Cucumber, radish and cherry salad recipe

You can add crumbled feta, and chopped pistachios if you like.

Prep time: 15 minutes, plus 1 hour

SERVES

Four

INGREDIENTS

For the dressing

• ¾ tbsp white-wine vinegar

• Smidgen Dijon mustard

• 6 tbsp olive oil

• 1½ tbsp double cream

• Chopped leaves from 7 sprigs tarragon

• 1½ tsp caster sugar

For the salad

• 1 small cucumber, or ½ large cucumber, about 250g

• 200g cherries

• 150g radishes (multi-coloured ones look great)

• 40g pea shoots handful

• Unsprayed rose petals, torn or, if small, whole

METHOD

1. Mix the vinegar, mustard and some salt and pepper in a cup. Whisk in the oil, 1½ tbsp water and the cream. Add the tarragon and sugar. Mix and taste – you may want to adjust the seasoning or the sweetness. The consistency should be that of single cream. Cover and leave to sit for half an hour or so (this dressing improves as the tarragon flavour develops).

2. Peel the cucumber in stripes, so that some of the skin is left on. Halve lengthwise and discard the seeds. Cut into slices about the thickness of a pound coin. De-stalk and stone the cherries. Tear or slice in half. Trim the top and base of the radishes and slice lengthwise, ideally with a mandolin. Toss the cucumber, radishes and pea shoots with three-quarters of the dressing. Add the cherries (as the juices “bleed” it’s best to add them last), drizzle on the rest of the dressing and scatter the rose petals on top.