IN SEASON
SUMMER SALAD OF PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI, ASPARAGUS, PEAS AND RADISH
Just look at the colours, this salad is sure to make you feel good. Serves 4
Diary of a gardener in a small space
SIMON LOCK WELCOMES THE WARMER WEATHER…
May is here and the homegrown bandwagon is packed to capacity with late adopters. Garden centres are full of couples meandering aimlessly through the seed isles and hulking great bags of compost into the back of the car. I don’t want to sound cynical. I’m all for this new found enthusiasm for hyper-local mange tout. The more people eating produce from their own back yard the better. But I can’t help shaking my fi st like a mad man and asking, where were you in January when I was mulching my Christmas tree and planning my crop rotation? Eh?
May gives us all a license to get our fi ngers
green. As the wet spring gets quickly ousted by the warm summer growing your own becomes a breeze. Don’t worry if you’re short of space, just try and pick crops that make the most of it. This can mean those that climb, that produce for a prolonged period or that look nice and double up as organic decor amongst the gnomes. If you can fi nd something that does all three then you’re laughing.
For me the cherry tomato ticks all boxes. A failsafe variety is Gardener’s Delight, which will be available as a seedling in most garden centres. Plant with plenty of compost in the sunniest spot you’ve got. Pinch out the top of your plant as it grows to stop it getting out of control and remove any branches that don’t produce fl owers. Unless you’re confi dent in the quality of your soil a potassium rich feed is a must.
Something about the smell and taste of homegrown toms eaten warm, straight off the vine is hard to beat. Supplement with some easy-growing window box additions, such as rocket, basil and spring onions and even the most fair weather gardeners among us will be kept in side salads until September.
❤ 400g fresh purple sprouting broccoli
❤ 300g fresh British asparagus ❤ 200g fresh radish ❤ 200g fresh podded peas ❤ 100g sesame seeds ❤ 50ml rapeseed, grapeseed or other vegetable oil
❤ Zest and juice of 1 lime ❤ 2 tbsp soy sauce ❤ Half tsp sugar ❤ Sea salt and pepper
1 Firstly prepare the vegetables. Wash and trim the purple sprouting broccoli, the asparagus and the radish. Slice the broccoli and
asparagus into 3 cm pieces, and slice the radish thinly. Place the radish in a bowl of cold water.
2 Using a double layered steamer, boil some water and steam the purple sprouting broccoli, the asparagus pieces and the peas for approximately 5-7 minutes. The vegetables should be quite tender, but still green and slightly crisp. Remove the vegetables from the steamer and set aside to cool on a clean preparation tray.
3 In a little jug mix together the sesame seeds, rapeseed oil, zest and juice of the lime, the soy sauce, sugar, a pinch of sea salt and a generous grating of black pepper.
4 In a roomy salad bowl, mix together the steamed purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus and peas. Add the drained radish slices.
5 Add the soy and lime dressing. Toss the salad well. Serve.
www.loveyourgreens.co.uk
14 | THE WEST COUNTRY FOODLOVER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68