Broad bean, asparagus, feta & parma crisp salad with lemon & mint dressing

Joanna's Food is hosting this round of heart of the matter now in its 4th instalment - it's an event calling all food bloggers to submit heart-friendly recipes, which I take to mean healthy, but hearty and tasty at the same time. This is the first time I participate, as I am terrible at keeping track of things at the moment... but I made the deadline for once! Yay! (Must just remember to send Joanna and email to let her know, so it's not all in vain!)
It's summer time and I find salads to be a perfect starter. Or main course, for that matter. On a hot day, nothing yells summer  at you more than a fresh, crisp salad. Somehow, when I host a dinner party, I don't necessarily thing of serving salad - do I find it too simple a dish or is it just that it doesn't really lend itself to beautiful plating? This one here, though, is quite easy to assemble and the various ingredients will hold their own. The crispy parma ham slices (baked in the oven!) add quite a bit of drama and the dressing is another eye-opener: mint leaves add a crisp, fresh taste and so does lemon zest, an ingredient I am only recently discovering after years of absolutely loathing it. I still can't get myself to eat candied peel, but ever since I bought a proper zester, I get all the goodness and stunning visual effects of the lemon skin without the bitterness of the pith.
You can make this salad in an endless variation of seasonal vegetables, I should think, at the moment, asparagus and broad beans were just perfect and with a bunch of mixed leaves bought fresh at the market, here you have yourself a salad that will satisfy even a bigger appetite for a nutritious lunch. So who said healthy couldn't be tasty?

Broad bean, asparagus, feta & parma crisp salad with lemon & mint dressing
(serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a lunch)

150 g feta cheese (crumbled)
4 large handfuls of mixed leaf salad (thoroughly washed and dried by tossing about in a tea towel)
1 handful mint leaves (chopped)
zest of 1 lemon
8 - 10 slices of parma ham
2 handful of broad beans (shelled)
1 bunch green asparagus (12 - 16 stalks)

For the dressing:
1 tsp dijon mustard
50 ml fruity olive oil
40 ml wine vinegar (5 years' reserve, mild and tasty)

Place parma ham slices between sheets of teflon or baking parchment (I use my re-useable baking mats for this purpose). Bake in the oven at 200C for about 20 minutes. Drain and leave to crisp up on kitchen paper towels.
Cook the broad beans until soft, then refresh in ice water and set aside. Snap the asparagus (bend it from the bottom carefully until it snaps, using only the remaining stalk and tip for cooking, discard the rest. This is to get rid of any tough or woody bits). Cook in salt water until tender, but retaining a bite, about 5 minutes. Refresh in ice water immediately to preserve their vibrant green colour. Set aside.
Pour the ingredients for the dressing into an old jam jar and shake until well combined. Add half of the lemon zest and mint leaves.
Arrange all the ingredients for the salad on plates, spoon over the dressing and garnish with the remaining zest and mint leaves.
Serve with bread on the side, if desired.

Comments

[Maninas: Food Matters]

Lovely!

[Sophie]

Sounds delicious - I like the idea of using the teflon mats to crisp up the parma ham. I'm glad you are coming round to lemon zest, it's one of my favourite ingredients in the summer!