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Grape Salad with Witlof, Watercress, Bocconcini and Walnut

The Cook and the Chef is a television show aired on ABC One in Australia. Maggie Beer is one of the hosts of the show and this recipe was one of those made on the show that aired on Monday, 24th of March 2008.

INGREDIENTS:
100 g walnuts
2 red witlof bulbs
2 white witlof bulbs
1 small handful watercress
1 small handful salad burnet
1 cup red grapes
1 cup green grapes
1 lemon cut into thin slices and then into 1/8ths.
extra-virgin olive oil
8 bocconcini balls (small ones)
1 tablespoon roughly chopped lemon thyme
caper vinaigrette
1⁄3 cup walnut oil
1/3 cup verjuice
1 tablespoon capers (due to my own personal taste, I leave these out)
freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Roast the walnuts on a baking tray for about 5 minutes until beginning to brown, shaking the trays to prevent the nuts from burning. If they are not fresh season’s, rub the walnuts in a clean tea towel to remove the bitter skins. Put the nuts into a coarse sieve and shake away the skins. Allow to cool.

Separate the witlof leaves, then wash and dry carefully with the watercress and salad burnet. Cut the grapes in half and remove the seeds. Toss the salad leaves in a large bowl, then divide them between 4 plates. Slice the lemon finely and cut these slices into small pieces, then mix with the grapes. Pour a little extra-virgin olive oil over the bocconcini, then roll these in the lemon thyme. Slice thinly and add to the salad leaves.

To make the vinaigrette, whisk the walnut oil and verjuice until amalgamated. Dress the salad just before serving, topping with capers and walnuts.

The bocconcini can be dressed with the olive oil and lemon thyme up to a day before serving; however, the lemon thyme will become black and unpalatable if this is done too far ahead.

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The above recipe is copyrighted to Maggie Beer, The Cook and the Chef and the ABC One television network. It is posted here to share the wonderful recipe with others and the author of this website makes no claim to it as her own intellectual property, nor does she gain any financial benefit from sharing it.