A winter salad you’ll actually want to eat

One of the secrets of making a really great salad is to mix it in a larger bowl than you serve it in. That way you can combine the ingredients lightly and without crushing delicate leaves, but also it is so much easier to add in the dressing evenly (or an extra ingredient or two if you are getting really creative!).

This salad is great for using up leftover slices of cold turkey, or use chicken or anything else you fancy really. We used spinach leaves, little gem leaves, finely sliced fennel, turkey, some soft boiled eggs, finely sliced shallots, salt and pepper.

We used a simple French dressing for this and whisked it up in the bowl before adding the ingredients (except the eggs which we added last):

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar is good too)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

You can add diced shallot to the dressing rather than slices if you prefer.

The finishing touch for this salad is some toasted seeds – we keep a jar of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and linseed – you could use anything you fancied really. Once the salad is combined, add the eggs and serve.