Baby Broad Bean Salad

This great little salad has summer written all over it.  What a refreshing bite on a February afternoon!

The recipe called for broad beans but since those are no where to be found in Michigan in the winter I used sugar snap peas instead.  Diagonally chop a large handful into small pieces and throw them in a smallish bowl.  Slice one red apple (again I used Pink Lady) into matchsticks and toss those in the bowl as well.  Finely slice some fresh mint and toss will the veg and apple.  Season with salt and pepper and squeeze the juice of one lemon into the bowl.  Add a few glugs of extra virgin olive oil and give it a good toss around with your hands.  The recipe also calls for Lancashire cheese, but I could not find this anywhere.  Instead I cut nuggets of Havarti cheese and added it to the bowl.  That's it!  I loved this salad and will definitely be making this one again.

I decided to make a list of things to try when Matt and I finally make it over the big pond... broad beans and Lancashire cheese are 1 & 2 on that list.

Pub Grub is the next section... Baby Yorkshire Puds with Creamy Smoked Trout is next and My Prawn Cocktail is on deck!

Apple & Watercress Salad

This was so easy to make!!  My mom and I surprisingly were able to get the apples pretty thin without using a mandolin or the food processor.  I used one Pink Lady Apple and one Jonagold.  For some reason the Jonagold didn't have a whole lot of flavor but i think the dressing made up for that!

For the dressing you throw one trimmed roughly chopped green onion, 1/3 container blue cheese crumbles, natural yoghurt (I had some sour cream kicking around in the fridge so I just used that), cider vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper into a food processor and waz that up until it's smooth.  

 Add some crushed walnuts and washed watercress to the salad bowl and you're all set.  I put a squeeze of lemon into the bowl as well just to keep the apples from turning brown.

I had never tried watercress before and I was surprised by the lack of flavor.  I thought for sure it would have more flavor than it did but now I can see how it would be a good add-in nutritionally without really changing the taste of the salad you're making.  The apples and the dressing were definitely the stars of the show!