recipe: fresh peas & orange salad with tahini dressing

Fresh podding peas are at the farmers market right now. And my little one and I can’t get enough of them. We pop them and gobble down the sweet pops of deliciousness. And we always joke every single time one falls on the floor, or rolls across the table ‘I pea-d on the floor’! It’s a fabulous joke with a 4yr old, and he giggles every time he says it, or we say it.

But sometimes the peas do get further than simply pod to mouth, and this salad is perfect for this time of year - for us here. The crunchy sweetness of freshly podded peas, combined with juicy lusciousness of Winter’s oranges. Pea sprout add to the layers of flavour, and I can’t help myself by adding raw fennel whenever I spot it at the local farmers market. I tie it all together with a simple tahini yoghurt dressing.

Here’s my rough recipe:

• Fresh podding peas

• 1-2 oranges - blood orange would be pretty, but regular orange-oranges are like golden sunshine

• fresh raw fennel - about 1/3 small bulb

• one Lebanese cucumber

• rocket, fresh pea sprouts and fennel fronds

Dressing - mix together in a glass jar. Can store in the fridge to use again for about 1-2 weeks. If you don’t add yoghurt it lasts much longer

• 4-6 T black or regular unhulled tahini

• 3 T Greek-style yoghurt (no flavourings or sweeteners). If it’s homemade yoghurt and is a little runny, that’s perfectly wonderful

• clove garlic - crushed or finely diced (it stays in the jar if crushed and you just get the flavour, not the pieces when you pour it)

• black pepper and sea or rock salt

• 1/3 cup good quality extra-virgin olive oil

Shake dressing well to break up the tahini, and pour over your salad. Enjoy as is or with some lovely fresh bread.

I use this dressing and versions of it for many different meals. Simply as a dipping sauce for fresh crunchy vege sticks (or corn chips) or add some tamari and sesame oil for a more Japanese rice-bowl style meal.