Carrot and Coriander Salad, & New Potato Salad – delicious now that Spring has officially sprung with a stretch in the evening and the hours going forward to give us even more lovely brightness at the end of the day. These 2 salads are a delicious duo, new waxy potatoes dressed with mint and natural yoghurt paired with carrot sesame seed salad with OJ, vinaigrette and some lovely coriander. Nothing like these 2 to make you feel light and airy and think of the summer days and heat to come…. (Hopefully, fingers and toes crossed, we must be due a good summer here in Ireland, we are still talking about the heat wave of ’95!)

Minted Potato Salad – Serves 6
500gr new waxy potatoes
1 big bunch mint
300ml natural yoghurt
100ml mayonnaise
2 tbsp French dressing if you have it
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook the potatoes until tender
Blitz all the dressing ingredients until smooth
Cut potatoes in half on the length
Let cool and dress with the mint dressing and season with salt and pepper

Carrot and Multiseed Salad – Serves 6
10 carrots washed peeled and coarsely grated
1 big bunch coriander finely chopped
4 tbsp French dressing
1 tbsp spoon toasted sunflower pumpkin and sesame seeds
The juice of 1 orange

Put carrots in bowl and mix with the coriander, French dressing seeds and oj
Toss to mix – serve and enjoy.

French Dressing
To make a basic French dressing place 100mls each of rape seed, olive, a mild nut oil and red wine vinegar with 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp grainy mustard and 2 tbsp honey in a bowl and liquidize. This will keep in a fridge for several weeks – store in a bottle and shake before using.