Satisfying enough to be a complete lunch, or excellent as a side to a piece of white fish, this salad is full of goodness and bright, fresh flavours.

The juice from the oranges also makes a great addition to the tangy dressing.

INGREDIENTS

200g Castelluccio or small dark lentils, cooked
200g Asparagus, with the woody ends snapped off
1 bulb of fennel
½ a small tropea onion
1 large orange, peeled and chopped roughly in to cubes
A bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
20 walnuts, roughly chopped
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, we use il Sincero from Marco Viola. This monocultivar Moraiolo has the perfect level of purity and intensity to meet the early lentil.

For the dressing

Any of the orange juice left on the board from chopping above
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flaked sea salt and milled black pepper

METHOD

Cook the lentils and the asparagus separately, drain and set aside to cool. The lentils will take around 20 minutes and the asparagus just 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely shave the fennel and red onion. And then just very lightly sautee them in a pan with some olive oil to soften slightly – you still want a bit of a bite – I would say about 3 minutes is perfect. Allow to cool.

Place in a large mixing bowl and add the parsley and walnuts. Then add in the chopped orange, saving any of the escaping juice for the dressing.

Then add in the cooled lentils and asparagus and combine carefully.

Make the dressing by combining all of the above ingredients with a fork, then pour over the salad and mix well, adjusting the seasoning if required.

Then plate up and you can add a little more parsley and walnuts on the top and a final flurry of extra virgin olive oil to serve.