Simple and refreshing this salad is a great accompaniment to any meat or poultry dish. The fresh citrus flavour also works as a great foil to fatty or rich dishes. It’s a great addition to any cooks repertoire …
Serve 2 – 3
Ingredients –
1 bunch of watercress, washed and spun dry
2 oranges
½ tablespoon olive oil (or walnut oil, if handy)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Trim the stalks from the watercress, put the sprigs into a shallow serving bowl and set aside.
Slice the peel off the oranges, removing every trace of white pith. With a sharp serrated knife cut out each segment from between the membranes, dropping the segments into a bowl as you go, and turning the membranes over like the pages in a book. Squeeze the leftover membranes of one orange over a small bowl to provide about ½ a tablespoon of juice. Add the oil and some salt and pepper and whisk well.
Scatter the orange segments over the watercress and trickle over the dressing. Tosss well and serve.
Some will know him from his cooking shows, others may know him from his restaurants, but even if you don’t know Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall you should get to know his book - The River Cottage Meat Book. This is one of those culinary bibles that any carnivorous cook should not be without. Half the book is devoted to understanding meat, while the other half tells you how to cook it … and there is a recipe here for pretty much every cut of meat you can imagine. It’s written in Hugh’s blokey and colloquial style, and is incredibly informative and useful (I particularly like the diagrams illustrating the different cuts of each animal).