Cuisine – Saucy spring salad

There’s a bit of a trend in smart restaurants to make really interesting salads. Chefs everywhere seem to be building on a tasty sauce-like base and then layering or placing their choice of salad vegetables, leaves and herbs around or on top of this.

Recently, on a quick trip to Sydney, I was really excited by the punchy flavours of so much of the food in the restaurants we ate in. Greek, Turkish, Japanese and a south-east Asian grill restaurants all served up inspired food.

And my pick of our five dinners was the very modern Australian cooking in a café (Café Paci), far from the centre of the city. The food there was simple: top-class fresh ingredients with loads of flavour and originality. I was also impressed by the excellent service we encountered. Not so good were the daunting prices we encountered everywhere. Sydney has a vibrant dining scene, but our NZ dollar makes it rather intimidating for Kiwi visitors.

In one restaurant the chefs had piled a smoky fermented tomato mixture on the plate and topped it with tender pieces of baby calamari and fresh leaves. In another, we encountered tuna sitting on a bed of creamy yoghurt and horseradish with pickled onions. My favourite was a beetroot and pomelo salad with macadamia and burnt honey with a base of lemony hummus.

Back home, I was inspired to take that idea of combining beetroot and citrus, and on the very first day home created my own version. Spring has brought that once-a-year vegetable, fresh asparagus, into our stores, and I thought that would be ideal to add to my salad. Oranges are at their absolute peak right now and probably better and cheaper than pomelo (if you could find it.) And I love the crunch of nuts in a salad, as it is always great to consider textures, and macadamias have wonderfully sweet flavour, too.

Playing on the idea of a base for the salad, mix up hummus with a little Greek yoghurt to lighten it. The za’atar I sprinkled is one of the most useful spice mixes in my pantry and worth seeking out in the supermarket. It is a mixture of dried herbs such as thyme or oregano, sumac, sesame seeds and salt, found in Middle Eastern cooking. It is really good for sprinkling over grilled or fried fish before cooking, or adding to roast or steamed vegetables such as carrots and potatoes. It adds another layer of flavour to your food, but do use it sparingly.

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Spring salad

2 small beetroot
2 oranges
1 bunch fresh asparagus
6-8 leaves crunchy lettuce
3 tbsp plain hummus
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp za’atar
2 tbsp chopped roasted macadamias
For the dressing, mix together:
1 tsp runny honey
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of lemon juice
Baby mint leaves

Peel the beetroot and cut into small wedges, place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

Peel the oranges with a knife, removing all the white pith as you go. Cut the orange into neat segments.

Discard the hard woody ends of the asparagus and chop into 5cm lengths. Steam the asparagus (placed in a steamer over the top of the simmering beetroot will work well) for 2-3 minutes.

Mix the hummus and yogurt well with a touch of lemon juice to taste. Pile this into the middle of a flat plate and spread out with a big spoon. Sprinkle a spoonful of za’atar.

Tear the lettuce into neat pieces and place around the edges. Arrange the beetroot, orange and asparagus around the plate, scatter over the chopped macadamia nuts and tip the dressing made with honey, olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper over the salad.

Garnish with a few mint leaves.

Serves two as a main course or four with roast chicken.