A brie-licious salad

Three times a year, over a 4 week period, our church's Assistant Minister, Ben, runs a course Exploring Christian Marriage for some of the couples who are soon to be married here. As part of this, after they've been to the evening church service, they all come back to our home (the rectory) where Ben, Boak and I host a sit-down dinner, which has proved a great way to get to know them - and for them to get to know each other.

Cooking creatively for up to 18 can sometimes stretch my imagination and skills, especially as we try to vary the menu over the 4 weeks that we do this. Tonight, the first week of a new course, we served beef, oven-roasted on the barbecue, accompanied by tiny chat potatoes and this melon and brie salad which is a new one I've been trying out recently. Dessert was chocolate panforte (just a sliver), with home-chopped fruit salad.

I thought you might be interested in the salad recipe...

Melon and Brie Salad

(The quantities depend on your own personal taste)

Toast flaked almonds in a pan with a spray of olive oil, tip into a dish and leave to cool. Slice up and scatter bite-sized pieces of honey-dew melon and brie, and halved cherry tomatoes, over a bed of baby salad leaves on a platter. Just before serving drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the salad and grind some black pepper and rock salt over as well. Then top it all with a sprinkling of the cooled toasted almond flakes. Yummm!