I was thinking of billing this as a caesar salad with an extreme makeover. One night, I started making a caesar salad, then wondered what would happen if I made a coriander-pesto mayonnaise and mugged off the anchovies in favour of chorizo. Then I thought about turning it into a full meal, at which point it stopped being anything like a caesar salad. If you’d prefer a vegetarian version, choose a vegetarian parmesan and omit the chorizo in favour of a heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika and a scant teaspoon of sea salt flakes.
Crispy butter bean, chorizo and cos salad with coriander
Prep 15 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 2
50ml olive oil, plus 1 tbsp for roasting
100g chorizo, cut into 1cm chunks
400g tin butter beans, drained and rinsed well
150g Tenderstem broccoli, cut into 1cm pieces
50g fresh coriander, leaves and stems
20g parmesan, or vegetarian parmesan
25g pumpkin seeds
1 egg yolk
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp salt
2 little gem lettuce, roughly shredded
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Put a tablespoon of olive oil, the chorizo and drained butter beans in a shallow baking tray and mix well. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until the beans start to crisp up nicely.
Meanwhile, blanch the Tenderstem in a bowl of just-boiled water for two minutes, then drain well.
For the dressing, put the coriander, parmesan, pumpkin seeds, 50ml olive oil, egg yolk, lemon juice and salt in a high-speed blender and blitz to a smoothish, pale green sauce: it should be almost as thick as mayonnaise, but with a little more texture. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon as needed.
Just before you want to eat, tip the shredded lettuce into a large bowl and add the broccoli. Dress with a third of the dressing, then divide between two plates. Dot over the remaining dressing, scatter the butter bean and chorizo mix on top, and serve immediately.