A summer salad with baby spinach, runner beans tossed with panfried chorizo,feta and toasted pinenuts

We are getting into that in-between time at the moment and this week brings the first of the autumn’s butternuts and the Healy’s lovely Setanta potatoes but before we give way completely to the autumn there are still plenty of summer varieties coming in including Marc Michel’s wonderful tomatoes (yay!).

Amazing runner beans (they are at their absolute height at the moment) in from Denis Healy’s farm this week were the starting point for this week’s recipe. Chorizo is the perfect partner for most beans so that was a bit of a given (I’m powerless to resist!!). Our new supplier, Deirdre O’Sullivan  brought us the most gorgeous spinach (more teen than baby but very, very tender) so I used that as the base. I love Feta with chorizo so added some of that and a sprinkling of toasted pine nuts added a nice bit of extra texture…

With chorizo you need quite a sharp dressing so I like to use sherry or red wine vinegar to cut through the fattiness of the pork. A drizzle of your best olive oil is all you need besides that. Serve this straight-up for lunch with some crusty bread or alongside a Spanish potato omelette or, some grilled fish or chicken.

A  salad with baby spinach and runner beans tossed with pan-fried chorizo,feta and toasted pine nuts

You’ll need:

250gr runner beans

150gr chorizo sliced thinly into rounds

150gr young spinach leaves (or any other salad leaves you prefer), washed and dried.

100gr feta cheese

2 tablespoons pine nuts

3 scallions chopped

The dressing:

Olive oil

Sherry vinegar

Black pepper

Top and tail your beans and cut in half. Parboil until just tender then refresh in lots of cold water. Prepare your dressing by mixing 2 tablespoons oil with a tablespoon vinegar (I use less oil than normal because there’s all the oil from the chorizo that goes in too). Set aside the beans and dressing.

Heat a tiny drizzle of oil in a pan. Throw in the chorizo and fry over a medium heat until soft and beginning to crisp. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Heat another pan and toast the pine nuts til golden. To put the salad together, toss the leaves, beans and scallions together. Crumble in the feta  and add the chorizo along with about half the oil left in the pan. Dress and lightly toss. Taste and check for sharpness – I often add some more vinegar at the end. A grind of black pepper and you’re ready to serve.

Not sure what to do with this week’s butternut? Well, you could bulk out the salad above by cutting it into cubes, steaming or roasting it then throwing it in. I’d double the amount of dressing to balance things. It also makes brilliant soup – try it with Thai flavours (superfast and very easy) Parmesan and thyme (beyond moreish!) or roasted then topped with crispy chorizo and creme fraiche. (nuff said)

Have a great week,

Sarah