Earth Gems and Chorizo salad with a Spicy Dressiing

 

When my daughter Kate brought home a bag of earth gems which she spotted at Moore Wilson in Wellington I just had to create a salad to show these decorative little root vegetables off . She's vegetarian so I made one little meatless platter for her and added some spicy chorizo to ours. Either way the mustard and lemon/lime dressing added a citrussy tang. To turn up the heat add a dash of Hot Samoan Boys Chili Sauce

Ingredients:

(For one large meat eaters platter and a small vegetarian one)

1 bag of earth gems (500 gm)
1 bag of watercress
2 spicy chorizo sausages
5  eggs
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon of lime/lemon juice
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
A dash of hot chilli sauce ( I used Hot Samoan Boys Chilli Sauce)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Gently boil the earth gems in salted water until they are tender (about 10-15 minutes)
Slice and fry the chorizo
Hard boil the eggs and quarter them
Shake the oil, lime/lemon juice, mustard and salt and pepper together to make the dressing. Add a dash of Hot Samoan Boys Chilli Sauce.
Toss the watercress in half of the dressing and arrange on a large platter.
Scatter the other ingredients decoratively over the top.
Dribble over the remaining dressing.
Serve warm.

For the vegetarian version:

Omit the chorizo