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Watercress Recipe #1

Spinach & Watercress Goats' Cheese Salad

I invented this recipe one lunchtime when we were all craving salad - in the depths of winter. Our local farm shop had some fresh watercress and mixed winter leaves and the rest is, as they say, history.

The warm goats' cheese makes this salad a filling winter or springtime treat.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Salad
1 bunch watercress (about 150g)
150g mixed winter leaves (e.g. winter spinach, young kale, baby chard, beetroot leaves)
1 small goats' cheese per person (about 75g)

Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
10 black peppercorns, crushed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch of salt

Method

Pre-heat the grill on a medium setting. Line the grill pan with tin foil, lightly greased with a little olive oil.

Wash the salad thoroughly and trim off any browning stalks. Tear the leaves into fork-sized pieces.
Dry by patting with a tea towel (clean, please!) or in a salad spinner. If the salad isn't dry, the dressing won't stick.
Mix the dressing ingredients in a glass jar with a screw top lid. Shake well until it looks like salad dressing!
Mix the salad dressing with the salad and arrange individual portions on plates.
Put the cheeses on greased foil and grill the cheeses under the pre-heated grill (medium) for 3 minutes (one side only). You want them to warm through, but not melt.
Arrange a cheese on top of each pile of salad and serve immediately.

Time From Cupboard-To-Table

10-15 minutes .

Notes & Variations on Watercress & Spinach Salad

As a variation, this is delicious with chopped walnuts sprinkled on top!

If you don't have spinach in stock, you could substitute young, shredded kale, beetroot leaves or chard leaves.

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Ratings & Reviews

Rating	Comments
9/10	Simply delicious. Handle the cheese carefully, to keep it in one piece. May take more than 3 minutes, depending how thick the cheese is.

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