Aidan wasn’t so keen on the carrot and courgette salad so I thought I’d add a new salad for supper. I hadn’t been able to do any salads with nuts for lunch and Aidan loves broccoli so I decided to do the broccoli. feta, tomato and hazelnut salad from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook The Avoca book says it’s their most popular salad in the cafes. I was surprised before making it but even with a couple of other salads we ate a lot of this between 4 of us for supper. I’ve put the quantities from the Avoca book below but next time I’d do a bit less dressing and put in the rest of the pack of feta.
I made this salad again a couple of days later to use the rest of the feta and the one head of broccoli left in the fridge, I think this is destined to make a regular appearance on our table.
Ingredients
- 110 g/4 oz. hazelnuts, shelled, with brown husk attached
- 400 g/14 oz. (or one large head broccoli) broccoli florets (bite-sized)
- 110 g/4 oz. good-quality feta cheese, cut into bite-sized cubes
- 225 g/8 oz. cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
- 200 ml/7 fl. oz French Dressing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 180 degrees C, gas mark 4.
- Toast the hazel nuts in the oven spread out on a baking sheet, for about 5-10 minutes. Be careful to check them at the end because they can burn very quickly. Once they are done, tip them into a clean tea towel and rub them vigourously to take off the skins (this step is entirely optional if you don’t mind the skins, but toasting the hazelnuts gives a creamier flavor than when added raw). Let the hazelnuts cool,
- Optional just barely blanch broccoli (I did this by pouring boiling water over broccoli, draining immediately and rinsing with cold water)
- Gently toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl until everything is coated with the dressing, season with pepper and serve.
- This salad keeps very well covered in the fridge for about three days, and is an excellent idea for a picnic
100 Cook Books 