It was a glorious Spring day. After weeks of false starts, it was a divine 26 degrees and couldn’t have been more perfect for my backyard picnic.
Gorgeous friends, yummy food, laughter and love.
That’s what I’m talking about.
There will be more recipes from this day to come over the following weeks….until then, you’ll have to satisfy your hunger with this perfect Spring salad.
Yield – enough for 4 as main or 7 as part of a meal
You will need –
- 1 smoked trout
- 2 cups pasta, penne or farfalle ideal
- 1/2 spanish onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup peas – frozen is fine
- 1 cup broad beans – frozen is fine
- 1 bunch asparagus, woody stalks removed and chopped into 1.5cm chunks
- 3 big handfuls of rocket
- 150g ricotta
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 preserved lemon, flesh removed, finely chopped – if you have it
- a big slug of good salad olive oil
- lemon pepper if you have it or just salt and pepper will do
Cook your pasta in salted water. Drain and cool.
Pick your trout into a large bowl, taking care to remove all little bones. Throw in your rocket and chopped onions.
Toss your broad beans into a pot of boiling water, when tender – 3 or 4 minutes – drain and leave to cool. Remove the tough outer skin when they are cool enough to handle. Quickly blanch your asparagus, peas ensuring to leave them with a little bite. Drain and cool.
Toss your green vegetables onto your salad, add your pasta, preserved lemon, lemon juice and oil and ricotta.
Season generously and toss.
8 Comments
Looks like fun darlin’! Yummy food too… x
Hi you!! There’s plenty more where that came from now the weather’s warming….perhaps you’ll grace a blanket on my lawn soon?
Beautiful photos of a happy day, I hope you had a chance to enjoy it as well & didn’t spend too much time in the kitchen
I swear I spent no time in the kitchen. I was lying around on them there blankies!!! All in the prep…. Gotta love a picnic!
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I’m jealous of your balmy 26°C. It’s cold where I am today. Love these photos. How are you all so damn photogenic?
I adore trout and grew up with it. It was (not sure if it still is) illegal to sell it, but people we knew back then liked to fish it so we got all the unwanted trout. Awesome.
You have me craving warm weather and hands on eating.
I dumped all of my funny-looking friends when I started blogging.
You should try it. It’s liberating.
Excellent idea. But what about my funny looking mug? I guess it pays to stay behind the camera?
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