Camden New Journal - Recipe for The Big C Salad by Clare Latimer

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The Review - FOOD AND DRINK - Cooking with CLARE
Published: 27th August 2008

Warming to the village people as summer arrives

Clare Latimer takes inspiration from a truly traditional British country occasion

FOR the next five weeks Sunday evenings are set for nostalgia, serenity and a huge temptation to bring back schoolgirl humour with the delightful programme The Great British Village Show (BBC1, 6.50pm).
With wondrous words like ‘wow!’, ‘gosh!’ and ‘joy!’, phrases such as ‘this is the place for a real whopper!’, or ‘Mummy, look at the size of this!’ and ‘when I reveal my marrow, I feel as sick as a parrot’, one can only hearten to the competition of country life.
You then have the rotund man dressed in a dark-green jersey who comes third in the largest marrow competition (or was it the best lookalike prize?), and the woman who had made strawberry jam and dyed her hair bright red in the front to relate to the jam.
We also had information that Alan Titchmarsh was the same weight as a marrow that weighed in at 135lbs.
All the winners will end up with a finale at Highgrove, so watch this space. A superbly put-together taste of England. Can we hope for the rudest vegetable to also appear for a bit of extra fun?
This introduction brings me on to this time of year where at last we can see and eat the best of British vegetables and fruit, so here are some simple ideas:

The Big C Salad
I would leave the skins on the carrots but make sure they are well cleaned and also the cucumber skin gives texture and colour. You can chop the vegetables into small cubes if you prefer. Serve as a light lunch with a slice of cold meat and a chunk of warmed bread.

Ingredients
Serves 8
Handful pumpkin seeds
Handful sunflower seeds
275g carrot, coarsely grated
225g courgette, coarsely grated
1 cucumber, coarsely grated
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
5 tbsp coconut milk
Small bunch coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C 400F Gas 6. Put the pumpkin and sunflower seeds on a baking tray and bake for about eight minutes to bring out the flavour.
Put the carrot, courgette, cucumber and chilli into a bowl and mix well. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve.
Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and black pepper and stir well. Sprinkle over the seeds and serve.

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