Pea, Broad Bean, Red Pepper & Buffalo Mozzarella Salad Recipe
This beautiful salad by Raymond Blanc and Clive Fretwell (courtesy of Brasserie Blanc Oxford) is one of our favourites. Try it a home for a true taste of sunshine.
Easy
Serves 4
Image: Brasserie Blanc
Ingredients
For the dressing:- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- Red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 150ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- Pinch of caster sugar
- 100ml tomato juice
- 475g frozen peas
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Small bunch of mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
- Large handful of frozen peas
- Large handful of frozen broad beans
- 1 x bag pea shoots
- 1 x bag frisee salad
- Handful fried, salted broad beans (habas fritas)
- 2 piquillo peppers from a jar, finely sliced
- Pomegranate molasses
- 4 balls of buffalo mozzarella
Method
- To make the dressing, fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water – it needs to be big enough to hold the tomatoes. Score a cross on the top of each tomato with a sharp knife and plunge into the boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and refresh in the bowl of cold water. Once cool, skin the tomatoes, starting at the top where you scored the cross.
- Quarter the tomatoes and deseed them. Discard the seeds and juice. Stack the quarters on top of each other and dice finely, taking care not to crush the tomatoes as you chop them. Mix with the remaining dressing ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- To make the smashed peas, boil a full kettle. Place the peas in a large sieve or colander and pour the boiling water over them to defrost. Put roughly a third of the peas in a bowl and set aside. Place the remaining two thirds in a larger bowl with the olive oil, mint and salt and pepper. Crush the peas using a fork or potato masher so that they still retain some of their texture. Stir in the whole peas. Boil another kettle of water and defrost the peas and broad beans for the garnish in the same way.
- To serve the salad, slice each ball of mozzarella into 8 and delicately place equally around each plate. Place a spoonful of pea and mint puree in the middle of each plate and flatten with the back of your spoon. Top with a some of the whole peas and broad beans, scatter the frisee and pea shoots and spoon over the tomato dressing. Decorate with the crispy fried onions, fried broad beans and pepper slices. Finish with a drizzle of molasses.
