Spring Green Vegetable and Garden Herb Salad with Gabriel Shavings

Tag : Green Vegetable

4 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
White wine vinegar (enough to cover the sliced shallots)
12 asparagus spears
100g/4oz fine beans
100g/4oz peas, fresh or frozen
100g/4oz broad beans
4 small handfuls of washed and dried garden herbs, e.g. mint,chervil, chives, dill, basil, tarragon and rocket
40g/1-2oz Gabriel cheese (bought from Trevor Irwin at St George'sMarket, Belfast) or Parmesan
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
9 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Newforge House -- John and Louise Mathers' lovely country house in Co Armagh-- is a member of the food tourism marketing association Good Food Ireland(www.goodfoodireland.ie) and has just been named Northern Ireland Tourist Board B&B/Guesthouse of the Year 2008.
In spring and summer, the combination of all the wonderful freshherbs and green vegetables from their garden is fantastic withIreland's equivalent of Parmesan; salty, west Cork, Gabriel cheese.
This salad serves four as a starter (and would make a lovely lunchor supper with some extra cheese).
1Cover the shallots with white wine vinegar and leave aside to soakfor 10-15 minutes.
2Meanwhile, blanch each of the vegetables in salted boiling wateruntil each is nicely al dente. Drain immediately and plunge intoiced water to refresh the vegetables and retain their colour. Oncecooled, drain the vegetables. Skin the broad beans.
3Remove the shallots from the vinegar and place in a large bowlwith the vegetables.
4In a separate bowl, mix three tablespoons of the shallot-infusedvinegar with the mustard. Season with a pinch of salt and freshlyground pepper. Then whisk in the extra virgin olive oil until thedressing emulsifies. Taste and season as required.
5Dress the vegetable and shallot mixture with six tablespoons ofvinaigrette, season and toss. Then divide the dressed vegetablesbetween four plates and scatter with shavings of Cork's Gabrielcheese.
6In a bowl, dress the herb salad with one tablespoon of vinaigretteand season with a pinch of salt. Place a small handful of thedressed herbs on top of each plate of vegetables.
7Finally, drizzle each plate with any remaining vinaigrette andserve immediately.