend visiting – and not just for the vegetables. They have plenty of fruit, flowers, cheese and wine. Let’s end winter on a happy and colourful note and welcome in spring!
Ingredients: (serves 2 large plates)
2 large heads of chicory (roughly sliced)
Fresh spinach leaves
1 medium red onion (cut into thin slices)
4 medium free range eggs
1 beetroot (vacuum packed) (cut into thin slices)
Handful of walnut pieces
Blue cheese (there is always a good selection to choose from in a local supermarket)
Honey Mustard Dressing:
2 tbpsn olive oil
1 tbpsn honey
2 tspn dijon mustard
Juice of half a lemon
ground black pepper
Hard boil the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water. This will take around 10 minutes. Then run them under some cold water, remove the shell and cut in half.
For the dressing: Mix everything together in a bowl and leave to one side.
Place the chicory leaves onto each serving plate. Scatter the spinach leaves and then put the beetroot slices on top. Add a few onion slices over the dish.
In the middle of each plate add some slices of blue cheese and walnut pieces. Around the side of each plate add the eggs (4 pieces to each plate).
Drizzle the honey mustard dressing over the salad and serve with some fresh bread on the side.
To get more great recipes, check out A Modern Rose website.
