A very green grain salad
more boiled lemon! more peas!
It seems many of us share a love for lemons and a passion for peas. Receiving messages and photos of peas with boiled lemon and parmesan in your kitchens has been a joy.
So for today’s recipe, I thought I would put those same ingredients to work in another context: a grain salad.
To my mind, a good grain salad goes something like this:
~ The ratio of grains to “everything else” (veg, herbs, nuts, briny/pickly bits, cheese etc) is strongly in favour of the latter. Too many grains makes for a weighty, dull salad that is, in fact, not a salad at all, rather just a mound of seasoned heft. I push for one part grains to two parts “everything else”.
~ You need more dressing than you think. Grains are thirsty. In particular, they are thirsty for acid, which brings me on to my next strong opinion on the matter…
~ The dressing should be highly acidic. Grains are, by nature, earthy and nutty in flavour, and therefore require a considerable amount of acid for lift. This is where our beloved lemon comes in, both in boiled and fresh form, as well as a splash of vinegar.
~ The salad should hold up well in the fridge, if anything improving over time. Grain salads are a perfect working lunch, so I like to make a big batch to see me (and any other hungry mouths I’m feeding) through a few days. During this time, the herbs and peas inevitably loose a little colour (due to all that acidity), but what the salad looses superficially it more than makes up for in the development of flavour.
~ In a similar vein, the salad should hold up to transportation, if necessary. Whether you’re taking it to the park, to a BBQ, or on the crowded, airless Northern line for an al desko lunch, the salad should maintain its integrity without threatening some sort of leaked dressing incident.
With these general grain salad principles established, now onto the specifics of this late Spring iteration. It is an especially *green* grain salad with mounds of peas, broad beans, olives, and herbs. There are no roasted or fried elements, only boiled, brined or raw, meaning the flavours are as bright and true to themselves as possible. You could use fresh beans and peas if you see them at the shops over the coming weeks and simply cannot resist, but I nearly always opt for frozen, in no small part due to the sheer quantity in which I eat them. Less faff! Reliable! Always on standby! My trusted favourite!