Making a Mixed Salad

I think a mixed salad is much more interesting if some of the ingredients are raw and some are lightly blanched vegetables such as mange tout, thin french beans or asparagus tips. Peeled and parboiled root vegetables can also enhance mixed salads; slices of parsnip, turnip, celeriac and swede, steamed or boiled until just beginning to soften but still with a bite, are delicious. Strips of grilled peppers, with their mellow, smoky taste, are wonderful. Bulb fennel, sliced across, are excellent if grilled briefly before adding to salads. You can also pour boiling water on to fresh broad beans and then pop the beans out of their skins into the salad. A little finely shredded red cabbage adds crunch and colour to a green salad.