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5 warm winter salads

You don't have to sideline salads until the first green shoots of spring. And they don't need to be cool, calm and crisp. Get adventurous with these full-flavoured recipes

Just because it's still cold outside doesn't mean we don't appreciate the fresh crunch and crisp snap of a green salad leaf. You can turn green leaves into winter comfort food by tossing in all sorts of cooked additions, providing a contrast of cold and hot and an exciting mix of textures and colours.

Hot and cold salads to serve 6

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6, and fill a roasting tin with your favourite root vegetables. Take 2 parsnips, 1 small swede, 2 carrots, 2 red onions, an aubergine, 2 courgettes (not exactly root vegetables, but they go well in this), celeriac, turnips and baby new potatoes. Peel where necessary and cut all the vegetables into 5cm chunks. Cut the potatoes in half. Drizzle over 5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and bake until tender - about 45 minutes. Break up two large heads of Cos or Romaine lettuce, mix with the roasted vegetables and drizzle over all the cooking juices.

Wild Mushroom and Proscuitto
on Spinach
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and fry 12 slices of prosciutto until crispy. Remove and set aside. Choose a selection of wild mushrooms - you'll need about 1kg for 6. Leave the small ones whole and cut (don't slice) any larger ones into quarters. Tear oyster mushrooms into thick strips. Melt 50g of butter in the same pan and gently fry the mushrooms until they start to soften and release their liquid. Turn up the heat to boil away most of the juices. Add 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and about 2 tsp chopped fresh herbs. Use tarragon, flat-leaf parsley or thyme leaves. Let the vinegar cook off for a few seconds and season with salt and pepper. Divide the fresh spinach leaves among 6 plates and spoon on the hot mushrooms. Top each with 2 crisp slices of prosciutto.

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