A delicious salad with salty stilton, crunchy walnuts and sweet, crisp apples. The perfect accompaniment to any BBQ or as a light lunch. I don’t like walnuts, or stilton – well I didn’t think I did until I tried this salad!

We were invited to one of Rien’s colleagues, Gordon’s, house for a BBQ. The weather that week had been lovely, but in true British weather fashion there were showers all day. It was quite amusing to see Rien out there amongst the other men BBQ-ing under and umbrella. Rien perfectly cooked the burgers so I was very impressed, he can now be trusted with the BBQ when we eventually get one in our new house.

Gordon’s wife, Cicely, made a range of delicious salads with one of them being this Stilton, Apple and Walnut salad. As I said I didn’t think I liked walnuts and stilton until I tried this salad. It looked so appealing I had to give it a try and I was definitely pleased I did. Separately I’m not still not sure how much I would like the flavours, but when you combine them they really compliment each other. The dressing is also unusual but really adds to the flavours and helps make the salad so delicious.

The day after the BBQ I tried googling for the recipe but couldn’t find anything that included the ingredients Cicely mentioned. I gave in and asked Rien to see if he could get the recipe for me. After days of almost constant nagging, he finally asked for the recipe. I’m not sure whether Cicely found the recipe somewhere or whether she has made it up and adapted it, but it is great. Her recommendation is to eat it with a pork burger in a lovely fluffy roll as the apple works brilliantly with the pork.

I know this salad won’t be for everyone, but I do recommend giving it a go because it just might surprise you! The salad is best eaten on the day as the acid wilts the leaves slightly.

1 bag of mixed rocket, watercress and spinach salad
3 apples
juice of half a lemon
150g chopped walnuts
150g stilton 
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

1. Core the apples and chop into bite size chunks. Put in a bowl and add the lemon juice, stir to coat. The lemon juice will stop the apples from turning brown

2. In a large bowl, add the lettuce. Add the chopped walnuts and crumble chunks of stilton into the bowl
3. In a separate small bowl, mix together the olive oil, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper – not too much salt as the stilton adds saltiness. Give the dressing a taste and add more oil, syrup or vinegar to adjust the sweetness/sharpness, remember the lemon juice with the apples will add some extra acidity

4. Add the apples and dressing just before serving and mix