tasty starter salad for dinner party

In a household where the superior cook is the master of the house, I normally end up setting up the table, putting out the snacks or appetizer and creating the easy starters. And sometimes I’m baking the desserts. So here comes another one of my no-cooking required setups – and also one of my favourites too. Tapas-style nibbles – perfect for the season are nut mixes, olives and the good old hummus and breads and crackers. I love my salty snacks so the on the way to the table are also here a selection of cheeses (such as Brie, Manchego and my current favourite, three-years aged Canadian cheddar. Fabulous, but it crumbles a lot) and salamis & cured meats.

The starter itself is a salad (hence the no-cooking part) – top a bed of organic lettuce mix with crumbled blue cheese, chopped walnuts (coarsely chopped are fine for this), cherry tomatoes and dried cranberries. Pretty healthy – and way yummy! I normally let everyone mix their own dressing and just bring to the table a tray with olive oil (extra virgin) and vinegar and the sea salt and pepper grinders.