This fun take on a fattoush salad is a great way to use up leftover challah – the resulting croutons are so delicious I could eat a whole bag of them. I love to make this salad using wonderful British asparagus, but as we are at the tail end of the (too) short season, feel free to replace them with a pack of green beans, mange touts or sugar snap peas, blanched in the same way. Feta makes a luxuriously creamy addition to this crisp salad, but leftover roast chicken would also work well, for a protein hit. 

Method

• Heat oven to 180°C (fan). Cut the challah into ½ - 1-cm cubes.
• Place them in a bowl with the olive oil and seasonings and toss to coat. Then spread them over a baking sheet and toast for 15-20 minutes, turning them halfway to ensure they are golden brown all over. Keep an eye on them so they don’t get too dark. Leave to cool.
• Break the woody ends off the asparagus and cut each spear horizontally into two or three. Have a large bowl of iced water ready and bring a pan of water to a boil, then drop in the asparagus pieces. Cook for 1-3 minutes depending how thick the spears are, then drain in a colander, run quickly under cold water and drop into the bowl of iced water. Once cool drain thoroughly and pat dry.
• Chop the parsley and dill roughly and pick off the mint leaves, discarding the stalks.  Put all the herbs in a large salad bowl.
• Cut the baby cucumbers into 3cm long chunks. Trim the end of the little gem lettuce and cut into wedges, and thinly slice the spring onions. Add all the vegetables to the salad bowl together with the asparagus.
• Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or lidded jar, and stir or shake to combine. Taste – dipping a piece of lettuce in – and adjust season if necessary.
• When ready to serve, add 2/3 of the croutons to the bowl and enough dressing to lightly coat the vegetables. Toss to combine – adding more dressing if needed. Top with the remaining croutons and crumble over the feta if using.

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