Springtime salads for lockdown lunches – recipes

Easy, store-cupboard spring salad ideas from our archive: tuna, white bean and radish, spicy new potato, herby quinoa with cheese and roast chicken

 Rosie Birkett’s Indian-inspired new potato and chickpea salad. Photograph: Rosie Birkett/The Guardian

Indian-inspired new potato and chickpea salad (pictured above)

Use garam masala or curry powder if you don’t have individual spices.

Prep 10 minCook 10 minServes 1

1 shallot or ½ onion
2cm piece ginger
1 garlic clove
1 pinch coriander seed
1 tsp salt
1 green chilli
Juice of 1 lime
1 large handful mint
2 handfuls coriander
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
1 tomato, chopped
¼ tsp each chilli powder and ground cumin
400g new potatoes (I used jersey royals), boiled and chopped
1 tin chickpeas, drained
2 tsp mango chutney

For the dressing
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
½ fennel seed
¼ tsp each ground cumin and ground cinnamon

Put the shallot, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds, salt, green chilli, the lime juice and a large handful each of mint and coriander into a food processor, and blitz into a paste.

Fry half the paste in the vegetable oil for a few seconds, then add the tomato, chilli and cumin powders and fry for a minute.

Add the potatoes and chickpeas. Cook for two minutes, then mix in the mango chutney.

Mix with another handful of fresh coriander and scatter over the rest of the green paste.

Now make the dressing: blitz the natural yoghurt with ½ tsp salt, the fennel seeds, ground cumin and ground cinnamon, then pour this over the salad just before serving.

Pickled fennel slaw with tinned sardines*

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 Rosie Birkett’s pickled fennel slaw with tinned sardines.

This would work well with tinned mackerel in place of the sardines, and beetroot would be a good substitute for fennel.

Prep 10 minRest 15 minServes 1

¼ fennel bulb
Salt
2 tbsp white-wine vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
1 pinch fennel seeds
½ kohlrabi
½ shallot
1 tin sardines (preferably in chilli oil)
Olive oil (optional)
Dried chilli flakes (optional)

Finely slice the fennel and put it in a bowl with a pinch of salt and any of its fronds.

In another bowl, whisk the vinegar with the caster sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then add the fennel seeds.

Peel and shave strips from the kohlrabi into the vinegar, then finely slice the shallot and add that too. Toss to coat, set aside for 10-15 minutes, then combine with the fennel.

When it’s time to eat, open the tin of sardines. If they’re packed in chilli oil, drizzle some of this over the salad. If not, dress with a little olive oil and some dried chilli flakes. Flake over the sardine and enjoy.

Lentil, celeriac and apple salad

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 Rosie Birkett Lentil, celeriac and apple salad.

You could use kohlrabi or finely sliced beetroot rather than celeriac.

Prep 10 minCook 20 minServes 1

50g puy lentils
1 bay leaf
¼ peeled celeriac
½ fennel bulb
½ leek
1 apple
1 celery stick
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp shaved hard cheese
Salt and black pepper

For the dressing
50ml olive oil
The juice of ½ lemon
3 tsp mustard
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Salt and black pepper

In well-salted water, boil the lentils with the bay leaf until tender.

Finely slice the celeriac, fennel, leek, apple and celery, then mix these with the drained lentils. Add the pumpkin seeds, capers and cheese, then season to taste.

In a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake up the dressing ingredients, taste and adjust the seasoning. Dress the salad when you’re ready to eat.

Tuna, white bean and radish salad*

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 Rosie Birkett’s tuna, white bean and radish salad. Photograph: Rosie Birkett

Use finely sliced carrot or cucumber if you can’t find radishes, and tinned mackerel would be lovely instead of the tuna

Prep 10 min
Serves 1

6 radishes
1 small fennel bulb
2 spring onions
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
Lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
1 tin cannellini beans
1 tin tuna in sunflower oil, drained

For the dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
1 dash Tabasco

Finely chop the radishes, fennel, spring onions and parsley, then season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Drain and rinse the beans, and toss with the salad.

Whisk the olive oil with the juice of half a lemon, a dash of Tabasco and some salt and pepper, and use this to dress the veg. Top with the tuna, and serve.