…to Dan Deacon in Andrew’s Lane Theatre tonight that is.  Tomorrow we’re off to Bordeaux for my school chum’s wedding and no doubt the food and wine will be flowing and utterly fabulous.  I figured it would be best to stock up on the greens before our travelling sets in.  Keep up the immune system, like.

I made this salad 100%  inspired by the lovely fresh salad I had in Cork’s wonderful Cafe Paradiso.  Mine was very quick to make, and although the ingredients were a bit on the pricey side, it was really yum and very filling.  And I instantly felt 10 pounds lighter, which, however entirely delusion, was nice all the same.

What you need for a nice fresh broad bean and asparagus and general goodness-filled salad for 2

Asparagus – I got some really lovely looking Wye Valley purple asparagus from M&S

A generous handful or two of broad beans – I got frozen ones from M&S and they were pretty good

Some nice little tomatoes, washed and halved – again from M&S I got some Mini Kumato toms, a little bit bigger than cherry toms and a great purply colour, delish

Some lovely salad leaves

A few slices of good parma ham – we had 2 slices each

For the dressing

6 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, grated or chopped finely whichever you prefer

1 red chilli, deseeded and very, very finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1/3 lime or thereabouts!

First things first, get a big pot of water on the boil.  I added the broad beans first for 3 minutes, and then I added my steaming layer on top of that and popped the asparagus on top.  I cooked it all for a further 3 minutes.

While your veg are working away, make your dressing.  Add all of the ingredients together in a jam jar or your equivalent and give it a good old shake.  Season with salt and pepper if you like.  I did and it worked nicely.  I was aiming to emulate the lovely citrusy dressing that I’d had in Cafe Paradiso, and although I wasn’t close, my own dressing worked pretty well too!

Arrange your salad leaves with the tomatoes on your plates.  Arrange your parma ham whichever way you like over the plate.

Your veg will be ready now, so drain them off.  My lovely purply asparagus lost almost all of their colour, and as they were not very crunchy when eating, perhaps I had steamed them for too long?  I’m quite sure it was only 3 minutes, but you know yourself, you always leave things on a bit longer than you meant to!  Unless you’re like, a proper cook or something.

Anyway, drain your veg and arrange them on top of your salad leaves and toms and ham.  Pour over the dressing.  Be quite generous.  Out of the measurements above, I had a little bit leftover, but it was just about right for the two portions.

MP3

We were listening to Grizzly Bear’s new album Veckatimest (again!) while I was cooking.  It’s been on in the house rather a lot in the last few weeks.  Literally gets better and better at every listen.  Buy it here and hear for yourself!

Here’s Cheerleader from the album, in case you missed it the first time round

Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader – (Veckatimest)

Categories: Dinner, Lunch