Sunflower Herb Salad

Spot the 3 fresh herbs amongst the sprouts and celery!

Well, our 10 days of precious sunshine here in Birmingham, UK, have been great and now it's back to the normal dull weather for the moment, but the mini- heatwave has allowed both the herbs in my garden and the sprouts on my kitchen windowsill to flourish. Last night the weather broke and I felt the first thundery raindrops just as I was finishing cutting the lawn. I actually gathered the herbs for this recipe in the warm rain, to go with dinner; the first dinner we have eaten indoors in over a week. A work colleague kindly gave me some tarragon from her garden, which also found its way into this salad. This recipe made enough for 6 of us to have as a side. The sunshine lives on in the chlorophyll, vitamins and minerals etc. from the plants it helped grow!

A handful of alfalfa sprouts

A large handful of sunflower greens (sunflower sprouts that have been allowed to grow into tiny seedlings)

3 sticks of celery, sliced thinly

A handful of fresh parsley (I used flat- leaved)

A small handful of  fresh mint 

A sprig of  fresh tarragon

lemon juice

• Rinse and dry the sprouts and greens and combine them in a large salad bowl with the chopped celery.
• Gently rinse the fresh herbs, then tear them into small pieces (they release more of their aromatic oils into the food if you tear over the bowl rather than cut on a board) and cut the tarragon even smaller with some sharp kitchen scissors. 
• Mix with the other ingredients and sprinkle with lemon juice

This attractive green salad has an almost medicinal taste, and I don't think it would go down well on its own; although most of my family certainly did like it. I served it as a side along with sliced beetroot and a bowl of mixed olives with tomatoes to form the accompaniment to baked samosas and pakoras. (Not a circle of cucumber or a lettuce leaf in sight!)