SERVING 4

Salads are a must with many dishes. They should be wholesome, made with fresh ingredients, appealing to the eye and, of course, pleasant on the tongue. Here is a specimen, and, indeed, a favorite one.

The salad dressing or vinaigrette
2½ oz / 70 g brown sugar
1½ oz / 40 ml Worchester sauce
4 tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 cup / 65 ml red-wine vinegar
¾ cup / 175 ml walnut oil

Put the brown sugar in a bowl and pour in the Worchester sauce. Add the Dijon mustard and pour in the red-wine vinegar. Finally whisk the contents of the bowl together thoroughly adding the walnut oil in the process. This finishes the dressing or the vinaigrette.

The salad
1 red apple
2 fillets of smoked mackerel
½ cup / 120 ml blue cheese
Salt and black pepper
Water cress, leaf lettuce, spinach or other salad that will serve 4 people
The salad dressing or vinaigrette

Slice the apple thinly, cut them into strips and place them in a bowl. Now turning to the smoked mackerel flip the fillets over and gently peel off the skin. Loosen the fish in the fillets taking care to leave out the bones. Put the bits of mackerel into the bowl containing the strips of apple, break the blue cheese into small pieces and drop them in with the ingredients of the bowl. Season with some black pepper and salt and mix everything together for a uniform blend. Tear asunder or chop a variety of salad vegetables and add these to the mixture in the bowl. Pour in about 4 tbs of the vinaigrette and toss everything together thoroughly.

Serving
½ cup / 120 ml roasted walnuts

When serving the salad, place a nice heap of the salad on the plate and drizzle roasted walnuts over the vegetables.