SALMON, AVOCADO & PUMPKIN SEED SALAD

So here be a fantastic recipe I shamelessly lifted from Nigella Lawson, and I present it to you in the ethos on which the wonderful lady bases her recipe sharing.

That being a recipe only exists when it is being used. Therefore the sharing and recycling of recipes is both endorsed and encouraged so I feel in no two ways remorseful about sharing it with you here.

Nothing is new. Originality is a long deceased notion within the world of cooking, I believe. There are only a certain amount of ways to roast a chicken, for example, so until somebodY invents a new flame we’re going to have to stick to tried and tested methods of cooking.

I once read that for food writers to claim a recipe, they need to change 3 things from the ingredients and make a minimum of two alterations to the method. Great – but why bother? If a food writer presents you with a fantastic recipe, what is the harm in using it?People want so badly to proclaim their originality and how coming up with these recipes is a testament to their homemaking skills when 9 times out of 10, it’s just easier to plonk it on the table and call it what it is.

If you don’t come up with recipes for an actual hobby or a job, I urge you to just take solace in the recipes of the people who do.

They’ve done the work for you. My gastronomical parents, Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater, are forever bouncing recipes from one another in their books. In fact, I discovered Nigella’s Mushroom Burger by reading it in Nigel’s ‘Appetite’ book.

Recipes are not there for you to read, salute and put away to gather dust – the whole purpose of a recipe is to propel you into the Kitchen.

So as a case in this point, I want to give you an unrefined recipe that I use time and time again – never seeking to make it anything other than what it is.

This recipe here can be found in Nigella Lawson’s fantastic book ‘Simply Nigella’ (2015) – my copy is sadly battered, bruised and bound by cello tape – and after making this for several people who have all enjoyed it, I thoroughly recommend you add it to your Kitchen repertoire.

Arrange some designer leaves (I love a mix of watercress and rocket, because I love that peppery bite) on a plate. Fill a saucepan with water and put in some salmon fillets skin side up. Squeeze the juice of a lime into the water along with a small handful of peppercorns and some spring onions and bring the water to a boil.

Once the water starts bubbling, take the pan off the heat and flip the salmon on to its back in the water and leave to lie in the cooling water for 7-8 minutes.

Once this is done, take the fish out of the water into a separate bowl and prod at it with a fork, flaking into bite size chunks. Sprinkle a little apple cider vinegar over the salad leaves before cutting an avocado in half and using a tea spoon, rip out small bite size chunks of the green flesh.

In a dry pan, toast a handful of pumpkins seeds until they start to pop and jump about a little in the pan before dumping them on top of the avocado spiked leaves. Finally, throw over the flaked up salmon before covering in a generous sprinkle of sea salt.