Green Berry Salad

To make the candied pecans, in a small non-stick saucepan add the coconut sugar, water, cinnamon and sea salt. Cook over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbling. Add the pecans and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes on a medium/high heat, stirring to coat the pecans in the glaze. Keep an eye on them to prevent burning. Remove from the heat and spread the pecans on a My Relationship with Food silicone baking mat or parchment paper, let the pecans cool completely for 30 minutes, then roughly chop.

To prepare the vegetables, cut 1 to 1 ½ inches off the bottom end of the asparagus. Then using a vegetable peeler, peel away the outer layer of the stalks. The easiest way is to grasp the base of the asparagus in one hand and use a vegetable peeler in the other, carefully peeling toward (but stopping short of) your hand and rotating the asparagus as you peel. Then cut the asparagus in half on a diagonal.

Peel down the length of the courgette to get ribbons, stop on each side when you get to the seeds (discard the seeded part of the courgette, or add to a soup/eat raw to save on wastage).

In a large non-stick frying pan add 1 tbsp. olive oil, on a high heat sauté the courgette ribbons for about 1-2 minutes until cooked, then set aside to cool on a plate, season with herbamare or sea salt and a touch of black pepper.

Add the asparagus to the non-stick frying pan together with 1 tbsp. olive oil, pan fry for about 3-4 minutes until slightly browned, then remove to a resting plate and season with herbamare or sea salt and a touch of black pepper.

Finally add the trimmed French green beans to the non-stick frying pan with ½ tbsp. of olive oil and cook for five minutes then transfer to a resting plate with herbamare or sea salt and a touch of black pepper.

On large serving platter assemble the salad by layering up the salad, divide each of the ingredients into 3 sections. On the base of the serving platter, add a section of the following courgette, French green beans, asparagus, avocado, strawberries and pecans, then repeat this process 2 more times. drizzle ½ tbsp. olive oil and season with a touch of sea salt and cracked pepper. Garnish the salad with balsamic glaze.