KALETTE SALAD WITH CHESTNUTS AND STILTON

Prep time: 20 minutes, plus cooling time Cook time: 5 minutes

Serves 4 as a starter or side dish

A few years back I was filled with joy when a local grower gave me a packet of flowering kale hearts to use in a recipe demonstration at Rick Stein’s Christmas festival. They are commonly called kalettes now and are a perfect alternative to Brussels sprouts. I’ve started growing them and you can see how they are related and crossbred with the sprout. Top marks to the grower who invented them.

For the dressing, if you’ve got a jar of pickled walnuts use the juice here. It gives a great, almost balsamiclike flavour to the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

– 100g fresh chestnuts (or use vac-packed chestnuts and skip the simmering and peeling stages)

– 250g kalettes, washed and trimmed if necessary

– 60-70g Stilton, placed in the freezer for a couple of hours

For the dressing

– 4 tbsp extra-virgin rapeseed oil

– 1 tbsp cider vinegar or pickled walnut juice

METHOD Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the chestnuts and simmer for a minute, then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to cool. Add the kalettes to the water and cook for 20 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon on to a plate to cool a little. Peel the chestnuts, removing the skin and inner membrane, and thinly slice them.

Whisk the oil and vinegar together for the dressing and season.

Divide the kalettes evenly between four plates, scatter over the chestnuts then spoon over the dressing. Season lightly.

Grate the frozen Stilton over the top and serve.