Wild weed salad

I like to use a mixture of wild weeds such as dandelion, chickweed, purslane, wild brassicas and wild fennel combined with cultivated greens.

Don't let weeds and discarded greens go to waste. Credit: Sharyn Cairns

• serves

  4

• prep

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

What’s the easiest type of garden to keep? One you don’t have to keep at all! No matter where you live in Australia, chances are that you’re surrounded by all manner of edible greens growing away happily, cruelly tarnished as being weeds. As with any type of wild food procurement, it’s essential that you can identify what you’re picking with absolute certainty and that you’re certain they haven’t been sprayed with weed-control chemicals. If you don’t know where to start there are plenty of folk in the capital cities offering workshops, or there are also great field guides written for Australia. This recipe calls for half cultivated greens and half wild greens, but feel free to experiment with the ratios until you find your own sweet spot. I like to serve this with crackling pork loin with cider gravy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rocket
• 1 cup mizuna
• 2 cups mixed edible weeds
• 100 g pecorino, shaved

Dressing

• 60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 20 ml apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Instructions

Combine the leaves and cheese together in a mixing bowl.

Combine the ingredients for the dressing and whisk together. Dress the salad and serve.

Photography by Sharyn Cairns. Styling by Lee Blaylock. Food preparation by Tiffany Louise Page. Creative concept by Belinda So.

Paul West is the host of River Cottage Australia, 6pm weeknights on SBS and on SBS On Demand. For more recipes from Paul, click here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

What’s the easiest type of garden to keep? One you don’t have to keep at all! No matter where you live in Australia, chances are that you’re surrounded by all manner of edible greens growing away happily, cruelly tarnished as being weeds. As with any type of wild food procurement, it’s essential that you can identify what you’re picking with absolute certainty and that you’re certain they haven’t been sprayed with weed-control chemicals. If you don’t know where to start there are plenty of folk in the capital cities offering workshops, or there are also great field guides written for Australia. This recipe calls for half cultivated greens and half wild greens, but feel free to experiment with the ratios until you find your own sweet spot. I like to serve this with crackling pork loin with cider gravy.