Hamburger salad

One of my favourite salads, and easy to make. Goes perfectly with this quick salad dressing recipe.

It’s called hamburger salad not because it has hamburger in it, but because it reminds Monica of the things you put on a hamburger. If you do add pieces of good vegan hamburger it turns it into more of a dish. That variation works well with a dressing based on vegan mayonnaise and a little sriracha.

Ingredients

Quantities are roughly per person.

• One tomato, chopped into chunks
• A few inches of a cucumber (‘English cucumber’ in North America), unpeeled and chopped into chunks
• Half a ripe avocado, chopped into chunks
• Half a gherkin (that’s British English: a Polish pickle in North American English), sliced thinly
• A little onion or shallot (if not already present in dressing), chopped fairly finely
• Pine nuts
• Shavings of vegan parmesan, or other good hard vegan cheese

I sometimes add some dry-cured black olives, sweetcorn kernels, or both.

Instructions

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, tossing them every minute or two and watching like a heron so they don’t burn. They can cool on a plate. Toasted, they keep for a while in a sealed container, so toast the whole packet, as pine nuts are always better toasted.

Mix the vegetables. Sprinkle the cheese and pine nuts on top. Pour over the dressing.