Rejoice in the fresh tastes of early summer with a garden salad with a recipe from Kathy Bishop and Tom Crowford on their Somerset smallholding
The vegetable and herb patches are busy this month. We sow radishes and lettuces every couple of weeks to ensure a continuous kitchen supply. Scruffy pots of tomatoes are moved on to the sunny patio and courgettes are planted out.
We cut bunches of oregano and mint to dry. There are waxy new potatoes to harvest and main-crop varieties to earth-up. Dinner is often a simple salad, quickly assembled from whatever is ready to pick, and eaten outside with crusty bread.
Boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water for around 15 minutes until cooked. Drain and set aside to steam-dry and cool.
To make the dressing, whisk the Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, honey and sunflower oil together with a pinch of sea salt until emulsified.
To assemble the salad, start by halving the potatoes and arranging them across the middle of each plate, leaving a little space between each one. Fill in the gaps with the baby chard and/or beetroot leaves and intersperse with radishes. Scatter the peas, and tear over the lemon balm and mint leaves. Finish with a sprinkling of pea shoots and a flutter of chive flowers. Season with a few cracks of black pepper and drizzle over the dressing. Serve immediately, with crusty bread.
Louise Hagger
