Serves: 4 - Time:
This salad is loosely based on a recipe that I found in my mother’s recipe folder. It had been cut out of The Times so must either be from Katie Stewart or Shona Crawford Poole. I have updated it to include two ingredients crème fraiche and preserved lemons which would have been scarce, nay non-existent in 1970’s Britain. It looks like some good weather is on the way this week (or at least no rain) so if you have dusted off the barbecue I would serve this salad with grilled chicken or lamb.
Ingredients
- 25g blanched hazelnuts
- 400g fine beans, trimmed
- 1 large beef tomato (I like the Pink Oishi tomatoes from Marks and Spencer)
- 175g crème fraiche
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 preserved lemon
- Salt and ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
Method
- Heat the oven to fan 130°c, conventional oven 150°c. Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 6-8 minutes or until light golden brown. Leave to cool then roughly chop.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the beans for 3 ½ -4 minutes until just tender. Drain and refresh under cold water. Pat dry and set aside.
- Make a cross in the base of the tomato and place in a large bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave for one minute. Drain and refresh under cold water. Remove the skin, cut the tomato in half and remove the core. Finely slice and arrange on a serving dish. Place the beans on top and season with salt and ground black pepper.
- Mix the crème fraiche with the lemon juice and milk. Halve the preserved lemon and remove the pips. Finely chop the flesh and stir into the crème fraiche. Season well with salt and pepper. Spoon over the salad and scatter over the hazelnuts. Drizzle over a little olive oil.
