Paul Flynn: Three great plates of food to freshen up your week

A good salad is a revelation, a breath of fresh air. When you’re fed up cooking and eating the same old things week after week, it’s refreshing to change tack and have something lighter. Is it the crispness of the ingredients or the zing of the dressing that elevates you?

I do suspect, without judgment, that most families have a revolving series of dishes that are tried and tested safe bets. I think it’s normal to get a bit bored of cooking and eating the same thing. That’s why a great salad is just the thing to restore your mojo.

Loving Salads Café on Academy Street in Cork city blows me away every time. You’ll need sunglasses just to walk in there as the array of salads on display is so dazzling. Yotam Ottolenghi is undoubtedly an influence. Cavernous bowls twinkle, pop and glisten. Choosing can be fraught. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of deliciousness. Have a look online even if you can’t get to it. It is inspiring.

I’m using leftover roast chicken for this elegant first salad. You can cook a chicken breast if you don’t have any leftovers. It’s mixed with some lovely bits and pieces and sits on a creamy concoction called cervelle de canut, literally translated as silk workers’ brains, in homage to the canuts, the silk workers of 19th-century Lyon. Fromage blanc is traditionally used but you can also use crème fraiche as it can be hard to find. We sometimes use this as a dip in the restaurant, it’s utterly fabulous.

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I’m a big fan of petit pois. I’m also shaving some fennel and mixing them both with a mixture of baby spinach and kale and a punchy orange and chilli dressing, then topping the salad off with lots of tangy feta cheese. This salad is lovely on its own but would also be delicious with some roast lamb.

There’s a Middle Eastern accent to the other salad. Carrots are the star and the supporting cast are the bulgur and almonds. Dates bring their toffee sweetness and the yoghurt gives the dish balance.