Simply Summer Picnic Salad

Originally from South Africa, Nadia Render moved to England in 2002 to be near her mum. She now lives in Sheringham in North Norfolk with her partner Tommy and cocker spaniel, Henry. She enjoys spending as much time as possible outdoors on the beach and at her beach hut in Overstrand. A strict vegetarian of 16 years, Nadia would very much like to make a full time career of cooking and food writing. Says Nadia: “I hope to continue to grow my food business by sharing my love and passion for great vegetarian food!” You can find Nadia on Twitter and Facebook.

Simply Summer Picnic Salad It’s here! Summer has arrived. So we went picnicking yesterday and I thought this was a delicious and simple dish to take along. And it’s totally vegan.

Ingredients 1 bunch of fresh local asparagus (remove woody stalks and blanch for 1 minute in boiling water, then put straight into cold water to cool) 1 tin of borlotti beans, drained and rinsed ½ cucumber cut into bite-sized chunks 1 whole head of fennel, thinly sliced 1 whole avocado, cubed ½ iceberg lettuce, roughly shredded For the dressing 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp malt vinegar ½ tsp dried chilli flakes ½ bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped Cracked black pepper Sea salt Instructions 1. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a mixing bowl. 2. Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar. 3. Pour the dressing over the salad and enjoy!