craving some mostly-raw food?

me too. Here for new year is my jewelled winter salad (vegan, of course)

Jewelled winter salad
As we arrive at new year, there’s not so much in the garden now. We still have some stocks of potatoes, frozen beans, frozen chestnuts, leeks and fresh greens, so this takes advantage of some of them. It has to be said, too, that after a solstice and Christmas with rather a lot of good things to eat, mostly of the stodgy variety (plus I actually had chocolate vegan truffles for breakfast one day), I’m craving raw and lighter food.

We happen to have a box of oranges from Andalucia, as a gift from dear friends, and a single pomegranate like a symbol from myth – good for the heart and the brain both – crowning the fruit bowl (it being pomegranate season in Europe).

Some say that the original fruit in Paradise was the pomegranate, not the apple. Certainly, it’s been grown in Asia for 4000 years.

In Greek mythology Persephone, agreeing to eat the pomegranate seeds that her abductor, Hades, offered her, sealed her winter residence in the Underworld and, mythologically speaking, basically gave us the barrenness of winter in contrast to fruitful flowery summer. (I use this motif in my first novel, Imago, about the Cathars.)

These fruits might lighten the dark season a little for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere.

This recipe makes a lunch dish, or a light supper, with baked potatoes, for two. It’s very nutritious: plenty of vegan protein and much in the way of vitamins and antioxidants.

There are many foolproof ways to extract the seeds from pomegranates. Unfortunately, I don’t remember them. What I did for this one was whack the top of the pomegranate with a rolling pin, then invert it 180º and whack the new top. Once cut across the waist, it was fairly easy to extract the seeds. You can also score the skin regularly in about 8 places, then spilt it open and turn each segment inside out, so to speak, and ease the seeds out with your thumb. Be sure to remove the white pith.

1 small head fennel (save any fronds for garnish)
1 carrot
juice 1 lemon
1 tsp cumin seed
1 mug cooked white beans (I use our Cocos de Paimpol; you could use tinned haricot or butterbean)
1 small apple
1 mug cooked chestnuts OR 1 mug crushed toasted hazelnuts
2 handfuls tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli (or broken stems of calabrese)
seeds 1 pomegranate
juice 1 orange
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh parsley to garnish

Slice the fennel very finely and put into a bowl with the grated carrot. Sprinkle with salt and cumin seeds, add the juice of half the lemon, and mix well with your hands. Leave to one side.

Lightly sauté (or briefly roast if you’re using the oven anyway) the washed broccoli stems in olive oil. They need to be tender but still bright green. Leave aside to cool.

Stir the beans and chestnuts (or hazels) together with the juice of the other half lemon, and all the orange juice. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste and mix well, but gently. Spread out on an attractive large plate.

Core and finely slice the apple – the slices need to be almost translucent. Arrange the apple slices on top of the bean and nut mix.

Extract the pomegranate seeds in whatever way you can.

Top the beans and nuts with the fennel and carrot mix. Distribute the cooled broccoli all the way round the plate. Scatter the pomegranate seeds on top. Garnish with chopped parsley and any fennel fronds.

And - my friends – as always, thank you for reading. May you have a restorative, creative and peaceful new year.