Composed salad

The list of ingredients we can add to a salad is endless… here at Bondi we base this Composed Salad on lettuce leaves, fresh herbs and a wonderfully zingy lemon and garlic dressing, but we are always looking to add something new and special: green beans; juicy bush tomatoes, eggs…

Fresh from the garden: Salad leaves, tomatoes, eggs, lemons, cucumbers, celery, beans, basil, parsley, chives, oregano – the list goes on…!
Serves: 6 or 24 tastes

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 150C. Wash and slice the tomatoes in half and place on the baking tray. Wash and pat the thyme stalks dry and strip the leaves onto the tomatoes. Drizzle with a teaspoon or two of olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast for 30 minutes.
• Place the eggs carefully into the saucepan and fill with cold water. Set them to boil with the lid on, then once the water starts boiling, time them for 4 minutes. Drain and run cold water over them until cool, then peel and quarter.
• Fill up 2 big bowls with cold water & wash the salad leaves in several changes of water. Spin dry and wipe the bowls dry. Wash then top-and-tail the beans.
• Lay out the tea towel and line it with paper towel. Spread the salad leaves over the paper and roll the whole lot up like a log. Keep the rolled parcel of leaves in the fridge until needed.
• Fill up the medium bowl with water and wash the herbs and small garnishing leaves. Dry on a piece of paper towel andreserve in a small bowl.
• Peel the garlic clove and put it in the mortar with a large pinch of salt. Pound to a paste. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the mortar (without pips) then stir the lot with ateaspoon and scrape it into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the oil and grind some pepper, then whisk the dressing lightly. Wash and pat the marjoram dry and pick off the leaves, and add to the dressing.
• Unwrap the parcel of salad leaves & tip them into the bowl with the dressing. Gently turn the leaves in the dressing using your hands or tongs, and then transfer the dressed leaves to the serving bowls. Add the eggs, the tomatoes, beans and any other extras and the garnishing petals & leaves and serve immediately with a last drizzle of the dressing.

Notes: Where does the word vinaigrette come from? What other salad dressings could you use? Why do we wash the leaves so well? Why do we roll the leaves up to put them in the fridge?