Garden greens, sesame grilled pineapple, cucumber salad

Salad

Ingredients:

530g fresh pineapple cut from whole

½ cucumber/190g

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp white sesame 

3 tbsp black sesame

60g spinach/mixed baby leaf

40g pea shoots

170g baby gem

90g red chicory

25g fresh coriander

25g mint

25g thai basil/or regular if unavailable

30g red chili

175g raw peanuts

Fried shallot

Ingredients:

3 shallots/181g

1 1/2 tbsp corn flour

300ml rapeseed for frying

Honey ginger sesame dressing

ingredients:

Yield: 135g

Left over pineapple juice from grilling

1 de-seeded green chili, chopped

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp honey

½ tsp salt

1 lemon/ juiced/ two if little juice

7g grated ginger

Method:

Trim the peeling off the whole pineapple, and cut into long rectangular strips around the core. Cut these strips into smaller rectangular strips (about three per side). Heat a grill pan and grill all four sides and set aside. Save any juices for the dressing. Cut at a diagonal and place into a bowl with the salt and black sesame seeds. Toast the white sesame seeds and set aside. Peel and slice the cucumber (with a crisscross peeler if available) on a mandolin, or very thin. Prepare all the leaves and place into a large serving bowl. For the gem, leave leaves whole and quarter the baby core. Finely chop the chicory from root. Pick the coriander and Thai basil off the stem and place in bowl. If using regular basil, layer, roll, and ribbon cut. Do the same for the mint. Mix well. Peel and finely slice the shallots and mix with the corn flour, fry until golden and drain on paper towels. Season. Add all the dressing ingredients to a bullet and blend until well combined. Mandolin slice the chili, or very fine. Toast the peanuts in a pan and roughly chop. Arrange the cucumber and pineapple evenly around the dish. Scatter the white sesame seeds, peanuts, and chili over the salad. Top with crispy shallots. Serve the dressing on the side.