Celebrate the fresh flavours of spring with these vibrant salad recipes from Salad for Days by Alice Zaslavsky. Whether it’s the zesty calamari and shell pasta salad or the crisp, refreshing pea and broad bean salad with parmesan vinaigrette, Fresh, versatile, and bursting with colour, these dishes are perfect for the season.

Calamari and shell pasta salad

In this salad, parsley and garlic paste (PG) is the marinade and the dressing, the dual fuel that’s full of flav. You can eat this warm or cold – as more pasta or more salad. If you’d prefer to keep this plant-based, sub in cooked chickpeas or big white beans.

Serves 4-6

• 350 g fresh calamari, sliced into 5 mm (1/4 inch) rings
• ½ cup (85g) small capers, rinsed and drained
• 200g sugar plum cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 200g small shell pasta

Dressing

• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 garlic bulb (about 10 cloves), cloves separated and peeled
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup (250ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for splashing
• 1 teaspoon salt flakes
• Lemon wedges (optional)

Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil.

Meanwhile, make the PG dressing. Pick half a packed cup of the smaller parsley leaves and set aside for the garnish. Put the rest of the unpicked parsley bunch (stalks and all), garlic cloves, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and salt into a blender. Blitz to a verdant green paste and transfer to a mixing bowl.                                                                                                                  

When the water is boiling, add the calamari and cook for 30 seconds, then scoop out, tap to drain and dump into the PG dressing, along with the capers and tomatoes. Wait until the water comes back to the boil, throw in the pasta shells and cook for 2 minutes less than suggested on the packet.        

Drain and rinse, then toss onto a tray with a splash of extra olive oil and spread out in one layer to cool down quickly and dry out a bit. Swoosh off the tray into the PG dressing, along with the reserved parsley leaves, and toss everything together. Tumble onto a platter and serve with lemon wedges, if using, and some freshly cracked pepper.

Easy peasy spring salad with parmesan vinaigrette

• 200g broad beans, podded
• 100g peas (frozen or fresh)
• 100g snow peas (mangetout), topped
• 100g sugar snap peas, topped
• ½ salad onion, finely sliced with the grain
• 100g snow pea sprouts
• 1 bunch watercress, about 100g, ends trimmed
• ¼ cup mint leaves, finely sliced
• ¼ cup parsley leaves, finely sliced

Parmesan vinaigrette

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1–2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
•  ¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 25g parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 10g parmesan cheese, for puffing

Fork together vinaigrette ingredients until combined. Season with salt and pepper.                      Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and tumble the podded broad beans in, then bring back to the boil for 2–4 minutes, depending on their size, until no longer chalky through the middle. Scoop out into a bowl and reserve.                                                                      

Drop the peas into the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes – whether they’re fresh or frozen. Pop the snow peas and sugar snaps into a heatproof colander in the sink and pour the boiled water and peas over the top for an easy blanch.                                                                   

Once the broad beans are cool enough to handle, squeeze the flesh out of the skins by finding the crack and pushing towards it. Set aside.                                                                         

Give the vinaigrette a quick zhuzh to reincorporate and toss the greens through, then combine with the salad onion, snow pea sprouts, watercress, mint and parsley leaves just before serving, warm or at room temperature.                                                                                    

Grate a final puff of parmesan over and finish with cracked pepper.