PICKLED VEGETABLE PATCH SALAD

Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder have a restaurant at Lime Wood hotel called Hartnett Holder & Co. They grow everything on site and even make their own charcuterie. One of the dishes they do is a BRILLIANT sharing platter that looks just like a vegetable patch, and this is my version of that dish, complete with a cheat’s olive soil. The pickled veg are just awesome on their own but this whole salad platter makes a really cool starter or part of a buffet (which, by the way, I’m all about bringing back…)

SERVES 4
PREPARATION TIME
35 minutes, plus marinating
COOKING TIME
5 minutes

100g pitted black olives
100g toasted mixed seeds, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds are best)
½ teaspoon salt
300g goat’s curd
2 tablespoons rapeseed or really good extra virgin olive oil

For the vegetables
500ml white wine or cider vinegar
200g golden caster sugar
60g fine salt
1 thyme sprig
1 small dried chilli or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
60g cauliflower, cut into florets
60g romanesco cauliflower, cut into florets
60g purple cauliflower, cut into florets
a small bunch of baby carrots, trimmed and tidied
2 baby fennel bulbs, cut in half lengthways
12 radishes with leaves

Melt the vinegar, sugar, salt, thyme and chilli in a saucepan, and then pour over the vegetables in a large non-reactive bowl. Cover with cling film and leave until cool – this will take about 2 hours.

To make the olive soil, place the olives in a food processor and blitz. The blitzed olives will be quite wet so lay them on some kitchen paper and squeeze out the excess liquid. Transfer to a bowl.

Next, blend half the seeds with the salt in a food processor until they’re dust. Transfer to a bowl, add the remaining seeds and mix well.

To serve, mash up and spread the goat’s curd in a line on the base of a large platter, then spread a line of the the olive soil and finally a line of seeds. Arrange the vegetables in rows on top to make it slightly resemble a vegetable garden. Drizzle with the oil, bring to the table and scoff straightaway, either by scooping up and plating or just dipping into the elements.

Gizzi’s Healthy Appetite is available here.