A fresh and delicious winter salad that delivers a wonderful crunch. Charlie Hibbert, the Head Chef at Thyme's Ox Barn restaurant shares a light and refreshing salad recipe perfect for dinner parties or a light lunch.
'This is an easy, fresh salad with plenty of crunch from fresh vegetables and my favourite bitter leaves, full of interest. We buy our hams from a local Cotswold company – Saltpig Curing Co – and the speck is a wonderful stalwart on the menu, amongst other fine things from them. You will need a vegetable turner or mandolin for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you can use a sharp knife, but it is harder to cut the vegetables into wafer-thin slices which fold through the salad.'
Recipe for apple, kohlrabi, speck and hazelnut salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 eating apple
1 kohlrabi
1 fennel bulb
8 slices of speck
60g hazelnuts
Assortment of bitter leaves, such as puntarelle, castelfranco, radicchio, tardivo etc
1 lemon
Olive oil for dressing
Sea salt flakes and freshly cracked black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (normal) | 140°C (fan) | gas mark 3.
Chop the hazelnuts and put them into the oven to toast for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, put them to one side and allow them to cool.
Meanwhile prep and wash the leaves, allowing them to drain in a colander.
Now, peel the outer skin of the kohlrabi away. Using your vegetable turner, cut the kohlrabi and then the fennel into lovely thin strips and dink them into iced water.
Finally, halve and core the apple. Slice it into thin half-moons using a sharp knife.
Ensure all your salad ingredients are well-drained before assembly.
Place all the vegetable ingredients in a bowl and dress with lemon juice and olive oil, a good crack of pepper and salt.
Tear through the speck and scatter the nuts over the leaves then toss the salad.
Gently tumble the salad onto your waiting plates, serve and enjoy.
Wine Pairing
Andrea, who owns and leads Last Drop Wines on the King's Road in Chelsea, recommends two wines to accompany this fresh and delicious salad. Read her advice here.
About Thyme
Thyme includes 32 bedrooms situated throughout the Georgian rectory, The Lodge, The Tallet and the buildings around the courtyard and gardens. Ox Barn (seats 62) offers a wonderful dining experience, with its own twist on seasonal British food.
Thyme also offers the Baa bar, meadow spa, pool, orchid house and botanical bothy. The piggery and balcony room boutiques stock Bertioli by Thyme's range of silkwear, tableware and bespoke homeware.
If that's not enough, their 'village within a village' also contains a cookery school, floristry and drawing classes, farm, kitchen gardens, orchards and water meadows. Cottages are available for private hire and you can also book the Tithe Barn for private events.
You can view our collection of Thyme recipes and our interview with Charlie Hibbert on L-Shaped.
Thyme’s room rates currently start at £335 (midweek) / £395 (Fri, Sat) per night. These are room rates include breakfast.
Thyme, Southrop Manor Estate, Southrop, Gloucestershire, GL7 3PW
www.thyme.co.uk | 01367 850 174 | reception@thyme.co.uk