Recipe by UK's first Vegetable Butcher Amber Locke with Sainsbury's

A beautiful treat!

A beautiful treat!

Thinly sliced asparagus and cucumber are combined with a spicy orange gremolata which adds flavour and crunch to the vegetables.

As a gremolata is typically quite 'dry' (not runny like a typical dressing), it's great to use with juicy salad ingredients as combined with their liquid, the gremolata becomes more dressing-like and coats the salad ingredients when they're served.

Ingredients

For the salad:

  • 2 large cucumbers
  • 6-7 spears of asparagus

For the gremolata:

  • 1 orange
  • 2 red chillies (or to taste)
  • 150g whole almonds or walnuts
  • Small handful of parsley leaves

Method

  1. Wash the cucumber, asparagus, orange, chillies and herbs and dry well.
  2. To make the salad, finely slice the asparagus and cucumber with either a sharp knife, a vegetable peeler, a mandolin or julienne peeler (depending on the type of cut you want to achieve), and place in a bowl.
  3. To make the gremolata, deseed the chillies and roughly chop, then add the parsley leaves and almonds or walnuts to your chopping board, grating them over the orange zest.
  4. Chop the whole lot together (or alternatively do this in a food processor) until you have a fine-ish chunky texture.
  5. Sprinkle over the gremolata and mix into the cucumber and asparagus.
  6. Add a drizzle of olive oil, a little seasoning and a squeeze of orange juice if required.

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