Witloof, Endive, Chicory and Asparagus Salad

Simple super-salad

One of the things I like about getting a veg box each week is the variety of fresh seasonal produce.  Sometimes I get an item I've never really used before and this is always an opportunity to discover new flavours and methods of cooking.

This week we got two heads of something that looked like little lettuces.  But they weren't baby gem lettuces so what were they?  Mr Duncan said chicory but I thought it was endive.  It turns out we are both right though I prefer the name for it used by the Belgians - Witloof or 'white leaf' as it is indeed the white leaved vegetable grown from the chicory root in darkness after the chicory root is harvested.

So what to do with it?  I found a lot of recipes for braising it (and I particularly liked this one), but I didnt think that would go well with grilled salmon.  Then I discovered the asparagus in the fridge - a salad it would be.

Fertility focus
Asparagus is packed with fertility rich nutrition including folate, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and zinc
Endive is rich in vitamin K, iron, zinc and folate


I simply trimmed and blanched the asparagus and tossed it with the roughly chopped witloof and some cherry tomatoes in a dressing made from wholegrain mustard and balsamic.