Walnut Pesto Waldorf Salad

Walnut Pesto Waldorf Salad....

50g walnut halves

50 g fresh flat leaf parsley

150 ml extra virgin olive oil

25 g finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino, (optional)

2 little gem

300 g celery hearts

½-1 lemon

1 large dessert apple

50 g sultanas

100 g creme fraiche

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 170 C/325 F/Gas 3

To make the pesto, place the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 5-10  minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool.

Remove the leaves from the parsley and place the leaves and toasted walnuts into a food processor with a little of the oil and whiz until roughly chopped. You want it quite rough in texture. Scrape into a bowl and stir in the remaining oil, cheese (if using) and season well with salt and black pepper. (be careful with the salt if using the cheese as it is quite salty.)

Wash and dry the little gem leaves.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon and pour half into a large bowl. Cut the apple (leave the skin on) into quarters, cut out the core then cut across again into thin slices. Toss the apple slices in the lemon juice in the bowl to prevent them discolouring. Slice the celery hearts (including any leaves) very thinly and add to the bowl with the sultanas.

Spoon the creme fraiche into a small bowl and add about half of the pesto. Beat together with the remaining lemon juice to taste and stir into the salad ingredients.

Divide the little gem leaves between each of 6 starter plates and place a good spoonful of the apple and salad mix onto each.

Nb. Too tricky to say to make less pesto than this so use the remainder as a sauce with pasta or stirred through vegetables. In sandwiches on a bit of fish. On the toast in cheese on toast......