For want of a better title I have called this a light ‘Waldorf’ salad purely because of the presence of walnuts, celery and apple - but the similarity ends there. I like the crunch and the fresh flavours to be enhanced with lemon juice rather than the customary dressing that contains mayonnaise and sour cream which would drown fresh, tender salad leaves.

Small chicken breasts are ample for a salad and a lemon and ginger butter glaze with honey in it will ensure a glistening, golden result. My own preference is always to use fillets with the skin on but you’ll get a good result without too. If you were to cook these on the barbecue I would resist applying the butter glaze until half way through cooking as the honey will easily ‘catch’.

Ingredients - serves 4 4 chicken breasts, skin on 30g butter 1 tsp honey juice ½ lemon 2 tsp grated ginger salt, pepper 1 pack mixed salad leaves juice ½ lemon 2 cox’s apples 1 celery heart 75g walnut pieces 2 tbsp walnut oil

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C
Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the lemon juice, honey and grated ginger. Lay the chicken breasts skin side up and spaced apart on a roasting tray and brush the skin of each liberally with the flavoured butter. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 15-20 minutes (brushing a second time after 10 minutes) to golden and cooked through. Leave to rest for 5 minutes in a warm place.

2 Core the apples and cut into 1cm dice. Trim and wash the celery then slice. Toss the celery and apple pieces in the lemon juice (the juice flavours the salad and also prevents the apple pieces from discolouring).

3 Slice the chicken breasts diagonally. Immediately before serving, toss the salad leaves together with walnut oil, celery, apple and walnut pieces then divide between awaiting plates. Lay warm lemon chicken slices over the salad and serve with plenty of crusty bread.