Spring Salads with Eggs, Spinach & Radishes: A Fresh Combo

A spring salad is built on four seasonal ingredients that complement each other in flavour and texture:

• Baby spinach – delicate leaves, freshness and fibre; the base you build the salad on.

• Eggs – protein and staying power, turning the salad into a proper meal.

• Radishes – crunch and a peppery, slightly sharp bite.

• Spring onion – a mild onion flavour without the harshness of regular onion.

The season runs roughly from March to May, when these ingredients are cheapest and tastiest — at farmers' markets and in shops alike. The fresher the leaves and radishes you buy, the more flavour and nutrients stay in the salad.

Yes — baby spinach is low in calories and packed with vitamins A, C and K plus fibre, though its reputation as the "iron king" is a bit overblown. You can pile a generous handful into a salad and barely add any calories.

Spinach is famous for its iron content, but that reputation largely traces back to an old decimal-point error from the 19th century. In reality it has around 2–3 mg of iron per 100 g — decent, but not miraculous. Plant-based iron is also absorbed less efficiently by the body than iron from meat; vitamin C helps with that, and spinach has plenty of it, so a squeeze of lemon in the dressing makes sense nutritionally too.

Fresh spinach is delicate: studies show it loses about half its vitamin C after just a few days in the fridge. Store it in a sealed container with a paper towel to soak up moisture, and use it within two to three days. Besides salads, it's great in smoothies, swapped in for lettuce in a wrap, or stirred into a hot dish at the last minute, where it only needs a few seconds to wilt.

Eggs work well in a salad either hard-boiled and quartered, or cooked softer with a creamy yolk; the key is watching the cooking time and chilling them in ice water right after. One egg has around 6g of protein plus vitamins A, D and B12 and choline — it's the protein that turns a salad into a meal that keeps you full for hours.

Cover the eggs with water, bring to a boil, and once boiling, count 9–12 minutes depending on size — shorter for smaller eggs, longer for larger ones. Both white and yolk set above 60°C; a firm yet still tender yolk is ready at around 10 minutes. Right after cooking, transfer the eggs straight into ice water for 5–10 minutes: this stops the cooking and makes the shell easier to peel. Eggs a few days old also peel more easily than very fresh ones.

A poached egg with a runny yolk turns an ordinary salad into a mini meal. The water should be just below boiling point (barely simmering), and a splash of vinegar helps the white hold together. Use the freshest eggs you can find — their whites are firmer and hold up better in water. Rest the finished egg on a paper towel to drain before adding it to the salad.

Radishes bring crunch and a peppery kick to a salad, plus vitamin C and fibre. They don't have to be the usual red spheres: watermelon radish surprises with pink flesh inside, while black Spanish radish brings a sharper, spicier flavour and dark skin.

A few tips to get the most out of them:

• Slice them thin or into quarters; a mandoline gives even, almost translucent slices.

• To keep them crunchy, soak the slices in ice water for a few minutes after cutting.

• Tame the sharpness with a light sprinkle of salt or a short rest — salt draws out some of the pungent compounds.

• Don't toss the leafy tops: turn them into pesto or add them to soup.

Store them separately — bulbs with tops removed will stay crisp in a sealed container in the fridge for over a week.

The best spring salads are a Lyon-style salad with a poached egg, a leafy salad with salmon and eggs, a fresh cucumber-and-dill salad, and a spinach frittata — ranging from a light side dish to a heartier meal with egg and fish. There's a classic we haven't covered yet in our catalogue — radish salad with yoghurt-dill dressing — but it's easy enough to make on your own: mix thin radish slices with plain yoghurt, dill, a pinch of salt, sugar and a dash of vinegar, and let it sit for a few minutes so the flavours meld.

For delicate leafy greens, go for a light lemon vinaigrette; for radishes and root veg, a bolder honey-mustard dressing works better — and always keep the fat-to-acid ratio at roughly 3:1.

• For leafy greens (spinach, arugula): lemon juice + good olive oil + a pinch of salt. Won't overpower the delicate leaves.

• For radishes and young carrots: honey + Dijon mustard + wine vinegar + olive oil. The sweet-sour edge balances out the radishes' bite.

• Creamy version: plain yoghurt with dill, lemon and salt — pairs well with both radishes and cucumber.

A reliable ratio is roughly 3 parts oil to 1 part acid (vinegar or lemon juice). Acid brightens the flavour, oil rounds it out. Feel free to experiment with vinegars — balsamic adds a sweeter note, apple cider vinegar a gentler tang. Just mix the dressing in right before serving so the leaves don't wilt.

Partly, yes: prep the ingredients in advance, but only toss with the dressing right before eating, otherwise the leaves will wilt. Do it this way and you can have a fresh salad ready in two minutes.

• Boil and peel the eggs a day ahead and keep them in the fridge.

• Slice the radishes, cucumber and spring onion and store in a sealed container.

• Keep the spinach whole and dry — damp leaves go slimy fast.

• Assemble everything on the plate at the last minute, and add the dressing right before serving.