Warming To Salads

A SALAD isnt just for summer, its for life. We need the freshness and flavour of salads throughout the year, and perhaps even more so as winter approaches. Salads seem to make themselves in warm weather but when it is a bit chilly they require a little more thought to turn them into something that you look forward to eating.

There are two ways of going about this and both of them are easy. The first is to winterise an existing salad. So if your summer nicoise salad is made of tinned tuna, cold beans and potatoes and hard-boiled egg, you can winterise it by making it with fresh tuna hot off the grill, warm potatoes and beans and a quickly poached egg.

Over time, you get used to looking at a favourite salad and working out which components can be beefed up. The dressing needs an extra boost as well, which is most easily achieved with a spoonful of Dijon mustard, a bit of warm winter spice or an extra dash of good vinegar.

The second is to "saladise" an existing winter recipe (sorry about all these made-up words but new verbs are needed to describe new actions). Hence, a lovely meal of baked ocean trout or salmon with peas and boiled potatoes becomes a warm salad of lightly cooked fish, gently broken up into bite-sized sections and strewn over leaves lightly tossed with potatoes, peas and mint.

Not everything has to be warm in a warm salad. Something special happens when cool vinaigrette meets hot vegetables, or hot vinaigrette meets cold salad greens. Winter plays along by coming up with slightly bitter, tougher leaves such as witlof, frisee (curly endive) and radicchio that stand up to heftier dressings.

Pancetta and prosciutto can be crisped in the oven and crumbled over the top, and good, salty cheeses such as feta, goats cheese and sizzled haloumi add instant flavour. Use balsamic vinegar, harissa, walnut oil, Japanese mirin, and winter citrus juices such as grapefruit and orange to jazz up dressings and vinaigrettes. Walnuts and cashews add crunch, and - guaranteed - a poached or fried egg on top will make even non-salad people warm to the idea of a warm salad.

Warm roast vegetable couscous salad

This is the sort of meal you could have once a week, altering the vegetables, or adding spicy merguez sausages, chicken or lamb. Serve with harissa and preserved lemons, if you have them.

INGREDIENTS 12 baby carrots, peeled 2 parsnips, peeled and cut lengthways 2 red onions, quartered 2 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar sea salt 2 tbsp flaked almonds, lightly toasted For the couscous: 200g instant couscous 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp coriander seeds 3 tbsp sultanas 400ml boiling water 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp lemon juice small handful parsley leaves small handful coriander leaves

METHOD

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Toss the carrots, parsnip and onion with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season well. Arrange on a baking tray lined with baking paper or foil and bake for 45 minutes or until well-browned, turning once or twice.

Turn the oven off, remove the tray and cover with foil to keep warm. Toss the couscous in a heatproof bowl with the spices, sultanas and salt. Add the boiling water, stirring. Cover and leave in the warm oven for 15 minutes. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, add the olive oil and lemon juice, parsley and coriander, and lightly toss. Serve topped with the vegetables and scatter with almonds.

Serves 4

Salmon, potato and dill salad

A simple mustard, honey and dill dressing "saladises" a simple, healthy meal of good-oil fish.

INGREDIENTS 20 small potatoes, unpeeled 400g fine green beans 4 salmon or ocean trout fillets x 160g sea salt and pepper 100g watercress lemon, quartered Extra dill for serving

Dressing: 1 tbsp grain mustard 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp finely chopped dill 2 tbsp olive oil Sea salt and pepper

METHOD

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Cook the potatoes in simmering salted water for 15 minutes until tender, adding the beans after 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, whisk the honey, mustard, vinegar, olive oil and dill until thickened. Place the salmon on a baking tray lined with baking paper or foil, brush with olive oil and season well. Bake for eight to 10 minutes, depending on size. Rest for five minutes, then gently break up the salmon into bite-sized pieces with your fingers.

Drain the vegetables and cut the potatoes in half. Toss them in the dressing with the beans and watercress. Spread over four dinner plates and tuck in the salmon and extra dill. Drizzle with any remaining dressing and serve with a lemon wedge.

Serves 4

Rare beef with hot soy and chilli

Rare beef gets a run for its money with a hot soy dressing that turns it into a warm salad in an instant.

INGREDIENTS 2 green (spring) onions 1 mild red chilli 2 sirloin steaks, trimmed of fat 1 tbsp olive oil sea salt and cracked black pepper 1 bag mixed red and green salad leaves 2 tbsp salted cashews Hot soy dressing: 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp Chinese oyster sauce 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp sesame oil

METHOD

Heat a cast-iron grill pan or frypan, until hot. Cut the spring onions and chilli into fine matchsticks. Rub the steaks with olive oil, sea salt and lots of pepper. Cook on one side until well-marked, then turn and cook to your liking. Rest for five minutes, then thickly slice.

To serve, spread the leaves and steak on four dinner plates. Heat the soy, oyster sauce, honey and sesame oil in a pan, stirring and spoon over the steak. Scatter with spring onions, chilli and cashews and serve.

Serves 4

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