Dandelion fritter salad with blue cheese and honey

This salad elevates the much-maligned dandelion into something special and gives you a reason to go into the garden and remove all the dandelion flower heads before they go to seed. So, it’s a win-win. Dandelions can be a little bitter, though I find the flowers are generally much milder that the leaves with a hint of sweetness and even a little earthy, nuttiness.  The salty cheese and sweet honey, not to mention the deep-fat frying, really help to balance out and even celebrate any bitterness. This salad is also great with feta if you are not a fan of blue cheese.

I also make honey with dandelions - which works great with this recipe. Find the recipe for dandelion honey here.

Serves 4 as a starter, 6 as a side

30 dandelion flower heads
50g plain flour
50g cornflour
¼ teaspoon salt
100-120ml cold sparkling water or use beer
Sunflower of vegetable oil for frying
50g peppery salad leaves, such as rocket, watercress or mustard leaves
50g stilton-style blue cheese (I like Young Buck)
¼ red onion
Pinch of mild chilli flakes, such as Aleppo chilli flakes
2 teaspoons honey

For the salad dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and black pepper

Gently shake the dandelion flower heads to dislodge any bugs. Remove most of the flower stem and set aside two dandelion heads to use as a garnish.

Make the salad dressing by putting all the ingredients in a jar and shaking well to combine them. Finely slice the red onion, put in a little bowl and dress with a tablespoon of the salad dressing. The red onion will macerate in the dressing which will help remove a bit of the oniony ‘bite’.

Put the plain flour and cornflour in a mixing bowl and add the salt. Pour in the sparkling water, stirring all the time, until you have a batter that is a bit thicker than double cream. You might not need all the water so add it gradually.

Heat the sunflower oil, to a depth of 5cm in a work or deep pan over a high heat until the oil is 180°C, or if you don’t have a cooking thermometer drop a teaspoon of the batter into the oil and if it bubbles up and browns in 15 seconds then the oil is ready.

When the oil is hot enough hold the dandelions at the back of the flower head, where the stem used to be, and dip it into the batter, completely covering the flower. Then carefully drop it into the hot oil. Fry them in batches of about 10 flowers. Fry them for 30-45 seconds on each side and then lift them out of the oil using a slotted spoon and drain them on a baking tray lined with kitchen paper. I usually put them in a low oven (50°C) to keep warm while frying the remaining batches.

Arrange the salad leaves on individual plates or a large platter and drizzle with a little of the salad dressing. Next put on the dressed red onions, crumble over the blue cheese and then add the dandelion fritters. Drizzle over the honey and sprinkle with the chilli flakes (if using) and the petals from the remaining two dandelion heads. Serve immediately.

Variation: To make sweet dandelion fritters add 1 tablespoon caster sugar to the batter and just a pinch of salt. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. The batter can also be used to make sweet or savoury elderflower fritters. For the elderflowers break the flower umbels into bitesize pieces and remove almost all the stem, just leave a tiny bit holding the sprig together before frying.