Rachel Allen

Spatchcock chicken and delicious salads

After what feels like the longest winter in history it’s now safe to say that summer is upon us. I’m embracing the long days (even if we don’t get the heatwave we’re yearning for) and eating salads galore.

What I love about salads is just how versatile they are. Light or substantial, simple or ingredient-packed, there’s a salad for every day of the summer, and more, depending on what you fancy.

Of course, a salad can consist of just one or two cooked vegetables with a few leaves dressed with oil and vinegar. But the fun really starts when you experiment with different elements to bring flavour, texture and colour.

Don’t forget the backbone of every salad is the dressing and this is where they can easily fall short. A really good oil and vinegar will enhance your salad no end, and the leaves need to be as fresh as possible and delicious on their own. A grassy, green extra-virgin olive oil or a nut or seed oil is not only good for you, but delicious too. A good-quality vinegar will also make a huge difference. I love my Forum Cabernet Sauvignon bittersweet red wine vinegar for adding oomph and so much flavour.

Salads can be a useful place to send leftovers. Roast meats such as beef, lamb or chicken make a wonderful addition to

“The backbone of every salad is the dressing and this is where they can easily fall short”

or basis of salads. Yet it doesn’t always have to be leftovers — it can be lovely to cook some meat with the express purpose of using in a salad.

That’s what I’ve done with this chicken and fennel salad recipe. Fennel itself is just fabulous in a salad. Raw, it has a unique crisp texture that contrasts so well with the moist chicken and juicy orange and the crunch of roasted hazelnuts.

The quick bulghur wheat salad is a fantastically versatile little dish. It loves to take on other ingredients and flavours, from sweet peppers to chunks of roasted squash and root vegetables.

It does a great job of soaking up the chicken juices, and the ruby-like pomegranate seeds bring their gorgeous sweet-sour flavour.

And the fattoush, a classic Lebanese summer salad that contains the small ground red berry sumac, and toasted pitta bread, is one that’ll definitely bring some sun to your day, rain or shine.