Asparagus, Courgette, Feta and Sesame Salad.

Hello again! It's been a while since my last post as I was really busy last week attending my Auntie's wedding which was absolutely stunning. My Auntie and I have really similar taste so naturally I absolutely adored everything about her wedding, from the gorgeous cake to the beautiful flowers and delicious three course meal complete with my favourite Heidi Pieminister pie and a delicious dessert trio of; lemon tart, chocolate brownie and raspberry meringue. Yum.

The venue was stunning, the Cham 69 cocktails were particularly delicious and I definitely could have helped myself to a few more of those. We danced along to 80s songs all night and even broke out the air guitar a fair few times to some rock classics which was pretty hilarious and more importantly my incredible cousins; Alfie and Hugo also looked completely adorable and handsome in their little blue suits as the page boys for the day too.

My Auntie's dress was absolutely gorgeous and I actually couldn't believe just how beautiful she looked and how amazing her dress was when I saw her. It was honestly breathtaking. I was also really lucky to be asked to be her bridesmaid which, was very exciting as I am really close to her and I felt really privileged to be part of her special day. 

It was honestly just an amazing day for an amazing couple and they really deserved it and I wish I could do it all over again. Weddings are incredible, people should definitely get married more often. 

I am back now though and on a mission to keep healthy and lose a few pounds so here I am sharing with you this yummy salad recipe so, that I can hopefully one day look lovely in my own wedding dress but, for now as a lonely, singleton I'll just take getting that nice bikini body and who knows, it might just help me bag that future husband of mine too.

This is a lovely, simple, light and refreshing salad and I really enjoyed it and hope you do to! The lemon zest and juice gave a delicious fresh and summery burst to a nice healthy and tasty salad which, will hopefully help towards trimming down the old waistline unlike the homemade banoffee tart I will be munching on later. Sorry! No one can munch on lettuce leaves all the time though, can they? Unless of course you add a nice crumbling of creamy feta, some juicy courgettes and a handful of delightful, crunchy spears of asparagus, then it's not so bad.

Recipe

3 tsp. sesame seeds

280g asparagus

100g peas

2 courgettes

2 tsp. sesame oil

rocket leaves

125g feta, crumbled

grated zest 1 lemon

juice 1/2 lemon

small handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

Method

1. Heat a small frying pan and add the sesame seeds. Cook, shaking the pan and making sure the seeds don’t burn. When they are fragrant and have turned a light teak colour, tip them onto a saucer.                                                                                                               

2. Steam the asparagus for 3-4 mins until almost done. Drop into a bowl of iced water to cool, then drain and wrap in a tea towel to dry really well. Cook the peas for 3 mins in the boiling water used to steam the asparagus, then drain and cool under a cold tap. Slice the courgettes on the diagonal, about 0.5cm thick.

3. Heat a griddle pan until very hot. Brush the asparagus and courgette slices with the oil, and cook in batches until nicely striped with dark brown. Cut the asparagus into 5cm lengths.

4. Mix the asparagus, courgettes, peas, rocket, half of the feta, mint, lemon juice and lemon zest. Grind over some black pepper and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and remainder of the crumbled feta before serving.

And now, just to leave you with possibly the cutest pictures you have ever seen in your entire life of my adorable nephew Charlie who may just be the most gorgeous boy in the world!