INGREDIENTS
Salad:
Asparagus
Green beans
Baby new potatoes
Radishes
Spring onions
Chives
Dill
Watercress
Dressing, toppings and whipped ricotta:
Ricotta cheese
Unwaxed lemon (juice and zest)
Almond flakes (pre-toasted or lightly pan-fried as per recipe)
Honey
Extra-virgin olive oil
TIPS & NOTES
There’s not much too this one, I just recommend running the steamed asparagus and beans under cold water to preserve their colour and texture and bring them down to room temperature (same for the new potatoes – boiled whole to retain their flavour).
Whilst you could do this recipe without a blender with some aggressive whisking, I personally love how smooth and creamy this method makes our bed of ricotta. You can also boil the asparagus and beans if you don’t have a steaming basket, though be careful not to overcook and shock them in ice water afterwards, rather than just running them under cold water. I would also recommend this if you want to prep this ahead of time, so the greens stay looking green (you will also want to put the watercress in a separate container / compartment and only add it right before serving).
This is the base recipe which can be served as a side or a light lunch, but if you want to bulk things up, sometimes I add some butter beans or top this off with a hard-boiled egg or two. Sometimes I omit the potatoes and serve this on sourdough, by spreading the ricotta on to toast and serving the salad as a topping.
Spring Salad with Lemon & Whipped Ricotta
A fresh salad that makes the most of spring produce
Ingredients
-
*
120g of baby new potatoes
- 60g of green beans
- 120g of radishes (topped, tailed and sliced)
- 100g of asparagus
- 20g of watercress (roughly broken apart by hand)
- 3 spring onions (topped, tailed and sliced)
- A small handful of dill (c.2g) (remove the large stems and chop)
- A small bunch of chives (c.2g) (discard the tips and finely slice)
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp of honey
- 25g of extra-virgin olive oil
- 250g of ricotta cheese
- 8g of almond flakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Add the potatoes (whole) to a pot of cold water (don’t fill it up too much) and bring to the boil – cook for 15-20 mins until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, once cooked – run them under very cold water
- Meanwhile, add the asparagus and beans to a steaming basket and steam for 7-12 minutes until the asparagus is firm but can be pierced with a fork
- Once done, run the asparagus and beans under very cold water
- If your almond flakes are not toasted, on a low-medium heat, dry fry them in a pan for up to 7 mins (moving them regularly to ensure they don’t burn)
- Blend the ricotta with half of the lemon juice and a little salt and pepper until light and creamy
- Whisk or shake together the olive oil, honey and remaining lemon juice with some salt and pepper to create a dressing
- Cut the potatoes into halves, cut the beans into c.10-15cm pieces and discard the asparagus ends and slice up the stems
- Combine the asparagus tips and stems, potatoes, green beans, watercress, radishes, spring onions, chives and dill, drizzle over the dressing and toss everything together
- Serve over a bed of the whipped ricotta, topped with the lemon zest and toasted almond flakes
Let me know if you try this spring salad!
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