Winter Vegetable Salads

Winter can be a bad time of year for fresh salads. As most salad produce is poor quality, imported versions, you have to be more experimental with vegetables in salads. Here are 3 of my favourites.

1 - Celeriac Remoulade (This is an adaptation of a James Martin recipe)

1/2 a celeriac
1 red onion
1 lemon - zested and juiced
Cider vinegar
Decent mayonnaise
Worcester sauce
Crushed white pepper

Start by skinning the celeriac, this is done best with a sharp knife, running in an arcing motion down the body. Then grate on a thick blade. As soon as it is grated, cover in 1/2 the lemon juice to stop it browning. Next, slice the onion very fine (ideally with a mandolin) and add to the celeriac.

Mix the dressing with the rest of the lemon juice, lemon zest, a couple of table spoons of vinegar, a good few dashes of Worcester sauce and a generous hit of salt and white pepper. Whisk this up and drizzle over a decent extra virgin olive oil until it starts to amalgamate. Check the dressing, it should be almost harsh with acidity and salt, and mix well into the salad.

Finally add the mayonnaise, you can make your own, but with the strength of flavours going on it 's harder to pick up. Also this narrows the time you can store it. Personally, I use Hellmann's, it's as good a shop bought mayonnaise as you'll need. Add it a couple of spoons at a time until it has coated the salad, you don't want it clogged. This can be served straight away, but I always find it better a couple of hours later to let the flavours infuse. Great with Serrano ham, toasted goats cheese or smoked mackerel.

2 - Mixed bean salad (I tried this at The Everyman Bistro in Liverpool and have tried to recreate it)

3 types of mixed beans, smaller ones are better, flagelot, chick pea, borlotti etc.
Bunch of basil
1 onion
2 celery stalks
1 red pepper
Red wine vinegar
1 lemon
2 table spoons of chopped parsley
3 cloves of garlic
2 chillies (deseed if you don't want it too hot)

It is better to use dried beans as they are much more economical; leave them in soak the night before and boil according to the packet. You can used tinned , just check for consistency, they may need boiling a little more, you want them soft with a tiny bit of bite.

Dice the onions, pepper and celery, add to the beans. Finely chop the garlic and chilli and mix with a good glug of red wine vinegar, juice of a lemon, loads of salt and pepper and enough extra virgin olive oil to amalgamate. Mix this with the beans and add roughly chopped basil and the parsley.

This should be made the day before for the flavours to blend into the beans.

We serve this in the deli with spicy fish cakes or in a wrap with hummus.

3 - Beetroot, carrot & cumin (This can also be mixed with a bit of feta to make a main course)

Bunch of raw beetroot
4 carrots
Spring onions
3 table spoons of cumin seeds (toasted & crushed)
1 orange
Red wine vinegar
Garlic
Sesame seeds

Peel the beetroot (same as a celeriac) and the carrots and grate them on a thick setting. Chop the spring onions and add (green bits and all.) Next make the dressing, put the cumin in a bowl with some chopped garlic. Add the juice of the orange, plenty of seasoning and a good glug of red wine vinegar. Drizzle olive oil over until it combines to a loose dressing. Mix with the beetroot and serve.