Spelt Salad with Chilli and Mint
This recipe from Riverford uses organic broad bean, beetroot, sussex slipcote & spelt salad. Mixed with a chilli & mint dressing, it's a delicious summer salad that perfect as a side for barbecues.
You can use pearled spelt, which takes approx 40 mins to boil, or wholegrain spelt, which takes about an hour if you soak it the night before (a little longer without a pre-soak).
Prep time: 15 mins (overnight if using wholegrain spelt)
Cooking time: 40 mins
Ingredients
(serves 4-6)
- 8 small bunched beetroot (approx 400g), trimmed of any leaves & root
- 200g broad beans (podded weight)
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
- small bunch of mint, leaves shredded
- 100g cooked & cooled spelt
- 1 bunched/2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 50g watercress sprigs
- 1 sussex slipcote sheep’s cheese
Method
Wrap each beetroot in a little piece of foil and put in a baking dish. Roast at 190˚C for approx 40 mins or so, depending on size, until tender (insert a sharp knife to check).
Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then rub off the skins. Cut into halves or quarters, depending on size.
Boil the broad beans for 3-5 mins, depending on size. Drain, plunge into a bowl of cold water to refresh, then drain again. If the beans are large, you could double pod them (peel off the outer skins to reveal the inner bright green bean), but don’t bother if they are small or you are short of time.
To make the dressing, whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Stir in the chilli and mint and season with salt and pepper.
Mix the spelt, broad beans and onion together in a serving bowl.
Add half the dressing and toss together. Dot the beetroot and watercress in amongst the spelt and beans. Crumble over the cheese. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing to serve.
