Too Hot to Cook: Rocket, Apple, and Candied Pecan Salad

Too Hot to Cook is a summer cooking series at The Attic on Eighth where we share our favorite summer recipes for those long, sultry days where turning on an oven or letting stovetop dishes heat up your home feels like much too much. We’ve brought cooking free dishes to the table in the past, and we hope that by the end of summer 2020, to have shared many more. In this third volume of the year, Culture Editor Eliza Campbell shares a recipe for a filling but spectacular salad.

All Photography by Eliza Campbell.

I’ve never been very fond of creating cold meals. Usually, my preferred method of cooking is standing over a hot stove creating huge pots of vegetarian stew, curry, and soup. As that’s the last thing on my mind in the middle of a heatwave, I’ve come to develop this recipe for a rocket, apple, and candied pecan salad. This is a salad that’s got enough in it to fill you up, but stays light enough to not weigh you down on a scorching summer’s day. Plus, it takes next to no time to make so you can be out of the kitchen and into the sun or a shaded spot in less than ten minutes. While you do have to brave the heat of the oven to candy the pecans, I’m sure you’ll forgive me when you try them. May the rest of your summer be filled with lovely, easy meals!

Ingredients

• 60g wild rocket (arugula)

• 1/2 of a green apple

• 25g pecans

• 1tsp soft brown sugar

• 2 tbsp maple syrup

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Pinch of salt

• Parmesan shavings (optional)
  

Method

• To candy the pecans, place them on a baking tray and cover with the brown sugar and maple syrup. Place them in an oven at 200°c (390°f) for 5 minutes until the sugar mixture is bubbling.

• While the pecans are in the oven, make the dressing. Combine the lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Add a pinch of salt and set aside.

• Wash the rocket with cold water and allow to drain in a sieve or colander. 

• Cut the apple into very thin slices and set aside.

• Remove the pecans from the oven and remove them from the baking tray. (Note: the maple syrup/sugar mixture left on your tray will be easiest to get off by placing it in warm, soapy water for a few minutes as soon as it leaves the oven).

• Put the rocket in a bowl and drizzle with half of the dressing. Add the apple slices and pecans, then finish with the rest of the dressing and another pinch of salt.

• (Optional) Up until now this salad is completely vegan, but if you want to add a tiny amount of parmesan shavings then it will go wonderfully with the sharpness of the apple.

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Eliza Campbell is Culture Editor at the Attic on Eighth. When she’s not reading, writing, or in a rehearsal room, she loves to sit in galleries, libraries, and coffee shops listening to period drama soundtracks and watching the world go by.