Curly Endive Salad with Romesco Sauce

This salad is called Xato (pronounced chato) in Catalonia.  It is tradionally made with tuna, anchovies and raw salt cod, I have left out the salt cod for this recipe as it is not to everyone's taste.  Escarolas (curly endives) are now in season and you will see that a lot of villages in Catalonia having this traditional salad with competions for making the romesco sauce.

To make authentic Romesco sauce you really need Ñora or Choricero dried peppers, you can buy them from Spanish suppliers online.  If you make it without it will not be the same and in my mind it is worth to source them, they come dried on a string and can be hung up in the kitchen.  If you have a garden or greenhouse you could grow them.

Ñoras

Choricero

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 escarola (curly endive)
Small tin of anchovies in oil
Tin of tuna in oil
50g black olives in oil

For the Romesco sauce

2 tomatoes, cut in half
15 Almonds
15 Hazelnuts
slice of rustic bread
7 garlic cloves
75 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 Ñora or Choricero
Splash of red wine vinegar
salt

How to go about it

First put the dried peppers in a small bowl and cover with boiling water and leave for a few hours to soak. Wash the escarola, use only the really light green leaves, save the outer, darker green leaves and use in a soup if you wish.  Put the drained escarola in the fridge to crisp up.

The romesco can be made in the oven or in a frying pan.  Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and gentle fry the whole unpeeled garlic cloves, keeping one back to add raw.  If you prefer a milder flavour of garlic then cook all the cloves.  In the same pan fry a piece of bread and tomatoes.  Dry fry the nuts. Or you can roast the ingredients in the oven 160c for 20 minutes, roast the nuts for only 10 minutes and keep an eye on them as they burn easily.  You can make this in a pestle and mortar or use a hand liquidizer.  Scrap of the flesh from the peppers, skin and seed the tomatoes and mix with all the other ingredients add the vinegar at the end, just a teaspoon to lift the flavour a bit. Loosen the sauce with a splash of boiling water and toss the escarola in a bowl with the romesco,  you might not need all of the sauce, you can save it for another day.   Arrange on plates and top with anchovies, tuna and olives.

Persimmon, Pomegranate and Anchovy salad

Persimmon also known as sharon fruit comes into season in November along with lemons and pomegranate. Although I have a persimmon tree in the garden,  it is the type you eat overipe.  We eat them like you would a soft boiled egg, opening the top and scooping out the sweet, sloppy, orange flesh with a teaspoon.  There are two main types called Hachiya and Fuya, the former is the one I have.  I bought this Fuya to give it a try, sweet but with a firm flesh, both types benefit from the addition of lemon or lime juice to bring out the taste.

The saltiness of the anchovies compliment the sweet fruit.  The best come from Cantabria in Spain or Colliure in French Catalonia.  If you can get them, buy them, you won't regret it

Serves 2

Ingredients

Mixed salad leaves ( I used ground cress, dandelion and escarole)
1 persimmon
1/2 pomegranate
1 lemon
10 anchovies
olive oil
pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
pinch of salt

How to go about it

Wash and drain salad leaves.  Make the dressing by mixing 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the juice of a lemon, add salt, sugar, cumin and coriander.  Add a dribble of oil from anchovies.  Slice persimmon  and cut each slice in half.  Open up pomegranate and extract some of the seeds.  Arrange salad leaves on plates, top with persimmon, anchovies and pomegranate.  Dribble over dressing.

Pear, Walnut, Escarole and Roquefort Salad

The French classic combination of pear and walnuts with blue cheese is well loved.  The addition of escarole adds a slightly bitter contrast that marries perfectly with the blue cheese and sweet pears. Chicory can be substituted for the escarole. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 escarola
2 ripe pears
120g roquefort
50g walnuts
balsamic
olive oil
black pepper and salt
chopped chives
1 small onion
balsamic

How to go about it

Wash and drain escarole (use only centre), dry with a tea towel if necessary.  Wash and slice pears, throw away the core.  Finely slice onion and chop chives.  Arrange escarole on plates and put onions, pears and walnuts on top.  Crumb Roquefort over salad.  Drizzle over oil and balsamic, sprinkle on chives, salt and a good grinding of black pepper.

Moscatel Grapes, Figs and Smoked Herring Salad

This salad is based on a breakfast, 'Casse-Croûte' I had in the vineyards, when picking grapes with a neighbour.  We just brought bread along and the smoked fish and picked the grapes straight from the vines.  The sweetness of the grapes and the saltiness of the fish go really well together.  The figs add extra sweetness and also a bit of colour. 

Ingredients
moscatel grapes
figs
salad- mustard leaves, rocket, and cos
smoked herring or mackerel
olive oil
cider vinegar

Green almond salad

I think after the winter everyone is longing for a bit of sun and fresh food.  Long gone are the heavy dishes of winter.

Whole green almonds, before their hard shells are formed, sometime between the third week of April to the second week of May are just right for this citrus salad.  You have to time it right or you can be too early or too late.  It is crunchy, the interior is still soft and has a slightly sharp taste.  Perfect for this salad

I made it with rocket but that is what I had in the garden but it could go with other types of lettuces


rocket
fresh peas
1 orange
1 lemon
4 whole green almonds


wash rocket, shell peas, remove peel and pith from orange and lemon and thinly slice them along with the almonds and arrange all on a plate

make a dressing with the juice of a lemon, teaspoon of honey, sprig of mint, chopped and olive oil

drizzle over the salad and season with fleur de sel