Parsley Salad with Almonds, Ham and Broad Beans

This is an exquisitely fragrant herb salad in which parsley is the main ingredient and everything else is merely an embellishment.

• Preparation time:20 minutes
• Total time:20 minutes 

Serves: 4, as a starter

Ingredients

• 2 x 20g packs flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbsp baby broad beans
• 2 tbsp finely chopped salad onion
• 1 small green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
• 2 tbsp diced ham
• 2 tbsp chopped toasted almonds
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Juice of 2 lemons, and finely grated zest of 1
• Sea salt

• To Finish
• Quartered lemons
• A few mint leaves
• Pitta bread

Method

1. Rinse the parsley, dry it thoroughly in a tea-towel, remove the stalks, and chop it finely by hand. A word of warning: don’t use a food processor because the action of the blades will crush out the herb’s juices.
2. Drop the broad beans into a panful of boiling salted water, bring to the boil, drain immediately in a sieve, and hold the sieve briefly under the cold tap to refresh the beans. Slip the beans out of their skins and combine with the parsley, onion, chilli and ham, and the almonds or pine nuts. Dress with the olive oil, lemon juice and zest and a little salt. Heap on a dish and finish with a few fresh mint leaves. Serve with hot pitta breads and quartered lemons.
3. A rich, but zippy white from Alsace would be great here: nutty enough for the ham and tangy enough for the green elements.