A GREAT WINTER SALAD.

Punchy flavours, bittersweet crunch and salty pops in every bite.

This headline originally read “Just A Nice Winter Salad”, because I don’t believe you should over-sell a recipe to anyone. It should just be there, waiting for the right people to come up to it and find it. Hype anything too much, and you will attract the sort of people who won’t like it, which is hardly the point.

But then I thought, “claim your space, girl, this IS a great winter salad.”

Every mouthful is creamy, crisp, juicy, soft, bitter, briny, salty, sweet and fruity.

But first, let’s look at the sort of things that turn a salad into something you’d kill to eat when its cold outside.

• Red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, balsamic and vino cotto

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Feta and creamy blue cheeses

• Strong, bittersweet leaves such as radicchio and endive, or witlof.

• Potato, butternut, roasted root vegetables, all good.

• Shallots and red onion, for the bitiness.

• Olives – any kind, green, black, big, small, crushed.

• Eggs – hard-boiled, soft-boiled, poached, fried.

• Capers, for those salty pops

• Strong herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, tarragon

• Citrus fruits – lemon, orange, blood orange, mandarin and grapefruit.

• Apples, pears and nashi pears

• Carrots, green beans, snow peas and sugar snaps

• Strong additives such as Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, tahini

• Sweet additives such as maple syrup, and honey.

• Walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, for toasty richness.

• Dates and dried figs and prunes – they feel so wintry.

• White beans, chick peas, lentils.

• Further contenders: Bacon, pancetta, salumi, left-over meats, etc.

Note the absence of tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, mangoes, etc. We’re talking winter here in Australia. (Apologies to those currently sweating it out in the northern hemisphere – just park this for six months and come back to it).

Note also that winter salads are strong and feisty and vibrant and peppery. Don’t hold back. And don’t chop everything up and toss it together. You need to arrange, and coat and compose a winter salad. Tear the leaves in your hands into bite-sized pieces. Try to keep the cup shape of the leaves, to give your salad some height, and to gather in the vinaigrette.

Group half a dozen olives together instead of scattering them. Keep the feta cheese in ridiculously big chunks.  Fan out two halves of avocado, instead of breaking them up. Keep the natural shapes of things like potatoes, and eggs. Don’t chop the parsley, just tear it up in your hands.

Note also that if you don’t love the bitterness of radicchio (technically a late autumn guest, but it’s still hanging around halfway through winter), go half-half with your favourite salad green instead. And make sure you add sea salt to the vinaigrette, which tempers the bitterness a little.

The other way of addressing The Winter Salad Project is simply to go through your fridge and kitchen shelves, taking out anything that says ‘winter salad’ to you, and putting them on the bench. There you go - they form the vehicle that will drive home your salad and park it on your table.  YES to those pickled guindilla chillies. DOUBLE YES to that jar of preserved lemons you were given and haven’t quite gotten around to yet. Avocado, yep. Last night’s roast porchetta, you bet.

That’s how this particular winter salad came about. Yours will be different.

But it will still be great.

A GREAT WINTER SALAD

Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as a sturdy side to something else.

• 1 large full head of radicchio, or 2 medium

• 4 small chat potatoes, cooked and halved

• 100 g feta, in big chunks

• 2 tbsp mixed olives

• red grapes, cut into small bunches (or mandarin, grapefruit or apple segments)

• Handful of parsley sprigs, de-stalked

• a few sprigs of thyme

• 1 or 2 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced or halved

• 2 tbsp toasted walnuts

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey

• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Sea salt, cracked black pepper

Cut the radicchio in half from top to bottom and cut out any tough core. Discard one or two of the outer leaves, and unfurl remaining leaves, tearing large ones into bite-sized pieces.

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Add water by the spoonful, whisking, until you have a thick but runny dressing. Taste and adjust. Now tip about a third of it into a small bowl and set aside for serving.

Toss the radicchio in the remaining dressing and arrange on a serving plate or plates.

Gently turn the halved potatoes, feta cheese, olives and grapes and parsley leaves in the remaining dressing in the bowl until coated, and arrange on the radicchio.

Add the eggs, and scatter the thyme over the feta, because they go so well together.

Drizzle with the set-aside vinaigrette, and scatter with walnuts.

---

Take 2: I found left-over roast porchetta and butternut in the fridge, gently warmed them through to take the chill off, and did a second winter salad, shown here - the sort that definitely requires a glass of wine. Crisp apple would have been nice, too, had I thought of it.

ANOTHER GOOD TRICK FOR WINTER SALADS: MARINATE YOUR FETA.

Add a smashed garlic clove, a few sprigs of thyme and some peppercorns to 100 ml olive oil - maybe some oregano and chilli as well. Pour the spiced oil over a block of feta. Leave to sit for an hour or so, turning once or twice.

Use the marinated feta in the salad, then strain the bibs and bobs out of the olive oil and use the oil in your dressing. Genius! (Or more modestly, a reasonably good idea).

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for not eating all the porchetta the first time; the left-overs were so lovely in the salad.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.