Smoked salmon salad

This smoked salmon salad has beautiful spring flavours of avocado and grapefruit.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• 100g radishes, finely sliced
• juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp sea salt flakes
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 55g sunflower seeds  
• 120g rocket 
• small bunch (20g) flat-leaf parsley, leaves only
• 2 preserved lemons (optional, can be substituted for finely grated lemon or grapefruit zest)
• 250g hot smoked salmon
• 2 ripe avocados, halved and stones removed
• 2 ruby grapefruits
• 2½ tbs extra-virgin olive oil 

Method

1. Place the onion and radishes in a small bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice, discarding any pips, then stir in the salt and set aside to lightly pickle. 
2. Meanwhile, toast the fennel and sunflower seeds in a frying pan over a high heat for 2–3 minutes to release their natural oils. Transfer to a plate to cool.
3. Wash the rocket in a basin of cold water (this will freshen and crispen the leaves), pat dry then place in a large mixing bowl.
4. Roughly chop the parsley leaves. Cut the skin off the preserved lemons and finely slice, if using (discard the flesh as it’s salty and bitter). Flake the salmon and slice the avocados. Cut off the top and bottom of the grapefruits, and then carefully slice away the peel and white pith. Slice into segments.
5. To assemble, add the parsley, preserved lemons, salmon, avocados and grapefruit to the rocket along with the pickled onion and radishes, including the pickling juice and any grapefruit juice on your chopping board. Drizzle over the oil then, using your hands, gently toss to combine. Crush or roughly chop the cooled sunflower and fennel seeds then scatter over to finish.

This is an edited extract from Salad Feasts by Jessica Elliott Dennison (Hardie Grant Books, $29.99). Photography by Matt Russell.