River Cottage head chef and all-round fine chap, Gill Meller, very kindly let me include his lemon-heavy courgette and sugar snap recipe in my River Cottage Veg Patch Handbook, and I have taken the spirit of it into this gorgeous salad. Here, the softness of the orange balances the sharp tang of the lemon without taking away its oomph.
Ingredients
- 250 g leftover roast or poached chicken (as you prefer), shredded
- 6 baby courgettes, sliced into 3 mm rounds
- 10 radishes, finely sliced
- 130 g young, tender sugar snap peas
- ½ unwaxed lemon (cut vertically, not across)
- ½ orange (cut vertically, not across)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Dressing
- ½ quantity mustard and honey dressing
- A little lemon juice and 2–3 tbsp olive oil
To Finish
- A small bunch of mint, tough stems removed, finely chopped
- 2 tsp perilla flowers (optional)
How to Make It
- Put the shredded chicken into a salad bowl and add the courgette and radish slices with the sugar snaps.
- Peel the lemon and orange halves, removing all the pith, then cut each segment free from its membrane, dropping the segments into the salad bowl. Don’t worry if some of the segments break in half. Add the lemon and orange segments to the bowl, with any juice.
- You can dress this salad however you like it is very good with just a little squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of olive oil but I think it’s perhaps best with the honey mustard dressing.
- Gently toss the salad in the bowl, then let it stand for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to mingle. Just before serving, toss lightly again, season with salt and pepper and scatter over the chopped mint and perilla flowers, if using.
