Serves 2. Ready in 30 minutes.
Bringing together three of my favourite autumn ingredients, this warm salad makes a delightful light lunch.
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Cut 40g of skinned hazelnuts in half. Toast them in a dry, shallow pan over a moderate heat until golden. Set aside.
Make a dressing by mixing together 2 tbsp of cider vinegar, 1 tbsp of sherry vinegar, half a tsp of Dijon mustard, 4 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of warm water.
I do this in a jam-jar with a tight-fitting lid, shaking until the dressing is well combined.
Chop a small handful of parsley leaves and stir them in.
Wash, halve and shake dry 1 small little gem lettuce. Cut into wedges, then let it sit in the dressing.
Cut in half a medium to large apple (about 200g in weight), remove the core, then slice each half into 4 or 5 segments.
Warm a thick slice of butter (about 20g) and 1 tbsp of olive oil in the pan in which you browned the hazelnuts, then add the apple slices and let them cook for 4 or 5 minutes until golden, turn them over with a palette knife and stir in a tbsp of honey, then cook until tender.
Remove from the heat.
Divide the lettuce between 2 plates. Crumble 200g of Stichelton or stilton between the lettuces, then scatter the hot apples, 75g of blackberries and the toasted hazelnuts over.
Spoon as much of the dressing as you like over the salad.
• This is good with bitter leaves, too, such as frisée, watercress or chicory.
• I sometimes make this salad with pears instead of apples, swapping the hazelnuts for walnuts.
Photograph by Jonathan Lovekin