Our friend Indira Naidoo has a range of terrific, fresh recipes that I've been trying out this summer along with the produce from my Glowpear Café Planters.
Grow mignonette and red oak lettuce, as well as marigolds in your Glowpear, and either cultivate or purchase your favorite type of garlic to mix with the rest of the ingredients for this yummy summer salad that serves 4 people:
Ingredients:
- 1 small clove of organic garlic from your Glowpear
- 4 handfuls of mignonette and red oak lettuce leaves from your Glowpear, trimmed and washed
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 slices of sourdough bread, crust removed
- Marigold petals from your Glowpear to garnish
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of red-wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons of freshly grated gruyere, plus extra to serve
Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celcius (that's 356 degrees Fahrenheit for our US friends). Pound the garlic using a mortar and pestle until it becomes a paste. Stir in the oil and brush this mixture over the bread slices. Cut the bread into cubes, then spread out on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes or until crunchy and golden.I used baking paper at this stage too. Remove from the oven and drain on a paper towel.
Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl until well mixed and then add the cheese and continue to stir in.
Toss the lettuce lightly in the dressing and arrange on a plate. Drizzle some of the dressing over the top, drop the croutons and extra cheese over the salad, and then scatter with your petals for a lovely finishing touch!
I had a lovely late harvest resiling with this salad, the perfect summer weekend evening meal!
For more tasty treats, check out Recipe 1, Recipe 2, Recipe 3, Recipe 4 and Recipe 5 in this series, and check out more of Indira's recipes in her book, The Edible Balcony
Images courtesy of Penguin Books, and recipe adapted from Indira Naidoo.
