I needed a salad for a crowd. Something to celebrate the season’s cornucopia of young vegetables and herbs. A salad that felt more like a feast than my usual three-ingredient affairs.
I assembled a salad that had myriad textures, temperatures and flavours and incorporated the best of the spring vegetables and a scattering of pasta to soak up the juices.
I kept the dressing simple, so as not to smother the spring flavours.
We are spoilt for choice right now with vegetables. I settled on three: asparagus, broad beans and young courgettes, adding a few peas to bring a little sweetness. I kept the dressing simple, so as not to smother the spring flavours. The recipe was just as good the next day.
Lunches are different at weekends, relaxed and easy-going, with little worry about timing. The right salad — substantial, not light and leafy — will sit in good condition for an hour or two. You just have to pick the right ingredients.
Salted ricotta has come to the rescue twice in the last few days, once as a piquant addition to this broad bean salad, and then in a stripped-back salad of white-tipped radishes and watercress, a plate as cool as it looked. The hard, pressed, salted ricotta is not cheap, but a little goes a long way and, wrapped in the fridge, will keep for a few weeks. Grate it on the course side of a grater or shave it with a knife. It is good to come across tiny nuggets of salty, sharp cheese among the greens. It is not always easy to find. I have been known to use feta in its place.
I finally planted the tomatoes this week. Short, stocky plug plants of Sakura, Orange Wellington and Honey Delight. Varieties new to me and mostly orange rather than red. It feels rather late to be getting them into pots, but they are tiny plants in fine fettle and I look forward to seeing their progress.
Photo: The Observer
Orecchiette, spring vegetables and salted ricotta
Serves 6. Ready in 1.5 hours.
A substantial salad of warm pasta, whose little cups fill with the chopped herbs and sherry vinegar dressing. I have kept the dressing deliberately light here, with just enough punch to leave the flavours of the young vegetables crisp and clear. This is not a salad to embark on for a quick supper, but one worth taking your time over. Use fresh peas if you have them, but no-one will notice should you use frozen. I like to skin the broad beans, but at this point in the season they are often too small and sweet to need it.
You will need to be a little organised here, so get the spring vegetables — asparagus, peas and beans — cooked and their dressing made, before you fry the courgettes and boil the pasta. If you can’t find salted ricotta with its piquant, salty character, use feta cheese, broken into small pieces.
500g asparagus
400g broad beans, shelled weight
200g peas, podded weight
4 spring onions
2 courgettes, medium
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
250g orecchiette
8 radishes
15g parsley leaves
15g mint sprigs
10g coriander, leaves and stems
60g salted ricotta
For the dressing
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
Put a pan of water on to boil and salt lightly. Trim the asparagus, cutting the stalks into short lengths of about 4cm. When the water comes to the boil, add the asparagus and cook until just tender, about 7 minutes. (The exact time will depend on the thickness of the stalks.)
While the asparagus cooks, make the dressing: put the lemon juice and zest in a small bowl. Season with the sea salt and several grinds of black pepper, then pour in the sherry vinegar. Using a small whisk, mix in the olive oil. Set aside.
Lift out the asparagus with a spider or draining spoon and drop it into iced water. Tip the beans and peas into the boiling water and cook for 4-6 minutes or until just tender. Drain in a colander and refresh them under running water.
If you wish, skin the beans. Pick each one up and pop the bright green bean from its papery skin with your finger and thumb. (The skins are good on the compost.) Fill the empty pan with clean water, bring to the boil and salt generously. You need this for the pasta.
Trim and finely chop the spring onions. Slice the courgettes in half lengthways, then again into quarters, then cut into small dice. Peel and finely slice the garlic.
Warm the oil in a shallow pan, add the spring onion, courgettes and garlic and cook for 8-10 minutes until the courgette is soft and translucent and the spring onions dark green. Add the orecchiette to the boiling water.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the radishes. Drain the asparagus, peas and beans from their iced water and shake them dry. Put them in a large mixing bowl. Add the courgettes and spring onions.
Finely chop the parsley, mint and coriander and add to the mixing bowl.
Drain the pasta, then add to the vegetables. Pour in the dressing and toss gently to coat everything. Transfer to a large platter. Last, crumble over the salted ricotta, in tiny pieces.
Alternatives for your spring salad
• You could simplify the recipe by using just broad beans and asparagus, omitting the peas. The cooked courgettes and spring onions are an essential element, but you could add them raw instead.
• Try substituting dark green lentils for the pasta.
• If you make and dress the salad an hour or two before eating, it will come to no harm, and its flavours will mellow. Sprinkle on a little more sherry vinegar as you bring it to the table. — The Observer
