Leafy celery, Devon Blue, roasted squash and pickled walnut salad
This salad is all about building layers of flavour, says Joe Fox, chef at Townsend Restaurant in London. A walnut and blue cheese dressing provides a base which Joe builds upon with blanched celery, pickled and roasted squash, pickled walnuts and blue cheese. A salad that ticks all the boxes.
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 1 head of celery, small
- 100g of blue cheese, preferably Devon Blue, crumbled
- 2 walnuts, to grate over the salad
- 390g of pickled walnuts, quartered
Sherry dressing
Pickled squash
- 1/4 squash, finely sliced on a mandoline
- 100ml of water
- 100g of white wine vinegar
- 100g of sugar
Walnut dressing
- 150g of walnuts, toasted
- 100g of blue cheese, preferably Devon Blue
- 50g of olive oil
Roasted squash
- 1 crown prince squash, cut into 3cm dice
- olive oil
- sea salt
SAVE RECIPE
Method
1
Start by pickling the squash – this is best done the day before. Combine the water, sugar and white wine vinegar in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat immediately, then pour over the sliced squash and leave to pickle overnight in the fridge
2
Preheat an oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Toss the diced squash in a little olive oil and salt and roast for 12 minutes until tender
3
Meanwhile, break down the head of celery into individual sticks and reserve the inner leaves for garnish. Cut the stems into 3cm pieces and cook in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. When the celery pieces are cooked, refresh in ice water, then drain and reserve until ready to plate
4
To make the walnut dressing, crush the walnuts and cheese together in a pestle and mortar, then slowly add the olive oil to form a coarse paste. Alternatively you can do this in a blender
5
For the sherry vinegar dressing, combine the sherry vinegar and sugar and mix well, then add the oils. Season with salt and pepper and set aside
6
To plate, spread some of the walnut dressing on the bottom of the plate. Dress the roasted squash and celery with the sherry dressing. Assemble the pickled squash, roasted squash, crumbled blue cheese, pickled walnuts and celery in layers, finishing with the dressed celery leaves and a grating of raw walnut over the top
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