Smoked Salmon, Apple & Pea Salad

After living in Australia for 4 months now, I'm still in that phase where I'm enamored with certain produce, seafood, and foodstuffs that seem exotic to the American me. Any native Aussie would be undoubtedly unimpressed with things like the lobster-esque local creature called marron, or the plentiful piles of dates, or the sweeter, thinner ketchup (called "tomato sauce" here...confusing, no?).

 

The other day my shopping trip yielded a thick piece of smoked salmon from Tasmania. Tasmania! I have to remind myself that it is an actual place, let alone where actual salmon swim in the sea. I had no specific plans for the smoky fish but found myself tossing chunks of it together with matchstick pieces of crisp, tart Pink Lady apples and some sweet baby peas.

 

Besides tasting delicious, this salad is very pretty. I mixed in some spring green baby cos (romaine) leaves and dressed it with a simple mustard vinaigrette. It needed a bit more crunch (or maybe I just needed an excuse to make some croutons) so those went into the salad bowl as well.

For 2 Salads:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoons champagne vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
• Pinch of salt
• 3 ounces (80 grams) smoked salmon, pulled into chunks
• ¼ cup peas, thawed
• ½ Pink Lady apple, julienned
• Handful of croutons, preferably homemade
• 2 cups baby cos (romaine) lettuce leaves
• 2 teaspoons tarragon leaves

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, mustard, shallot and salt in a small bowl until emulsified. Set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a salad bowl, toss together with a couple tablespoons of the vinaigrette to taste, and serve immediately.