“…..no other vegetable tastes quite so much like the green shoots of hope.”

Bee Wilson, in The Financial Times

So this is a soft, floaty sort of light, summer salad, saved from blandness by; the nuts which give it crunch; the dried fruit which gives a bit of sweetness; the spring onions which give some zing; and the herbs which give a bit of flavour.

It goes well with roast chicken, with lamb, and with salmon, together with a Right Royal Cabbage in a creamy garlic and bacon sauce.

Recipe for soft green salad with dried cranberries, pistachios and spring onions

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 60g/2 oz bag soft salad leaves – lambs lettuce for example. Or 140g/5 oz bag of butterhead salad leaves – if you find this, you can omit the spinach.
• 60g/2 oz bag baby spinach
• a handful of coriander or parsley
• about six spring onions
• 40g/¼ cup dried cranberries, or raisins, or dried sour cherries…or dried goji berries
• 2 tbsp chopped pistachios

Ingredients for dressing

• 1 fat clove of garlic, crushed with 1 tsp smoked salt
• ½ teasp cumin seeds (dry fried and crushed in a pestle and mortar)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• juice and zest of half a lime
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Mix up the dressing.
2. Empty the leaves into a large salad bowl.
3. Snip over the herbs and the spring onions.
4. Sprinkle over the berries and nuts.
5. Dress, toss, and serve!