This Walnut, Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie is a delicious, hearty salad. Pack it in a lunchbox for a delicious nourishing office lunch. This also makes a filling and simple weeknight dinner for the adults…or the kids if you think they’d eat it!
Don’t you love a salad that is hearty enough to serve for dinner? If you do, you will adore this Walnut, Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie. So many delicious flavours combined with a dill dressing that ties it all together.
This salad is inspired by a similar salad I had at The Velo Project, a cafe in Mooloolaba when we were on holiday recently. It was everything you want a salad to be. Full flavoured, crunchy, creamy and filling. Yum. I knew I needed to recreate it. And voila…the perfect salad for dinner.
You Will Need:
For the salad –
mixed lettuce leaves
roasted walnuts
baby peas
chorizo
radish
cucumber
brie
dill
For the dressing –
olive oil
lemon
dill
garlic
salt and pepper
Roasting the Walnuts for the Walnut Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie
I really recommend you don’t skip this step. Roasting the nuts brings out the sweetness and removes the bitterness from nuts and gives them an amazing texture. To roast the nuts, preheat your oven to 200c and roast for around 4 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn. You can then cool and store in an airtight container for when you need them.
Lemon Dill Dressing
I have made this Walnut Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie with a basil dressing but – trust me, you want to make this with dill. It is the perfect herb for this dish. If you have a stick/immersion blender add all the ingredients into a jar and blend until creamy and smooth. If you do not have a stick blender, finely chop the dill and pop into a jar with the remaining ingredients and shake to combine for one to two minutes.
Preparing the Chorizo
The chorizo I use for this salad requires cooking. You can buy chorizo that is cured so does not require cooking. To prepare the chorizo for this Walnut Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie Salad, slice the chorizo thinly then brown over medium heat in a frypan. You will not need to add any oil to the pan as the chorizo will release its oils as it cooks.
Substitutions
Ok, so it’s a salad so you can totally change this up to what you have or for your allergy needs. To make this salad dairy free just omit the Brie. If you don’t have any Brie a creamy goats cheese or blue cheese would be fabulous. Instead of walnuts, pecans would be delicious or almonds. If you are allergic to nuts, to add crunch roasted chickpeas would be a great substitute. And if you want to make the salad vegan omit the chorizo and the Brie and replace with roasted beetroot.
This Walnut, Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie is a delicious, hearty salad. Pack it in a lunchbox for a delicious nourishing office lunch. This also makes a filling and simple weeknight dinner for the adults.
Ingredients
Scale
For the salad
1 chorizo sliced thinly
100g walnuts
100g mixed lettuce leaves
100g baby peas
100g sliced cucumber
50g radishes sliced thinly (around 3)
65g (half a round) Brie
5g dill
For the dressing
1 lemon zest and juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5g dill
1/2 clove garlic
salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 200c then roast the walnuts for 4 minutes
Meanwhile, fry the chorizo until browned over medium heat and set aside to cool
Layer the cucumber, radish and peas on the lettuce
Next make the dressing. In a glass jar add in olive oil, dill, lemon juice and zest, garlic and salt and pepper (if desired) and blend with an immersion stick blender until smooth and creamy and the dill has been finely chopped and incorporated.
If you do not have a stick blender, finely chop the dill before adding with the remaining ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake vigorously for a minute of two to combine.
Add the chorizo and walnuts and if you are ready to serve, top the salad with the brie, remaining dill fronds and the dressing
Notes
Do not dress the salad until you are ready to serve. You can make the dressing ahead of time and store in the fridge until needed.
You can prepare the walnuts and chorizo ahead of time for this salad for an even quicker weeknight meal.
You can use frozen peas. Food safety recommendations state to cook frozen vegetables before serving due to the risk of listeria. To cook, bring a small amount of water to the boil and add the peas. Bring back to the boil and cook for a minute or so. Cool the peas immediately under cold water.
I hope you enjoy this Walnut Pea and Chorizo Salad with Brie, it has become a firm favourite at home. If you make this salad please share with me on Instagram or Facebook, I love to see you make and enjoy my recipes! Also if you make my recipes and love them – please rate them!
Hi! I'm Bernadette and I love sharing recipes that are easy and can be made with your kids. My aim is to share with you (generally) nutritious, (always) delicious food that my family eats (mostly – I have young children that sometimes hunger strike for no reason).
