Moving onto Course 2 of Menu Woo Woo, the backstory of which you can find here. The soup course was an exercise in comfort. The salad course is an exercise in refreshment! Or something!

During the day, I went to Borough Market and came across this fascinating herb called “Pineapple Mint.” It was weird and wooly and smelled both fruity and cool at the same time – I had to buy it.

Turned out it was a perfect addition to the salad I was making and the weirdness of it added this extra element of cool into what otherwise would’ve been just fruit and mixed greens. Awesome!

The Salad Course: Mango & Pineapple Mint Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

A cure for scurvy if I ever saw one. Do people still get scurvy nowadays?

INGREDIENTS

For the Orange Vinaigrette
Olive oil
Wholegrain Mustard (er… I ended up using horseradish because I had forgotten to buy mustard. It turned out to be okay, but really… go for the mustard).
Salt & Pepper
White Wine Vinegar
Two oranges

For Salad
One bag of mixed greens (or, if you want to go through the trouble of making mesclun yourself – endive, leaf lettuce, radicchio and spinach).
Half a mango
1/3 of a cucumber
3~4 stalks of pineapple mint

For the vinaigrette, start by juicing the two oranges into a bowl. If it’s a little pulpy, that’s great – it gives the vinaigrette a little added texture (I love texture).

Add in two tablespoons of whole grain mustard, a glug of white wine vinegar and about two grinds each of salt & pepper. Give it all a good stir.

Pour in extra virgin olive oil slowly while stirring vigorously until you get the amount you need (about 2/3rds of a cup). Add more white wine vinegar to taste.

For the salad, dice the mangos and cucumbers into very small chunks and put it into a large bowl. Throw the greens and pineapple mint on top. Pour the vinaigrette in, cover the bowl and give it all a good shake. Put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 20 minutes. Then give another good shake before serving.

Voila. Salad Course.

Tomorrow, get ready for… Omigod. Fish.