Hot-smoked salmon, double cress & potato salad platter

400 kcal or less avocado avocados big salads buffet chicory easter entertaining green bean green beans main course salad main meal salad mains new potato new potatoes over an hour quail egg quail eggs salmon sharing platters smoked salmon salad spring summer summer recipes watercress

N/A

Serves 8 as a main or more with other dishes

Source

Ingredients

400g small new potato

100g green bean

12 quail eggs

2 packs hot-smoked salmon , you want about 350g in total

5 spring onions , trimmed

2 avocados

2 x 100g bags watercress

1 head of chicory , broken into leaves

1 pot mustard cress, trimmed

1 heaped tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 heaped tsp clear honey

3 tbsp cider vinegar

8 tbsp olive oil

Method

To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl with some seasoning or place them in a screwcap jar and shake well. Can be made up to 2 days in advance. Cook the potatoes in plenty of boiling water for 10 mins until just tender. Drain, cool slightly, then slice.

While the potatoes are cooking, blanch the green beans in plenty of boiling water for 4 mins until cooked but still with a slight crunch, drain, refresh in iced water to stop them cooking further, then drain again. Cook the quail’s eggs for 3 mins. Drain, place under cold water, then peel and halve. Flake the salmon into large chunks into a bowl and slice the spring onions. All these jobs can be done in advance. Just before serving, halve, peel and slice the avocados.

This is a layered salad rather than a tossed salad, so start by scattering the watercress and chicory over a platter. Scatter different handfuls at a time of all the other ingredients (but not the mustard cress) so that they are evenly distributed. Drizzle over two-thirds of the dressing, then strew over the mustard cress. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side.