Salads simply tasty
Barny cooked his first serious meal in St Tropez aged nine, when there was a Saturday market on the harbour side and Bridget Bardot hung out in the Hotel de Paris drinking crème de menthe.
He was, for 24 years, a restaurateur/chef in Bristol, and for seven of these, event caterer to the Prince of Wales.
He is a member of the Academy of Culinary Arts, chair of judges of the Soil Association’s Organic Food Awards, 2007 winner of the Glennfiddich Food and Drinks Independent Spirit Award for his pioneering work in food training and education in the restaurant industry, a teacher at the University of Gastronomy in Italy, Chef Ambassador to Slow Food UK, and founder of Bordeaux Quay and the Cookery School at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol.
He appears regularly at food festivals and conferences giving demonstrations and teaches in Bristol and at other cookery schools and colleges in the UK. He is a consultant on sustainable food systems and ‘eco-gastronomy’ advising businesses, restaurants, schools and community centres. He also teaches cooking to students, teachers and school cooks.
Barny also now runs the Budleigh Farm Project in Somerset with his partner Gaye Donaldson. Budleigh Farm is a 14 acre mixed ‘model’ small-holding, shortly to include a farm shop and cookery school workshops. 00441823421300 barny@barnyhaughton.com
Here is a selection of the delicious salads he made for us.
Serves 4
¼ cucumber, peeled, halved longways, de-seeded and thinly sliced
A little salt
Juice of 1 lemon
500g (18oz) mix of fresh raspberries, strawberries and redcurrants
400g (14oz) broad beans, podded, blanched and peeled
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
A large handful of peashoots or rocket
100g (3½oz) fresh ricotta
A little pepper
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Toss the sliced cucumber in a little salt and the lemon juice. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Make a dressing with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and seasoning.
Drain the sliced cucumber of any water. Gently mix the fruit together with the broad beans and mint.
Arrange the fruit mixture, cucumber, pea-shoots and ricotta on a serving dish and drizzle with balsamic dressing. Finish with a little black pepper.
Main course for 6 people
100g (3½oz) dried puy lentils
4 bay leaves
100g (3½oz) spelt grain
100g (3½oz) dried borlotti or other, soaked in cold water for 24 hours
A little salt and olive oil
1 aubergine
2 red peppers
2 courgettes
Salt and pepper
30g (1oz) raisins, soaked until plump but firm
2 cloves garlic
Big bunch parsley
Dressing: 75ml (3fl oz) red wine vinegar, soy sauce and olive oil: 1 part vinegar, 1 part soy sauce and 3 parts olive oil
Wash and cook the lentils with a couple of bay leaves and as little water as you can get away with, but always enough to cover. When cooked (don’t under cook; they should be firm but absolutely not crunchy), leave to cool, then drain, reserving the liquor for soup.
Cook the spelt and beans in the same way. Mix them together with a little salt and olive oil.
Dice the aubergines, peppers and courgettes into 2cm (¾ inch) cubes and separately season with salt and pepper and fry until they take a good colour but are still a little crunchy.
Fine slice the garlic, fry until nutty brown.
Coarsely chop the parsley, including an tender stalky bits.
Toss everything together with the dressing.
Feta cheese crumbled over this lot is lovely but not necessary.
Serves 8
1 head fennel
A pinch of salt
1 juicy, sweet orange
Pepper
A sprig of dill
6 small waxy potatoes, new if in season
1 bay leaf
1 slice of lemon
225ml (8fl oz) water
Drizzle of olive oil
4 fillets of smoked mackerel
2 large handfuls watercress
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Finely slice the fennel long-ways and toss in a pinch of salt. Segment the orange, slice into small pieces and add to the fennel. Squeeze remaining juice from the orange over the fennel and mix gently together with a little freshly ground black pepper and the chopped dill.
Slice the potatoes long-ways into ½ cm (¼ inch) thick slices. Put them in a pan with a bay leaf, a slice of lemon, a cup of water and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook gently until the liquor has evaporated. Add a little more water if necessary. Leave to cool.
Take the skin off the mackerel fillets and break them up into bite size pieces.
To assemble the salad: Toss the potatoes and fennel together. Dress the watercress with a little vinaigrette, mix gently with the fennel and potatoes and transfer to salad bowl.
Scatter the mackerel pieces over this. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Serves 6 people
1 x 1.5kg (3lb 5oz) organic chicken
A clove of garlic
10 needles rosemary
Salt and pepper
A little olive oil
½ a lemon
A clove of garlic
2 bay leaves
12 small waxy potatoes, new if in season
A little olive oil
1 bay leaf
1-2 slices of lemon
A good pinch of salt
1 tbsp sultanas
Small bunch parsley leaves
Zest of ½ lemon
1 tbsp pine nuts
½ tbsp capers
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Chop the garlic, rosemary to a paste and add salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Rub well into the chicken.
Stuff the chicken with half a lemon, a clove of garlic and a couple of bay leaves. Roast in the normal way.
Leave to cool and strip the meat off the carcass, removing sinew and any gristly bits.
Reserve the chicken carcass for stock.
Cut the potatoes into 2cm (¾-inch) thick slices, place in sauce pan with barely enough water to cover, a splash of olive oil, a bay leaf, a slice or two of lemon and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover with parchment or lid., but Leave a little gap so that the steam evaporates and by the time the potatoes are cooked (about 20 minutes) there is barely any liquid in the pan. Leave to cool.
Put the potatoes in a bowl with sultanas, parsley, lemon zest, pine nuts and capers and toss together.
Make a dressing of six parts olive oil to one part red wine vinegar and one part balsamic vinegar.
Toss together with other ingredients in bowl. Add generous quantity of dressing and serve.
Lovely with broad beans or peas as well.
The dressing for this salad doesn’t need the more robust flavour of olive oil. Groundnut or hazelnut or a mix of both are best, but sunflower will do fine.
Serves 8
A handful of whole unblanched hazelnuts
2 bunch watercress
2 bulbs chicory
4 medium-sized tart/sweet crisp apples eg Worcester, Orange Pippen
2 tbsp cider vinegar
Pinch of salt
10 tbsp groundnut oil/hazelnut oil
A small bunch of chives cut into inch or so lengths
Maldon sea salt
Toss the hazelnuts in a little oil and a sprinkle of salt and roast in a hot oven until toasty brown. Leave to cool. Break them into coarse pieces with a rolling pin.
Make the dressing in a large mixing bowl. Mix the vinegar and a pinch of salt along with the groundnut or hazelnut oil into an emulsion.
Remove the more fibrous stalks from the watercress and separate the leaves of chicory.
Cut the apples into slim wedges, removing the core with a sharp knife.
Just before serving, gently toss the chicory, watercress and apple in the dressing and transfer to serving dish. Sprinkle liberally with the broken hazelnuts and chives and a pinch of Maldon sea salt. Serve with baked potatoes or good bread.
Salad Paysanne
This is found everywhere in France and ; sometimes named after the region – La salade de Perigord, for instance, and meaning peasant salad. Classic ingredients may include duck confit, duck pate, duck or chicken livers, croutons, bacon, cured duck or goose giblets (heart, gizzard, neck), along with frisee or chicory, parsley and capers.
The dressing needs to be made with a good red wine vinegar.
Serves 6 people
4 slices good bread
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 cooked cured duck legs, torn into small pieces, bones discarded, skin retained
2 big handfuls of frisee, washed, dried and torn into fork-size pieces
Chives or parsley
A small handful green beans – if in season
1 dstsp full of drained capers
50g (2oz) lardons or 2 slices streaky bacon cut into strips
100g (3½oz) duck or chicken livers, trimmed
Olive oil and or walnut oil
Red wine vinegar
To make the croutons: Cut 4 thick slices of good stale bread into bite-sized cubes and toss them with olive oil and seasoning in a bowl. Transfer to a baking tray and bake in a medium oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Fry the duck skin gently until crisp and not brown. Break into little pieces.
Make the dressing: 5 parts oil, 2 part vinegar; a standard dressing should be 5:1, but you need more vinegar to meet the richness and fat of the meat in this salad. Put frisee, croutons, crispy duck skin, chives or parsley and capers in a big bowl.
In a hot pan fry the lardons until crispy, then the livers until brown on the outside but pink inside. Fry the duck immediately after just to warm it through and add to the bowl. Dress, toss and eat.
Denny Lane Gourmet Foods in Tralee is loosely modelled on the Avoca style where customers queue as they come in the door with most of the menu on display in large serveovers, salads, quiches, sandwiches, desserts and cake stands on the top displaying the biscuits and buns. They cater very well for coeliacs, all their soups and chowder are gluten free. Delicious – Gluten Free Bakery in Ballincollig, Co Cork, supply them with gluten free bread, brownies, etc. Check their facebook page. Julianne Reen tries to source most of her produce locally. Tel: 066 7194319; email: sweets@dennylanecafe.ie; website: www.dennylanecafe.ie
Tipperary Food Producers Network will host their annual Long Table Dinner in Tipperary to showcase local produce to encourage people to buy local on August 25. For details contact Pat Whelan 0872433100
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
