Salads like this make the sticky Australian summer feel almost acceptable in their intensity. It’s an excuse for me to eat bucketloads of fresh raw crisp things. Like this salad, full of lettuce from the local market and oh so thinly sliced pink radish glowing in amongst the jubilant green. A little avocado for richness, a little artichoke for interest, and…that’s it. Ok fine, I will admit I had this alongside some homemade bread and punchy cheese.

If you felt like being particularly luxurious on a non-ridiculously warm day, a little ranch, aioli or shaved parmesan would take this to new heights. If you’d like no animal derivatives in your salad, toasted seeds/nuts and a sweet balsamic dressing are your friends. Lightly salting and pepper-dusting the avocado is another option if you want to forgo the bother of dressing. Something about avocado, salt and pepper makes me weak at…