It may seem that all we eat in this house, is salad. Well, in spring and summer, that is pretty much the case! The vegetables and fruit are so beautiful and abundant that we can’t do it any differently. And because of the freshness it would be a shame to dress them up. We leave “creative cooking” for the colder months and eat fresh and simple in spring and summer.

Here is another salad, straightforward and unadorned.

Fava and peitit pois salad.

Decide whether you’d like to serve this on the side or as a starter or even as a light meal and measure your quantities according to that.

Fresh fava beans, blanched in boiling water and shelled. OR use frozen fava beans, treated the same way. I find the frozen beans in excellent condition and much easier when pressed for time. The same goes for the peas. Go fresh and hull them if you have lazy weekend days on hand, otherwise go frozen. I’m not such a purist that I would bend backwards just for the sake of announcing: “I’ve hulled my own, garden picked peas!” Some frozen products are really great substitutes and I have no qualm in using them…petit pois, fava and spinach, comes to mind.

• Fresh/frozen fava beans blanched and shelled.
• Fresh/frozen petit pois, blanched
• A spring onion, finely chopped
• A handful of dry roasted sunflower seeds
• a spoonful or two of caraway seeds (or cumin seeds)
• A vinaigrette made of olive oil, feshly squeezed lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar(optional), salt and pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients toghether gently and serve at room temperature, decorated with some herbs of your choice.
2. Serve as a starter with a cold dry white wine of your choice or a cold rose, seeing that we’re in spring/summer. Maybe something like your trusted Sauvignon Blanc, from our region here in the France Loire valley or why not a crisp Tariquet Ugni Blanc/Colombard from the south west of France.

…five, six, seven, eight….

This is an entry for WHB at Kalyn’s kitchen, this week hosted by Sweetnicks.