Salad Days

I'm cross and it's affecting what I eat. Stupidly, today I got caught up in an online 'discussion' about health and nutrition because I'd seen this advert which seems to suggest that we're all going to die of eating cake. They're not allowed to advertise the converse which is that if we all eat healthily we'll live forever because it's not true but apparently any sort of scare tactics are permitted if a Government report will support it.

Normally I'm on the side of the angels when it comes to good nutrition but I found the suggestion that a healthy young girl eating cake was at risk of permanent harm because of it a little hard to swallow and was foolish enough to mention it, so up pops a GI Troll to tell me that I'm a Diet Holocaust Denier and should be chastised forthwith. But all the diet book sales in the world didn't stop Atkins' huge 18 stone bulk overbalancing him so that he dashed his brains out on the pavement and Agatston still has to take statins to control his cholesterol.

Anyway, there's not much point in going over it all again here, but because I'm as easy to provoke into guilt as any human of my gender and upbringing tonight's meal is going to be a salad. With lots of oil and extra croutons probably...



And this is what I had. Although we have a huge garden there are not a lot of salad greens available at the moment and without access to the shops I had to be a little inventive. The main green in this salad is Good King Henry, horrid to eat raw but blanched, cooled and squeezed to remove excess moisture it makes a fine ingredient.

This isn't the sort thing anyone is ever likely to want to recreate at home but for the record it included some finely sliced raw leek, half an avocado in cubes, a few inner leaves of raw cabbage shredded, the Good King Henry, a small handful of my precious bag of rocket (nearly all gone now), the leftover braised tofu from last night, a few cornichons and because I have no bread today, a quinoa and millet burger from my long life stores, fried and chopped into pieces to make croutons. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar and a splash of soy sauce. Because it looks a bit naff it's been decorated with wallflowers for the photo. They taste quite good.

Now, where's that bottle of red wine?