You may tend to think of salad as a dish for warmer weather, but La Petite Ferme executive chef Kyle Norris proves that salad can be just as welcome when it’s cold and grey outside with the La Petite Ferme Salad!
A deliciously aromatic mix of chickpea butter, pickled sultanas, crispy onion, warm roast pear, gorgonzola and garlic-infused ciabatta toast. It takes a little additional effort, but is well worth it – and spectacular to serve to your family for that special occasion meal at home!
Recipe: La Petite Ferme winter salad
Serves 4.
Ingredients & method
Chickpea butter
- 410g chickpeas
- olive oil
- Maldon salt
- 50ml honey
Drain the chickpeas and heat them in a pan (no oil or butter) until they just begin to turn golden brown in colour. Add to a blender and blend. Slowly add some olive oil to help blend into a peanut-butter like texture. Season to taste with salt and honey. Add to a piping bag or squirt bottle (optional step).
Pickled sultanas
- 200g sultanas
- 250ml verjuice
- 50ml lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 star anise
Add everything to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer slowly until the sultanas have plumped up. Remove from heat and use a sieve or slotted spoon to separate the sultanas and place in a bowl – keep the pickling liquid in a jam jar for your dressing.
Crispy onion
- 500g baby or pickling onions
- 100g cornstarch (Maizena)
- Oil, for deep-frying
Slice the pickling onions very thin on a mandolin or with a sharp knife. Coat in cornflour and shake off the excess. Deep fry at 160C until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.
Roast pear
- 400ml honey
- 300ml brandy
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 star anise
- 1 clove
- 1L apple juice
- 4 pears (peeled, de-cored & cut into wedges)
Add everything except the pears to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the pear wedges and poach until just starting to go soft, but not fully soft. Remove from the heat and remove the pears, reserving the poaching liquid. Place the pears on a tray and roast at 180C until golden. Place in a glass container and cover with the warm poaching liquid – keep warm.
Ciabatta toast
- Ciabatta loaf
- 1 clove garlic
- 10ml olive oil
Thinly slice the ciabatta and place on a oven tray. Heat the oven to 100C. Toast the ciabatta slices in the oven for ± 60 minutes. Cut clove in half and dip in olive oil, and rub the dried ciabatta slices. Once all of the slices are infused, place back in the oven for another 30 minutes. They’re now ready to serve.
Additional
- 100g gorgonzola, per person
- 50g micro leaves, per person
Assembly
Place micro leaf salad onto the plate. Top with warm pear wedges and crispy onions, then sprinkle with sultanas. Either pipe or spoon chickpea butter onto the salad and finish with crumbled gorgonzola on top. Either add slices of warm ciabatta toast on the side, or break into croutons. Use the reserved sultana pickling liquid as your dressing!