Today is cherry day on the Jacobin calendar. For anyone who hasn’t been following the Jacobin Day hashtag on Twitter, the revolutionary Jacobins invented a new calendar, closely linked to agriculture and nature, where each day is named after something (see Melinda for more info) . Today is cherry day. And by co-incidence, I made goats cheese and cherry salad: #JacobinDay meets #ConfinedKitchen
I love cherries, and we’re lucky that Kent is a centre for growing them. I have in my head that they were introduced to Kent – and the UK – in the reign of Henry VIII, although I could be imagining that. Anyway, this recipe is something I make when my initial lust for cherries has been sated, and I can consider doing something with them other than simply stuffing them in my mouth.
The original recipe comes from Diana Henry, although I’ve messed around with it a bit. Start by macerating the cherries – about 100g for two, or you can use more if you’ve managed to stop yourself eating them. Remove the stones – fiddly, but necessary – then mix the cherries with olive oil, white wine vinegar and lemon juice, in the ratio one part oil, half a part vinegar, quarter of a part lemon juice. Leave them for at least half an hour, more if you are organised.
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| Cherries, ready for maceration |
After they have soaked, mix chopped goats cheese and whatever lettuce you have to hand. We has rocket, which pleasingly came from the farm we used to live next door too. Sprinkle with some kind of nuts – I had flaked almonds, the husband went for walnuts. Add the macerated cherries and their juice. I had home-made basil pesto in the house so I added some of that, but you could just add olive oil.
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| The finished salad: summer in a bowl |
Serve with bread if you want to make it more substantial. This is a lovely meal for a hot evening, which tonight wasn’t, but it was still delicious.
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