492/1038 - Green salad with walnuts, grapes and verjuice

This is the first time I have had a grape and walnut salad - and I am sold! 

With a couple of weeks of (very) bad eating behind me, I thought this salad looked like a lovely healthy option for dinner tonight. 

Feeling a bit lazy, I didn't boil the walnuts and rub at the skins...but I DID roast them with garlic. I can't believe I have never roasted walnuts before; what a wonderful way to intensify their fabulous flavour! Given that the garlic I used was locally grown and organic, I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Instead I chopped it up finely and tossed it into the vinaigrette. 

I had a feeling my walnut oil was a bit long in the tooth and unfortunately I was right. Tasting a bit too much like the tin in which it was stored, into the bin it had to go. I used a gorgeous fruity olive oil instead and can report that the result was still incredible. 

This recipe was the last in the small batch which appeared only in the second version of The Cook's Companion. Being the complicated little challenge that this is, it is easier to explain this in a diagram than in words, so see below for an explanation.

Another small milestone achieved x

...and did I mention that all of the lettuce was straight from the garden? Yummo.