smoked chicken, mango and spring herb salad recipe

The perfect salad to eat as we, and the garden, emerge from hibernation in spring.

serves 4

• 1 whole smoked chicken
• 2 mangoes 'cheeks' chopped and trimmings pureed, or 4 tbsp tinned mango puree
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1 can water chestnuts
• Small bunch spring onions
• 4 tablespoon mayonnaise, preferably home-made
• 1 tablespoon crème fraîche, fromage frais or Greek yoghurt
• Juice and zest of 1 lime, and more to serve
• Large bunch of spring herbs - chopped (use mainly coriander, but chervil, baby sorrel leaves, chives, mint and baby lovage leaves are also good in small amounts)
• Handful of mange touts or sugar snap peas (optional)

Strip and chop the chicken. Prepare the mango and mix the cubed flesh with the chicken. Top and tail the radish and slice quite finely. Slice the spring onions and water chestnuts and add with the radish to the chicken mixture, keeping a little of each back to add at the end.

Mix the mayonnaise, crème fraîche (fromage frais or yoghurt), mango puree, herbs, lime juice and zest, keeping some of the herbs and a little lime zest back to add at the end. Add this to the mango/chicken and mix well.

Blanch the mange touts (or sugar snaps) for a couple of minutes and then cut into fine slices.

Scatter these over the salad and top with the retained herbs, lime zest and radish slices. Serve with a spring garden herb, salad leaf and lettuce salad.

This recipe featured in Sarah Raven's 2015 Calendar.