Turkey cafe salad

No matter where you go throughout Europe, every country has its own version of a café salad; scattered seemingly at random on a big plate, using up all the ‘bits and pieces’ and freshening them up with leaves and crunchy vegetables. This one uses turkey, but you could just as easily base it on any leftover roast meat, ham, or charcuterie.

Jill Dupleix

All recipes by Jill Dupleix

Ingredients

Serves 4

200 g fine green beans, top and tailed.
400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.
300g cooked turkey meat, shredded.
6 dried figs, finely sliced.
250g green salad such as rocket or watercress, washed.
100 g feta cheese, crumbled.
2 tablespoon black olives, pitted.
2 tablespoon pistachios, shelled.

Dressing:

1 teaspoon horseradish sauce
dash of water or dry white wine

2 tablespoons extra virgin Olive oil
Olive oil

Usually the darker green the oil, the richer the flavour.
- Extra virgin olive oil is good for drizzling on salads and should never be heated as this destroys the fine properties
- Lighter olive oil is good for adding to bread, or to flavour a salad or marinade for chicken, meat, fish or vegetables. Lighter olive oil can be gently heated and added to marinades and baking.
1 tablespoon of red wine or Balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar

Perfect for salad dressings and italian dishes
- A teaspoon or two of balsamic vinegar can wake up the flavour in a bland soup, stew or sauce.
- A sprinkle of balsamic vinegar on fresh sliced strawberries or raspberries with a bit of sugar really brings out the flavour of the fruit.
- Heat sweetens balsamic vinegar and boils out acidity. If you want to mellow the flavour, heat it.
A pinch of Salt

Salt

Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.

Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.
Some freshly ground Black peppercorns
Black peppercorns

Best used as a condiment.
They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.
- Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
- Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
- Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
Mustard

Worth keeping a few different types.
- French mustard or Dijon is creamy and can be used in dressings, marinades or adding to sauces.
- English is good for roast beef, steak, gammon or sizzling sausages.
- Wholegrain is used in chutney’s and pickles

Instructions

Cook the potatoes and beans in salted, simmering water until tender, drain and return to the still-warm pan, off the heat.
To make the dressing, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and horseradish in a bowl, and add a dash of water or wine to thin it out.
Toss the leaves in half the dressing and scatter over four dinner plates. Toss the turkey, beans and potatoes in the remaining dressing and arrange on top.
Scatter with feta cheese, figs, olives and pistachios, tweak a few of the green leaves out from under everything, and serve.

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