May Salad

Look at the array of spring colours in this month’s salad. Wild Fennel is a wonderful “free food” that grows in abundance in the South East of England. It has delicious aniseedy fronds in the spring. Purple Cauliflower isn't just a visual delight, it adds a delicious sweet nutty flavour and is reputedly a very healthy thing to eat. Asparagus
should of course, be incorporated into every meal in May - when you tire of eating it
“straight up’ it is a lovely addition to a salad. And finally the Radishes and Quail Eggs
provide contrasting gems of colour to finish off the dish.

Ingredients For 6 to share

1 Purple Cauliflower, cored and cut into florets
6 to 10 Sticks Asparagus, cut into 4cm lengths
12 Quail Eggs
A large handful of Wild Fennel Fronds
2 cultivated Fennel Bulbs, cored and sliced
1 Bunch Radishes, de-stemmed and halved

For the Simplest of Dressings
50ml virgin Rapeseed Oil
1 Lemon, juice
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon runny Honey
Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method

• Bring a large pan of lightly salted water up to the boil over a moderate heat. First cook the cauliflower florets for 5- 6 minutes, lift out with a slotted spoon, chill under the cold tap, set aside.

• Next cook the asparagus for 3-4 minutes in the same way.

• Cook the quail eggs in the rolling boiling water for exactly 90 seconds, lift them out, immediately plunge into a bowl of iced water. Leave the eggs for 5 minutes then carefully peel off the shells. Cut the eggs into halves.

• Use a stick blender to emulsify the rapeseed oil with lemon juice, mustard and honey. Then season to taste.

• Casually assemble the cauliflower, asparagus and both fennels in a large salad bowl. Dot the quail eggs and radishes on top and finish with the dressing drizzled over.