There is a moment every July when the shop floor smells of basil and ripe tomatoes, and you know summer has properly arrived. It is our favourite time of year for salad - everything is at its peak, the colours are extraordinary, and you barely need to do anything to it. So this month we thought we would share the salad bowl we make for ourselves when the shop closes and the sun is still up: simple, seasonal, and built almost entirely from what is on our shelves right now.
We have been a family-run farm shop here in Billericay since 2001, and after more than two decades we still believe the best food is the food you hardly have to cook. This is that in a bowl.
Why summer is salad season in Essex
Essex growers are having their best few weeks of the year. The leaves are crisp, the tomatoes actually taste of something, and the herbs are growing faster than we can pick them. When produce is this fresh, a salad stops being the sad side dish it can be in January and becomes the main event. Everything we use below is chosen daily, and much of it comes from growers just up the road - the same short journey from field to shelf that we have always believed in.
It is also, quite simply, good for you. As a long-standing supplier to our local NHS sites, we spend a lot of time thinking about food that is genuinely nourishing, and a big seasonal salad bowl is about as nourishing as lunch gets.
What you'll need
This makes a generous bowl for two as a main, or four as a side. Quantities are relaxed — a salad should never feel like a maths exam.
- A couple of good handfuls of mixed salad leaves - whatever looks best on the day
- A bunch of fresh asparagus, woody ends snapped off
- A handful of sugar snap peas, left whole for crunch
- Ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
- Half a cucumber, sliced thick
- A raw beetroot, peeled and grated, for colour and earthiness
- A small bunch of soft fresh herbs - mint and basil are perfect
- Good olive oil, a lemon, salt and pepper
Building your salad bowl, step by step
Start with the asparagus, because it is the one thing here that likes a little heat. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, drop the spears in for two minutes, then lift them straight into cold water. This keeps them bright green and just tender - never soggy. Do the same with the sugar snaps if you like, though we usually leave them raw for the snap.
Pile your leaves into a big, wide bowl. Add the tomatoes, cucumber and cooled asparagus, then scatter the grated beetroot over the top. Tear the herbs in generously with your hands rather than chopping them - bruised leaves lose their perfume, and you want every bit of that summer smell.
For the dressing, keep it honest: three parts olive oil to one part lemon juice, a good pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper, whisked in a mug with a fork. Pour it over just before serving and toss gently so everything glistens without collapsing.
Make it a meal
A salad bowl like this is happy on its own, but it takes beautifully to a little something extra. Crumble over some local cheese, flake in a bit of poached salmon, or add a soft-boiled egg cut in half so the yolk runs into the dressing. A few new potatoes, boiled and still warm, turn it into a proper summer supper. Whatever you reach for, you will almost certainly find it a few steps away on our shelves, so you can build the whole meal in one visit.
A few tips from the shop floor
Dress at the last minute - leaves wilt the moment they meet oil, so if you are taking this to a picnic, carry the dressing separately in a jar. Eat it the day you buy the produce if you can; this is food at its most alive, and it does not hang about. And do not be precious about the recipe. The whole point of a farm shop salad is that it changes every week with whatever has just come in, so treat the list above as a starting point rather than a rulebook.
Pop in and see us on Southend Road this month - the salad shelves are the best they will be all year, and we are always happy to tell you what came in that morning. Whatever you build, we hope it brings a bit of Essex summer to your table.