Monday, October 02, 2006

Fifteen Christmas Salad

Okay friends I HAVE to share this recipe with you. It comes from my Jamie Oliver experience and I've made it twice now for guests and it's simply amazing and so easy to make.

Have a go and let me know what you think about it. Remember, it's super easy to make and it looks fantastic.

FIFTEEN CHRISTMAS SALAD - it's called the Christmas salad but don't limit it's appearance to December....it's to good!

INGREDIENTS:

4 x 100g/ 3.5oz balls of buffalo mozzarella
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
4 peaches, peeled and sliced into 1.5 inch thick discs
2 handfuls of rocket, washed and dried
1 treviso or radicchio, roughly torn, washed and dried
A small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
1 x lemon oil dressing recipe (see below to make)
4 slices speck (smoked prosciutto)
A small handful of freshly shaved parmesan cheese
Aged balsamic vinegar

for the lemon dressing

3.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
10 tablespoons best-quality extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD:

(okay I've slightly modified this because I couldn't get everything he suggested and I did it slightly more rustic you could say!)

Jamie suggests using individual salad plates - feel free to do this or make it as a large salad to pass around. If you make it as the ‘passing salad’ then make sure you have two dishes - a prep dish and a serving dish. This keeps everything looking nice.

Here we go.....

Tear the balls of mozzarella into rough chunks (about 4 chunks/ball)
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and grate over lemon zest (be generous with the lemon zest)

Add your fruit - don't be limited by peaches, they aren't in season here right now so I used strawberries the first time and kiwi fruit the second and both were equally as pleasing. Be creative.

Take your washed rocket and treviso or radicchio (if you have it) and mix. I didn't have treviso or radicchio (couldn't find it) so I used fresh English spinach and again it was perfect. Mix it up with the mozzarella and fruit. Add your mint leaves and speck as well (tear the speck don’t be friendly, you want it to look a little rough).

In a separate bowl make the dressing and mix well. Make sure you taste it to make sure it's nice - always do a taste test with dressing and keep playing until you get it right.

Now comes the fun part. Pour the dressing on and get your finger in and do a little dance. Use your fingers to gently get the dressing throughout the salad - you want it on the fruit, the speck , the mozzarella....you want it throughout but be careful not to 'bruise' your leaves. Be gentle.

Serve with shaved parmesan and a drizzle of aged balsamic (if you don't have aged balsamic just balsamic will do).

Serve immediately. Enjoy it's REALLY tasty.

Next time I make it I will take a photo and share it looks fantastic.


Susan

3 comments:

thefamilyroom said...

It's a very good salad. I've had it at Susan's...you should try it!!!

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Anonymous said...

the Fifteen xmas salad is a must try, but I would suggest leaving out fruits such as strawberries (much too strong a flavour for this salad). You want the subtleness of the mozzarella with the saltiness of the speck or parma, and just use oranges rather than the proper clementines (not in season during Aust xmas), bood oranges are ok too. Alos, if serving on a large platter, divide into sections on the platter using the speck as a roll. A large enough platter can hold 6 portions in their own space making it very easy to serve individually. Looks pleasing and feels a little like silver service!! Which we all like now and then.

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