Pembrokeshire Early Potato and Bacon Salad with Apple Dressing
This salad is best served warm but all the components can be prepared beforehand and assembled just before serving.
Serves 3
Ingredients
350g Pembrokeshire early potatoes
4 slices of smoked bacon
2 crisp eating apples, cored and cut into wedges
15g tbsp butter
6 handfuls salad leaves
50g hazelnuts toasted
4 spring onions, washed and sliced
1 tbsp chopped chives to garnish
2 tablespoons apple cinnamon curd
1 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Halen Môn seasalt and pepper
Method
Wash and half the potatoes and in boiling water until just tender.
Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a small bowl
Pour half the dressing over the drained warm potatoes and set aside.
Grill the bacon for 5 minutes on each side, remove from the pan and cut into bite size pieces. Add the butter to the same pan and brown the apple wedges in the melted butter.
Remove the apples and deglaze the pan with the remaining dressing.
In a serving bowl mix together the potatoes, bacon, apple, nuts, spring onions and salad leaves and pour over the warm dressing and garnish with chives.
Preheat oven to 200C/gas 6 and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Peel and remove most of the centre of the apple leaving a little at the bottom.
Mix the whisky with the ginger preserve and spoon into each apple.
Cut the puff pastry into long strips, 1cmwide. Starting at a base of each apple wrap each apple with pastry so that pastry overlaps just slight as it spirals around the apple.
Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar. Place on the prepared baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 180C/gas 5 and bake for another 10 minutes, until the pastry is a rich golden brown.
To prepare the custard heat the milk and cream in a heavy based saucepan and bring just to a boil. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale in colour. Pour over the warmed milk and mix well.
Return this mixture to a clean saucepan and slowly bring to a gentle simmer stirring all the time with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Do not leave the custard to boil as it may curdle. Remove from the heat and stir in the whisky. Serve with the cooked apples.