Mattimeo | Friar Hugo’s Summer Salads

“Everything was perfect, except for the food. That was beyond mere words.” – Mattimeo

It may be mid-August, but it’s still summer. I live in Georgia, which means it’s going to be summer for at least another month. I bring this up because when it’s over ninety degrees out with 70 to 80% percent humidity, the last thing you want to eat is something piping hot.

So when The Devil Wears Salad asked me to submit a recipe for this month’s Salad Gazette ezine, I figured this would be a perfect time to break out the Brian Jacques books. Because if anyone knows how to serve veggies on a hot day, it’s the creatures of Redwall Abbey!

Click here to skip to the recipes for:

• Redwall Radish Salad
• Root, Nut, n’ Berry Delight
• Berry-Tomato Bruschetta
• Sweetroot Salad

Friar Hugo’s Summer Salads

“Salads of twelve different types, ranging from beetroot to radish, right through many varieties of lettuce and including fennel, dandelion, tomato, young onion, carrot, leek, corn — every sort of vegetable imaginable, cut, shredded, diced, or whole.” – Mattimeo

Just when I thought it impossible to find a dang salad in a fantasy novel, Brian Jacques delivers. Twelve different kinds of salads — I know I’m missing eight with this post. But oh no, you have MORE RECIPES to look forward to over the next two summers.

That said, we’re not going to cover the standard iceberg drenched in dressing found in most American chain restaurants. No, I think salad deserves a much better rep than that. With such a variety of flavors, colors, and textures, their potential lies in their construction, not just the sauce they’re wearing.

But to get us started, let’s start with something that looks familiar.

Sing for your Salad!

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The printable recipe cards and playlist for Friar Hugo’s Summer Salads will be available as a $2 donor reward on my Ko-Fi page until the next post goes up.

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recipe1

Redwall Radish Salad

This first dish looks like the standard greens with stuff and dressing. Look again, though. Salads don’t always need lettuce.

The word salad itself drives from the french word salade, which comes from the Latin herba salata, meaning salted greens. Salata, meaning “salted,” refers to the practice of seasoning vegetables with brine or with salty oil and vinegar mixtures.

So technically, it can be any greens as long as they’re edible. And how do you make a salad more interesting without just dumping a ton of brine and sugar on it? Use flavorful greens, I say! This first salad uses both the root and the greens on red radishes and blends those spicy bites with bitter beet greens and cooling peppermint and dill.

We then sweeten the mix with honey, aromatic leek, earthy sherry vinegar, and fresh pitted cherries. Finally, goat cheese marries all that crunch together with some tangy creaminess.

recipe2

Root, Nut, n’ Berry Delight

So now that we’ve established that you don’t need lettuce to make a salad, guess what? You don’t need an abundance of green stuff either. Composed salads involve arranging ingredients specifically on a plate for optimum flavor and texture. I wanted to try my hand at creating one that would satisfy both woodland creatures and humans.

I’ve seen beet carpaccio in the past and wanted to feature the beetroot rather than hide it. One thing I learned from my Battle Chef Brigade-themed lamb recipe is that beet and strawberry go famously together. We also see an abundance of cheeses, honey, and hazelnuts throughout Redwall’s famous feasts.

So I combined all of these tasty elements into a single dish that highlights and complements each piece in beautiful harmony. Trust me. You haven’t tasted beets until you’ve paired them with hazelnut oil and honey.

recipe 3

Berry-Tomato Bruschetta

Not only do we see a cornucopia of summer salads in Mattimeo’s feast scene, but also a bevy of bread, fruit cordials, and herbed cheeses. So here’s where I should probably also point out that salads don’t always need to be served on a plate or in a bowl. Technically, bruschetta is a fruit salad served on toasted bread.

I’m glad you’re seeing where I’m going with this. That’s why I chose to pair two summer seasonal berries, blackberries and cherry tomatoes, with some peppermint and coriander before piling this delicious mess on top of some sliced ciabatta.

recipe 4

Sweetroot Salad

I save this salad for last because it is the one featured in The Devil Wears Salad‘s first Salad Gazette issue.

While I admit I’ve seen my recipes in print before when I won runner-up in Publix Aprons 2015 recipe contest, this was my first nerdy one. I don’t get to play with vegetables on here nearly as much as I’d like to. 

And that’s why I can’t help but grin when re-reading this: 

“Fans of Brian Jacques’s novels will enjoy a literary trip Redwall Abbey with this recipe inspired by the summer feast from Mattimeo. Honey-roasted carrots and Italian fennel join with sunflower seeds, fresh raspberries, and tarragon in this colorful, crunchy bouquet of flavor.”