“Abounding with colour, texture and flavour, salads bring freshness and zing to the table. But as well as culinary joy, they can also bring nutritional benefits. I hope these recipes inspire you to enjoy at least one plateful of salad a day” RIVER COTTAGE HEAD CHEF GELF ALDERSON
GELF’S STORY He’s been at River Cottage for 10 years, where he works with Hugh F-W to delight guests with his innovative menus. Gelf was raised as a vegetarian, growing up on his dad’s homegrown produce prepared by his mum, yet he dismissed salads as ‘rabbit food’ until he became a chef, at which point he fell in love with them. He’s one of the pioneers who’ve helped make veg-centric cooking the new normal. These recipes are from his first book (see p100).
Roast cauliflower with pumpkin seed satay
Serves 4 Hands-on time 25 min
EASY SWAPS
Small chunks of root vegetables are a great swap for the cauliflower; parsnips and swede are especially good here. You’ll need to roast them for an extra 10-15 minutes before tossing them in the satay sauce as in step 4.
• 2 medium cauliflowers (about 750g total)
• 3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated
• 5 mint sprigs, leaves picked and roughly torn
• Small bunch coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
For the satay sauce
• Finely grated zest and juice 1 lime
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp tamari or light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 3 tbsp pumpkin seed butter or any nut butter (peanut is good)
• 400ml tin coconut milk
1 Heat the oven to 190°C fan/gas 6½. Halve the cauliflowers and remove the tough central cores, then cut into large florets.
2 Put the cauliflower florets on a baking tray, trickle over the rapeseed oil and season with salt flakes and black pepper. Tumble the cauliflower in the oil and seasoning to coat it, then roast in the oven for 10 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through.
3 Meanwhile, make the satay sauce. Put the lime zest and juice, honey, tamari, curry powder, pumpkin seed butter and coconut milk in a saucepan and heat gently for 5 minutes, stirring continuously to combine.
4 Take the cauliflower out of the oven, pour on the satay sauce and roll the florets in the sauce until thoroughly coated. Return to the oven for 5 minutes.
5 Remove the tray from the oven, add the lettuce leaves, scatter over the herbs and toss together. Serve immediately.
Per serving 406kcals, 32.2g fat (16.8g saturated), 10.1g protein, 15.5g carbs (9.8g sugars), 1g salt, 6.5g fibre
Fennel, celery and apple with creamy almond dressing
Serves 2 as a m
