Green salad with pickled onions

Tam West

A great salad requires a delicate balance of flavours and textures. In this salad raw crunchy leaves mix it up with soft-leaved lettuce varieties alongside lightly cooked asparagus and beans. The acid bite of the onions and a velvet cream dressing add contrast.

For green salad success, take care to remove the stems and core from all salad leaves, gently wash and spin in a salad spinner or allow to dry on a clean tea towel.

Green salad

4	Baby onions, red or white (Main)
¼ cup	Red wine vinegar
¼ cup	Water
1 tsp	Sugar
200 g	Asparagus
200 g	Green beans
⅓	Telegraph cucumbers
4 cups	Salad leaves (Main)

French cream dressing

1 Tbsp	Cream
2 ½ Tbsp	Olive oil
2 Tbsp	White wine vinegar

Directions

1. Peel and slice red onions then separate into rings. Boil vinegar, water and sugar, add onions then remove from heat. Stir from time to time as the onions begin to soften and cool.
2. Snap the base off the asparagus spears. Trim the top from the beans leaving the pointed "tail". In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook beans for one minute then add the asparagus and cook for a further one minute. Refresh in iced water then drain well.
3. Slice asparagus spears in half, then split lengthwise if thick.
4. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds and thinly slice.
5. In a small bowl whisk together cream, olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper.
6. On a large platter arrange the mixed salad leaves, beans, asparagus and cucumber then sprinkle over pickled red onions. Pour over french cream dressing.

More Spring salads from Geoff

• Green apple, fennel and witloof salad
• Potato and roast shallot salad