Crunchy salad with a homemade olive oil mayo

An indulgent salad, with the creaminess from mayo bringing together bright spring flavours like courgettes, radicchio, fennel, and mint. It's just the type of colourful excitement we like to throw down on our table this time of year...

This month's recipe comes from Natalie Chassay, the host of our favourite online cooking platform.

We've shared her work before, but we're still constantly in awe of how she creates the most colourful and flavour-forward meals out of a handful of ingredients. This unexpectedly hearty and yet bright and fresh salad is no exception.

But it should be noted that even just her recipe for an EVOO mayo here could really lay the groundwork for a lot of beautiful summer sandwiches, veg dips (with asparagus this month!), or simple dressings, like here...

She's also giving our subscribers 25% off anything on her site, so sign up to our subscriptions to get offers on treats like this from brands we select and adore.

Here's how to make it:

Serves 2

To make the mayo:

• Pour all ingredients into a cylindrical container and using a handheld blender start emulsifying the mixture.
• Start with blender firmly at the bottom of the container and once you see the mayo forming, you can start to slowly lift the blender up and down ever so slightly.
• Keep going until all the oil has emulsified and you’re left with thick, creamy mayonnaise.
  

To make the salad:

• Prep your veggies first. Thinly slice courgettes and fennel. Roughly tear your radicchio and mint (leaves only).
• Gently fry your panko breadcrumbs in a drizzle of EVOO, until they become golden brown.
• Then, throw all vegetables and herbs into a mixing bowl with a large few dollops of the mayo and a drizzle of maple syrup. You should have a fair amount of mayo leftover.
• Use your hands to coat all the vegetables thoroughly in the dressing then tip out onto a platter and spread it all out.
• Serve with a scatter of the breadcrumbs, drizzle of olive oil, squeeze of lemon, generous grating of parmesan, salt, pepper and some more fresh mint leaves and fennel fronds.

Ways to make your own:

• Some protein like chickpeas or chicken could go well with this.
• Drop in some fruit like apples or grapes to tang it up.
• Garlic in either the mayo or the breadcrumbs would excite some folks.