It seems wrong to talk about autumn now that we have snow and minus temperature here in Switzerland. But the market and our garden is still full of all these lovely autumn products like figs, chestnuts, pumpkins and such so let's just pretend we don't see the snow.

We had a tasty and very pretty salad the other day which I would like to share with you.

Toss the salad, figs, dill and beetroot in the dressing. Sprinkle with some Pecorino shavings and serve.

We fell in love with this variation of the caprese salad. Instead of the traditional seasoning crush some fennel seeds in a mortar.
Add some salt and pepper and some lemon zest. Season the salad with this mixture and sprinkle over some good olive oil.

The garden is dominating of menu again - It's asparagus time and we have to harvest every second or third day.
Luckily Deb from smitten kitchen is always coming up with new brilliant asparagus recipes. After last years asparagus pizza with which is already an absolute favorite at coeur de sel she brings us the ribboned asparagus salad with lemon . I can only recommend it it's delicious.

www.smittenkitchen.com

A new favorite at our place. Mozzarella di Buffala served with a marinade of slightly fried spring onions, a small dash of balsamic vinegar, lemon and lemon zest salt, pepper, very good olive oil and plenty of chopped basil.
I make the whole marinade in the pan over medium heat. In the end I add the basil and let it sit for some minutes. Add it to the mozzarella when it's still warm so the cheese starts to melt a bit.

Goes well with plenty of vegetable salads, good bread and red wine of course.

This a new favorite of mine, lukewarm potato salad with cucumbers and mustard dressing.

Cook the potatoes till soft, meanwhile make a dressing of olive oil, white vine vinegar , plenty of dijon mustard and some crushed juniper berries.
Cut the cucumber into chunks ( without the seeds ) sprinkle with some sea salt and let sit in a colander in the sink for 10 minutes.
When the potatoes are done, drain and add to the sauce. Ad the cucumbers and a good handful of dill, serve lukewarm.

Spring is good. Last night I made myself this very quick and very tasty salad.  The asparagus and the radish are from our allotment. First harvest this spring.
I don't have cress in the garden but at the moment I really like it I so probably sow some tomorrow. Supposed to be good in keeping the slugs away too.

Luke warm potatoes peeled, radish, some spring onions  greens, a horse radish sour cream dressing , an organic trout filet, some cress and some lemon zest - voilà. Fresh and light and delicious.

Decorate with one asparagus the rest eat with salt pepper, lemon and mayonnaise if you like ( I do ).
The season only started we will eat so much more :-)

I'm about to discover the beetroot. Thanks to nigel slaters new cook book "tender" . So far I was almost clueless what to do with a beetroot. I like them raw. I occasionally mad a raw beetroot salad with sesame. I tried soup once but wasn't satisfied.
Nigel has a lovely recipe for a salad whit beetroot and goats cheese which opened my mind.

Here a different approach to the theme:

This salad is really easy. Mixed green leaves, lukewarm beetroot, roquefort cheese. Depending on what else is on the menu garnish with walnuts.

4 small to medium beetroots skin on
mixed green salad leaves
roquefort cheese to garnish
walnut oil
olive oil
dijon mustard
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Bring a pan of water to boil ad the beetroot and let the beetroots simmer  for approximately 1 hour or until tender. I like them al dente. Let them cool till you can handle them. Take of the skin and cut into slices.

Make a dressing with the walnut oil, olive oil, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
Mix the salad leaves and the beetroot toss in the sauce and garnish with roquefort cheese and walnuts.

With the fish soup we had this nice salad from Locatelis "Made in Italy" cook book.

2 large red onions
300 ml red vine vinegar
1 tbs sugar
100 ml extra vergine olive oil
250 g green beans
2 tbs freshly grates parmesan plus more for shavings
3 tbs shallot vinaigrette
small bunch of chives , chopped salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°. Leaving their skins on , wrap the onions in foil and bake for about 1hour until soft.

While the onions are cooking , put the vinegar in a small pan and reduce by about a third. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar until dissolved, then stir in the olive oil to make the vinaigrette.

When the onions are cooked, unwrap them and peel off the skin. While they are still warm, cut them in half, separate the layers and season with salt and pepper, then put them into the vinaigrette.

Blanch the green beans in plenty of boiling salted water for about 5 minutes, then drain. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with the parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Toss with the Shallot vinaigrette and sprinkle over the chives.

Arrange the onion layers on a serving plates. Place the beans on top and shave over some parmesan.

Shallot vinaigrette

Finely shave the shallots, then put them in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Add the vinegar and leave to stand for minutes.
Whisk in the oil and use straight away.

At the moment one can get lovely beet root varieties at the shops. For this salad I used normal red beetroot and this lovely red-white variety.
Cut 2 beetroots and a third of a celery into stripes. Marinate in the juice of 2 lemons for half an hour. Add a bit of good sweet balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme and olive-oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Fry some walnuts in (a tiny bit of butter) and honey. Sprinkle on top of your salad. Serve.