Something For the Weekend #2
Sensational spring salads for the long weekend, plus a nostalgic banana custard tart, for balance
Hello everyone, and welcome to the second ever ‘Something For the Weekend’, where I’m sharing a bunch of recipes designed to fill you up with all the joys of spring, just in time for the weekend. We’re talking lively, superior salads packed with glorious seasonal goodies, and, for balance, an insanely delicious banana custard tart with the wibbliest custard and tender creme fraiche pastry. As recipe drops go, it’s a feast of renewal and nostalgia - which feels perfectly fitting for this moment in time. If you happen to be reading this and are not yet a paid subscriber, perhaps it’s time to treat yourself to a membership to what I can only describe as my seasonally-shifting, interactive, ever-evolving cookbook. If you do, you’ll be in on our wonderful A Lot On Her Plate community of joy-seeking, food-loving peeps, have access to our chats and my ENTIRE recipe archive, but more importantly, you’ll be encouraging and supporting the work that I do developing and writing these recipes and newsletters. You’ll be a legend in my eyes. And all for less than it costs to buy a flat white each week…
Every year, when the bluebells sprout up, seemingly out of nowhere, and the cherry blossom erupts overnight like an explosion of pink pom poms, I’m overtaken by delighted surprise, which then settles into a feeling of calm reassurance. Whatever’s happening in our busy, whirling lives: whatever challenges, distractions or anxieties we might be working through, the world is still turning, and the spring is still unstoppably, well, ‘springing’. Despite the extended cold spell we’ve been experiencing here in the UK, Spring has announced herself unapologetically over the past couple of weeks, and I am so here for it.
As a cook, I’m always sensitive to the seasons, and disproportionately thrilled by the arrival of things like asparagus and broad beans, but I think it’s even more pronounced for me this year because my daughter - now big enough to stagger down the garden path - is experiencing all of this for the first time, and I’m seeing it afresh through her eyes. What a total privilege it is to feed her the first spears of new season asparagus, and see her eyes widen with delight. Surely there’s no bettering this pivotal seasonal moment, when everything is still to play for? Let the long, garden lunches, impromptu picnics, wild swims and good times roll! I think we should celebrate, don’t you?
Which leads me nicely on to this month’s SFTW recipes. I thought, given we have so many long weekends coming up (anyone else feeling the pressure of these short weeks??) that it would be useful to share a selection of really vibrant, veg-forward, celebratory-yet-straightforward-to-assemble spring salads for you guys. I love a table crowded with platters of beautiful salads, and these recipes lean into the way I want to cook and eat right now. After a long winter of braises, carbs and comfort, I’m so ready for fresh, zingy, crunchy salads. Who’s with me?
First up is a gorgeous grain salad made with freekeh, and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know how much I love this nutty, toasted durum wheat as a base for a toothsome salad. This one is shot through with sweet, vivid green broad beans, crunchy radishes, deeply toasted pine nuts, herbs and spring onions. It’s dressed with a zippy, creamy green tahini dressing inspired by the iconic Ottolenghi version, which seems fitting given the legendary cafe/restaurant is celebrating twenty years since it opened.
I know I’ve already been forthcoming with asparagus recipes, but I really couldn’t not include a salad based around my favourite spring veg, and this black bean and coconut yoghurt, curry leaf/cashew number is a very dreamy confluence of flavours and textures. It’s great as a starter, sharing salad or even as a side to grilled fish or meats. In fact, I filmed a fun little video for with the lovely folks from Bold Beans, who are also offering readers of this newsletter a lovely little discount on their range of beans. You don’t have to use coconut yoghurt, though it’s a good option to keep things plant based. Full fat Greek yoghurt also works well.
It wouldn’t be a proper celebration if you didn’t invite a friend, so I’m totally chuffed to be including a bonus recipe here from the excellent cookery writer Ed Smith, who has kindly contributed a wonderful recipe for ‘Celery, fennel and egg salad with rye croutons’ from his latest, very brilliant cookbook, Crave. Thanks so much Ed!
And, if all this salad business is making your sweet tooth twitch, then I’ve got you, my friend. DID SOMEONE SAY BANANA CUSTARD TART!? You betcha. Please let me know in the comments how you get on with these recipes, and thanks again for supporting the work I create.