It was on the Los Angeles leg of our five-week road trip across the USA that we had perhaps the most (and only) terrifying granny experience. We had a run-in with Skid Row – an apocalyptic portion of LA – 50 blocks of homeless people living in tents, and we’d decided it was a good idea to just ‘nip through’. It didn’t seem so big on the map, Iska had pointed out. It was.
Ironically, two homeless grandmas, aggressively shoving shopping trolleys towards us, began to chase us down the street. ‘I’m gon’ get me a new bag,’ they cackled. We were the only people stupid enough to have walked down there. They meant our bags.
We managed to outrun them – only just. In need of a beer, we zipped up to a hotel roof garden, where we met Alexa, who by some miracle turned our day around. Luck would have it that her mother, activist Tish, is a grandma – and a keen cook. Within a few hours, we were en route to Hollywood to rustle up an insanely colourful salad with Tish, who whisked us through her protest-reportage photography between blanching asparagus and expertly slicing at every vegetable and fruit known to man.
Jeune Tish’s California Sunshine Salad
(Feeds 4)
Ingredients
handful hazelnuts
bunch asparagus, woody ends removed
1 x 70g bag rocket
1 butter lettuce, torn
½ red pepper, sliced into thin pieces
150g peas (fresh or frozen peas cooked and dunked in cold water)
12 mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, peeled, stoned and sliced
4 or 5 radishes, finely sliced
1 grapefruit
1 tangerine
handful raspberries
For the croutons
1 demi-baguette, sliced into 1.5cm rounds
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
For the dressing
1 tsp raspberry jam
juice of 2 limes
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch Himalayan salt
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. First, make the croutons: take your slices of baguette (if you bought a big one, cut the rounds into halves). Mix the garlic and olive oil into a bowl with a pinch of salt and brush or rub this onto the bread. Put on a tray in the oven to toast for 15–20 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through, until golden.
At the same time, pop the hazelnuts on a baking tray and put them in to toast for 4–5 minutes. Set a timer and make sure they don’t catch.
Next make the dressing: in an old clean jar put all the dressing ingredients and shake to combine, then set aside.
Steam the asparagus in a pan with a lid and a little water for 4–5 minutes, keeping them al dente. Set aside.
Prepare all the veg and citrus fruit. Slice the top and bottom off the grapefruit and tangerine to start segmenting. Place the flat edge on the chopping board and cut the skin off the sides, then cut along the edge of each segment to extract them, trying to lose all the pith.
Find a big serving plate and start building up the salad, starting with the butter lettuce, with the asparagus around the edge pointing out like sunrays. Fill the plate with all the fruit and vegetables however you like, add the croutons and drizzle over the dressing.
