Cervena Salad with Blue Cheese, Spiced Walnuts and Green Apple
Photography Aaron McLean.
A composed salad gives a more impressive presentation but is simply a salad where all the ingredients are arranged on a platter rather than tossed together. Serve the dressing separately and accompany with warm crusty bread rolls.
Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
800-900 gram piece Cervena Denver leg
kitchen string
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2-3 big handfuls mixed salad leaves
200 grams blue cheese
1 green apple, halved, cored and thinly sliced
4 fresh dates, stoned and sliced
spiced walnuts
Orange dressing
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
Spiced walnuts
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon each sea salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup walnut halves or pieces
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200˚C.
Tie the Cervena at 3 cm intervals with kitchen string and season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat an ovenproof sauté pan over a high heat. Add a little olive oil and quickly brown the meat on all sides. Transfer to the oven and roast for 8 minutes. Turnover and roast for a further 8 minutes for medium-rare meat. Rest the meat, lightly covered for at least 20 minutes.
Dressing: Whisk the juice, vinegar, garlic and oil in a bowl and season then stir in the red onion.
Spiced walnuts: Put all the ingredients except the walnuts in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the walnuts and cook for 3 minutes, stirring the nuts frequently and cooking until the syrup begins to caramelise. Tip onto a flat tray lined with baking paper and separate the nuts with a fork. Cool. Store in an airtight container between sheets of baking paper.
To serve: Slice the Cervena thinly. Arrange on a large platter with the salad leaves, blue cheese and apple. Put the dressing in a bowl and nestle in the centre of the platter. Scatter over the dates and walnuts. Pour any meat resting juices over the Cervena before serving.
Pantry note: Spiced walnuts are available in supermarkets and food stores or make your own with the above recipe. Substitute whole almonds or pecans if desired.
Keep up to date with
dish weekly recipes,
food news, and events.
Related Content
latest issue:
127
In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.