Pea and cos salad
When Mr OC and I wed, we had a wonderful caterer who really put on a very fine spread. Everything was delicious, but one of the things that really stood out from the rest was the wonderful pea and cos salad. I have since tried to recreate this on many occasions and I admit that I don’t think I am quite there yet. I think crème fraîche and parmesan were involved somewhere along the line.
However, the other day I saw a cos lettuce for sale and so bought it, but then promptly forgot to purchase either crème fraîche or parmesan ( I blame shopping with two small children for my terrible ability to go out for a pint of milk and return with a pot of basil and a piece of steak, but no milk, but I don’t really think they are to blame). So I had a go with what I had in the fridge and the garden and although it doesn’t reach the sublime level of the salad of our wedding day it is really nice, especially with a good roast chicken or a slab of rare steak.
I will keep trying with my recreation of the original recipe, so you may well see another recipe for this appearing at some point in the future. However, for now, here is a version. If you do have some parmesan in the fridge then shave some over just before serving, and feel free to replace the yoghurt with crème fraîche. I promise to try harder next time I go shopping.
1 head of cos lettuce, washed and dried
3 or 4 handfuls of frozen or fresh peas, boiled until tender (2 or 3 minutes in boiling water)
150g Total greek yoghurt
handful of fresh mint, chopped
juice of ½ lemon
salt and pepper
Method
Arrange the washed salad leaves on a platter and artfully pour over the peas. Mix together the yoghurt, chopped mint and lemon juice and season to taste and dollop over the peas and lettuce.
Dig in and enjoy!
