Getting chummy with young herring

The week before an early Easter: fresh fava beans and green peas, daylight saving time, Spring cleaning, eggs, tulips, and fish with an MSC label - Marine Stewardship Council. The supermarket had MSC labelled young herring -maatje in Dutch- so this fish was game for lunch. Good fuel for the afternoon chores.

Young Herring (Maatje) Salad

Taking the three main ingredients from a salad by Michael van Straeten in his book Super Salads -chickpea, red bell pepper and herring- then doing my own thing.

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 young herring fillets (2 maatjes), cut in pieces
1/2 can of chickpeas, rinsed well
1/2 cucumber, chopped
sesame seeds
pumpkin seeds
A few salad leaves
chives, chopped
argan oil (for its nutty taste)
pepper
a dash of chipotle chili powder (for oomph)

Arrange the salad leaves on a plate, and fill with the chopped vegetables, seeds and onion, which all have been mixed and coated with argan oil. End with the herring on top.

Devour, then continue working.

Stamp of approval: leek and chickpea soup

Lu et approuvé, read with a stamp of approval: Dr. Ben Kim's leek and chickpea soup. He did provide his own mouthwatering set of pictures and explanation here, so I won't bother. I decorated with olive oil and peanut butter.

Radicchio salad for October

Believe me: lunch salads in restaurants are not always a picknick. Even though the menu may suggest prettily arranged mixed veggies, chances are great that green lettuce comes drowned in ready-made dressing and tomato slices are so thin and non-existent, that the concept of "mixed salad" is altogether questionable.

Save for a few tried places, there's no better value for money in the salad department than having a bit of improvization in your own kitchen to come up with the Real Deal.

Radicchio salad for October

Serves 2-4

1 head of radicchio lettuce, chopped
big handful of parsley, roughly chopped
300 g cooked chickpeas
1 tin of sardines
generous sprinkling of sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon tamari
3 tablespoons carthame oil

Combine all ingredients, step out, and have this salad in the October sun.