Category Archives: Salads

Courgettes with butter beans and dill

Posted on by
Reply

Another entry in my “Favourite Salad This Summer” line up.  Once again this one embraces pulses and not for the first time I am banging the drum for Bold Beans.  This isn’t an ad and they are not paying me but I have got to tell you, they are truly fantastic beans.  Superb texture and taste which, after all, is pretty important if the pulse in question is a key component of your lunch.

Here courgettes are the other star along with dill.  It might seem a surprising combination but, as they say, trust me.  A simple trio but a mighty outcome.  This works well as side, I served it alongside the last salad featured here, Roast Cauliflower with herby yogurt, and some chicken and was immediately asked for the recipe.  Equally, I am happy to serve this on its own for supper and sometimes add mushrooms to the equation.  If you want to do that too, just add a similar amount of sliced mushrooms to the courgettes when cooking.  This beefs it out a little, as it were, and also soothes my son who loves the mushroom and courgette combo but has had enough of my pulse obsession.  Actually as a side note, he will often cook himself the courgettes and mushrooms but with not a bean in sight so that is another option really.

This is a corker for your leftovers lunch bowl so make a little extra at supper time and relish the smug glow of knowing a delicious lunch is prepped before you even go to bed.  Win win.

Courgettes, butter beans and dill.

Here is what I use but obviously this is super simple and very adaptable.  Scale up as you please or go the added mushroom route.  I am particularly fond of this served with a little yogurt and chilli sauce or the herby yogurt from the previous recipe.  The pumpkin seeds add a pleasing crunch and contrast in texture but leave them out if they are not your thing. This amount would serve four as a side.

3 courgettes, topped, tailed, sliced and these slices halved

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

700g jar butter beans (or different beans if that is what you have) drained

1 tablespoon chopped dill

2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, dry toasted in a frying pan

Warm the oil in a large frying pan and fry the courgettes with a pinch of salt until soft and just getting some spots of colour on the edges.  Add the beans and garlic and give it all a good stir for a minute of so until the garlic is just cooked and the beans warm.  Season well, mix in the dill and decant into a serving bowl or dish.  Scatter over the pumpkin seeds.

As Ina would say, how easy was that?

 

Roast cauliflower, herby yogurt and tomato salad.

Posted on by
Reply

I am mad for a big salad, the sort of thing that works as your main course but could also be a side if required.  A combination of ingredients with various flavours and textures that just work together.  Sometimes this could be a bowl lunch (do they call this a Buddha bowl) where I have collected various bits from the fridge or it could be something that involved a little more planning.  As such I am always putting things together to see what deserves to be written down.  Often these collections will include pulses of some description, I can barely go a day without either butter beans, lentils or chickpeas and favour Bold Beans, they are spectacular.  There must also be crunch and some kind of dressing, possibly yogurt or maybe a herb one along the lines of my Fresh Herb Sauce (July 2013).

Here we have some roast cauliflower and I think roasting brings out something really special in this particular vegetable, miles better than the boiled of old (that said I wouldn’t be without cauliflower cheese in the winter).  Some singed edges and the added spices make it really sing and I love the contrast with the herby yogurt and tang of the pickled onions.  You can of course use broccoli if that is what you have or prefer and I’ve made a similar salad using potatoes as the veg when that has been all the larder yielded.

Make the component parts ahead if that works for you and then bung them together before you serve.  We had this recently with a couple of other salads and a big pile of marinated, grilled chicken which was fabulous but I would be just as happy with this on its own.  Easy, cheap, make ahead, delicious – what more could you want?

Spiced Cauliflower, herb sauce and pickled onion salad

I often make my own spice blend using cumin, paprika, a little cayenne etc or a cajun type mix I get from the farm shop but here I used Cape Herb & Spice rub in Portuguese piri piri which has a great flavour and heat and I just happened to have it to hand.  I rarely use these pre-made blends but have found a couple I like and they do save a bit of time.

1 cauliflower, chopped into small florets, core cut up and leaves retained

1 tablespoon spice mix, see intro

2 tablespoons olive oil (nothing special)

A couple of stems of cherry tomatoes still on their vines if possible

300g Greek yogurt

1 batch Fresh herb sauce (July 2013)

1 batch Quick pickled onions (August 2014)

Preheat the oven to 200.  In a large bowl mix the cauliflower florets and core with the olive oil and spice mix, spread over a large baking tray and cook in the oven for around 30 minutes until it’s taken on colour (not just colour from the spices).  For the last 10 minutes, add the cauliflower leaves to the pan (turn them in the spices and oil) and finally the cherry tomatoes just to bring these to point of the skin splitting.  You can then leave all this to cool until just warm or even cold but I wouldn’t want it fridge cold. Check whether the cauliflower needs a bit of salt, it depends on the spice mix, some are quite salty.

Spread the yogurt onto a large plate and swirl the herb sauce over it.  Top with the cauliflower, scatter over the drained pickled onion and top with the cherry tomatoes. A pinch of salt over the top and you will be good to go.  This would serve four as a side.

 

 

 

 

Party Salad (and 10 years)

Posted on by
Reply

How this became known as Party Salad I don’t know but a salad needs a name and this has stuck.  One of the reasons may be that the components can be made ahead and brought together at the last minute whilst in your high heels and sequins. I served this to some friends recently and they all loved it, had seconds and asked for the recipe so you can’t beat that.

Never easy to get a picture of a salad so let me tell you what you see here – at the bottom there is a layer of baby spinach topped with a layer of brown rice which has a trickle of the herby green sauce.  Then comes the pickled cabbage on top of which the roasted vegetables are strewn.  Finally more green herby sauce, a few blobs of Greek yogurt, some toasted seeds and then the pink pickled onion.   So several layers but happily all can be made ahead with the spinach either coming from the shops or, if you are considerably more efficient than me, your garden.

I have served this salad, or variations of it, many times recently and any leftovers are positively stellar in packed lunches.  You can of course customise it too – use bulgar wheat instead of brown rice if you prefer or even little boiled new potatoes cut in half if that’s what you have.  Here I have roasted peppers, courgettes, onions and carrots, use the recipe for roasted vegetables from the salad (July 2014) using whichever veg you want.  In the summer I made the herby green sauce with parsley as per the recipe (July 2013) but recently used coriander as there was a big bunch in the fridge – different obviously but quite delicious.

My spicy seeds are perfect for sprinkling over (November 2018).  To make the pickled cabbage use the recipe for the quick pickled onions (August 2014) using quarter of a white cabbage very finely shredded.  You could have a layer of picked onions instead of cabbage plus the pickled onions on top, one less thing to make I suppose but I have no doubt a bowl of pickled cabbage in the fridge won’t last long.  There is just something about the combination here that I love, all the flavours and textures together, knock out.

As for the 10 years – it has been ten years since I started posting recipes here although the writing of them started many years before that.  These recipes and ideas are used by me weekly if not daily and also, happily for me, by many others.  Thank you for the many, many comments and for telling me how much you love my recipes.

 

Red cabbage, radish and herb salad

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a blast of colour to brighten your January day.  Not only is this salad glorious to look at it also tastes fabulous.   Crunchy raw veg always feels like it is doing us good but can, on occasion, be hard work to chomp through.  This however is an absolute joy to eat with its tangy, sweet and sour dressing and handfuls of herbs alongside the crunch of the radishes and cabbage.

I have mentioned before my aversion to stringent diets, casting aside any of the food groups or making January a form of penitence to salve our conscience following the season of plenty.   Food should be a pleasure, a treat to look forward to everyday and even if you are hoping to shake off a couple of pounds there is no reason why breakfast, lunch and supper shouldn’t be a feast.   You will find plenty of salads amongst my posts, not just leafy green ones although I won’t have a word said against my Favourite Green Salad (January 2014) but ones jammed with other ingredients full of crunch and flavour, freshness and colour.  Try the Thai-ish salad (November 2015), Roast Aubergine, Feta and Mint (July 2015), the Blood Orange, Beetroot and Feta (January 2014) or maybe the Celeriac Remoulade (January 2016) to which I quite like to add some sharp, crunchy apple if the mood takes me.

In short raw veggies are a great way to get yourself back on track.  You are eating healthily whilst tucking into something delicious – win, win.  I can’t recommend this one enough, I got the idea for the reduced dressing from an Ottolenghi salad and then tinkered around until I had this.  Easy and quick it always goes down a treat and that belt of pink, green and magenta goes a long way to lifting spirits on a dreary, grey day.

Red cabbage, radish and herb salad

1/4 red cabbage, finely chopped

10 radishes sliced

20g (a big handful) rocket

20g mint

20g coriander

50ml lime juice (roughly 2 limes)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons light olive or sunflower oil

Toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, a handful (optional)

Heat the lime juice, maple syrup, chilli flakes and soy in a small pan until syrupy then add the oil, mix well and leave to cool.  When you are ready to serve roughly chop the rocket, mint and coriander then mix together with the cabbage and radishes in a bowl along with the dressing.  Sprinkle with the seeds if you are using them.  Serves 2 for lunch or 4 as a side.

 

 

Pulled Pork

Posted on by
Reply

I can’t count how many times I have cooked this – any time of year it seems perfect, particularly when we have a load of friends round.  Very little hands on time, works a dream if you make it ahead of time and is an unbelievably economic way to feed a crowd. Did I forget to mention that it is also downright delicious.   Super tender, long cooked soft pork bathed in a sweet, spicy and tangy barbecue sauce stuffed in a soft bap with my crunchy, zippy fresh Christmas salad, topped with quick pickled onions and hot sauce.  Seriously, what is not to love.

I have made this with a whole shoulder and it made a huge amount, more than enough for 20 with extra for the freezer (a super useful number to have stashed away and it reheats a treat).  I tend to make this more often then with half a shoulder, rather easier to marinade and manoeuvre – last weekend one did 8 children and 6 adults with seconds.  I cooked it fully on Friday, shredded it (easier whilst warm) mixed it with the sauce and then reheated it in the oven on Saturday.  Too easy for words.

The Christmas salad (December 2013) despite its name is also a year round winner, crunchy and tangy, it works so well with the pork, they complement each perfectly.  Quick pickled onions (August 2014) bring a sweet/sour tang to the party and I couldn’t countenance my assembly without a good squirt of sriracha on top.

For pudding last weekend I made my son’s favourite, the Giant Strawberry Mivvi (June 2014), see the picture below.  This is a summer treat we look forward to all year and as it needs to be made ahead is another good one for entertaining.

Pulled Pork

1 heaped tablespoon paprika

1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoons fine salt

1 heaped teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons soft brown sugar

20 turns of the black pepper mill

Shoulder of pork, around 5/6lbs

50ml cider (or white wine) vinegar

1 bottle good barbecue sauce

Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a bowl then rub into all sides of the pork.  Wrap tightly in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.  When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200 and let the pork come to room temperature.  Put into a baking pan not much bigger than the pork, put the 50ml vinegar and 50ml water in the bottom of the pan (don’t pour it over the pork or it will wash off some of the spices) and cover with foil. Put in the hot oven and immediately turn it down to 160 and cook for 6-7 hours until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork.   Pour all the cooking liquid into a pan, skim off the fat, pour in the barbecue sauce and simmer gently for 20 minutes until slightly thickened.  Meanwhile remove and discard the layer of fat from the pork, shred the meat and return to the baking pan.  When the sauce is ready pour it over the pork, mix well and serve.

New Slaw

Posted on by
6

New Slaw 3

What happened to good old fashioned coleslaw?  I say good but actually, so many times it wasn’t, sometimes in fact it has been downright terrible.  Limp, greasy, over oniony, short on seasoning, cabbage too big, drowned in cheap mayo etc etc.  Poor coleslaw has hung its head in shame and hidden at the back of the buffet table.  Until now and talk about a makeover – the humble coleslaw has had some sort of sonic reinvention, spruced up and started wearing international couture.  Asian Slaw, Spicy Slaw, Citrus Slaw, Moroccan Slaw – it’s thrown off its dowdy mayo, lost the Cole and got down and funky with the kids.   Spicy, herby, tangy or hot – Slaw can be anything you like as long as it is crunchy.

I love a crunchy salad and regulars to these pages will know I am not stranger to this type of side.  My Christmas Salad (December 2013), the Thai-ish Salad (November 2015), Carrot Salad (January 2013) and of course the Celeriac Remoulade (January 2016) are variations on the slaw theme.   They are all cheap and easy to rustle up, happily retain their crunch for a couple of days in the fridge and will go with a myriad of other things as well as being perfect for lunch on their own (I particularly like this ones with a piece of cold salmon).  There is an added bonus though and its a huge and resounding boom of a bonus.  Children love them.   Who knew that getting raw veggies into children could ever be so easy?  My son particularly likes my Christmas Salad and regularly has if for his packed lunch.   My daughter however adores this gingery, piquant New Slaw the best, told me it is her favourite salad and had it three times this week.

Carrots, fennel, beetroot, cabbage (green, white or red), radish, celeriac, apple, broccoli – any of these work well.  Then do you want a sharp, zingy dressing, maybe spicy too?  Or perhaps a creamy dressing, a little more traditional although I favour yogurt or creme fraiche here over the ubiquitous mayo.  Add herbs, lots of them and seeds are good too.  Sometimes I add dried cranberries or raisins as I love that little burst of sweetness.  Customise your slaw as you please, make your own bespoke version.  We eat one of these raw, crunchy types of salad a few time a week and this one is the current favourite.  Gingery, herby and with a little heat it goes perfectly with barbecued chicken and I will post my favourite grilled chicken recipe in the next week or so.  Meanwhile may the crunch be with you, it is delicious and you can just feel it doing you good.

New Slaw

New Slaw

The other day I didn’t have any cabbage so used more carrots and it was just as good.  Different but just as good and that is the point of these slaws really, add a little more or less of something as you please, make it your own.

3 carrots, peeled

1/4 of a small red or green cabbage, core removed and finely chopped

6 radishes, sliced

2 spring onions, sliced

A thumb of ginger, peeled

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

A small packet of coriander

A small packet of mint

A handful of raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil, a light one

Juice of 1 lime, you may need 2 depending on their size and juiciness.

Grate the carrots and put into a large bowl with the radishes, onions, cabbage and chilli.  I use a box grater for this rather than an attachment in the processor as I find using this makes the veggies really wet.  Finely grate the ginger, add this to the bowl along with the olive oil and lime juice.  Season and mix well with your hands so that everything is combined.  Chop or snip the herbs over the salad, add the raisins/cranberries if using, mix once more and serve to happy faces.

 

 

 

 

Celeriac Remoulade

Posted on by
5

Celeriac Remoulade 2

I have piles of recipes waiting to be tried.  Stacks of pages torn out of magazines or newspapers waiting in boxes until the right day.   I tried various indexing systems but in all honesty when it comes to finding a certain recipe the usual answer is to sit on the floor surrounded by open boxes leafing through endless pages.  Eight times out of ten I will find the recipe I am after and all will be well but sometimes, occasionally I have to give up on the search.  So it was with a particular recipe for Celeriac Remoulade that I got from a cooking demo last year.   Before Christmas I looked everywhere but it was nowhere to be found so I had to start from scratch.  Not a hardship, it is delicious and fun fiddling around until the right combination is found.

I have served this twice alongside my Slow Roast Pork (recipe coming soon) and Christmas Salad.  The pork and two salads are piled up into a warm bap along with a few dressed green leaves and a good blob of chilli spiked yogurt.  Soft falling apart pork with the tang and crunchiness of the salads is a heavenly combination which seems to please adults and children alike.   After she had eaten this with us at New Year a friend asked me for the pork recipe and has now made it three times which thrills me to bits.  I thoroughly recommend you try it and I will post the pork recipe next week.  In the meantime enjoy this fabulous, crunchy raw salad with some air dried ham and if you’re not on the wagon a glass of cold cider, sensational.

Celeriac Remoulade

If you have a food processor with grating attachment this takes literally minutes to make but if not just use a regular grater and mind your knuckles.  This combination of yogurt and mustard is how we like it, enough of a kick but still child friendly.

1/2 a celeriac, peeled (approx 450g)

1/2 a bunch parsley, finely chopped

4 tablespoons Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons dijon mustard (you can use seedy mustard if you prefer)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

A pinch of salt

A pinch of caster sugar

Grate the celeriac using a processor or grater (see introduction).  Mix the yogurt, mustard, lemon juice, salt and sugar.  Mix together with the celeriac and parsley, I do this in a really large bowl so as to get it all properly incorporated.  Taste for seasoning.  This will serve 4 with a few slices of prosciutto or similar for lunch or 6-8 if you are having it with the pork and other salads in a bap.

Celeriac Remoulade

 

 

 

Thai-ish Salad

Posted on by
2

Thai salad 2

Right I must say from the off that this is a Thai salad in the loosest possible sense.  Yes there is coriander, lime juice, fish sauce etc but also apple and radish and I’m not sure quite how authentic they are.   That said, it is fabulous to eat and sometimes I am happy to throw authenticity out of the window.  I think I mentioned it with Paella (January 2013) – I am not trying to recreate an original dish, I simply want to make something good to eat.

This is crisp, crunchy and jam packed with flavours.  The ginger, garlic and (small amount) of chilli give this life and heat whilst the herbs and lime bring zip and zing to the party.  You can leave out the apple if you want but I love their tangy sweetness and likewise the radishes, if they are not your thing omit them but they add peppery crunch and a beautiful pink.

It is a bonus for me that my children like this.  My daughter is a bit of a salad phobe but she adores and this and happily ploughs her way through a bowlful, sometimes adding a little more chilli and then smacking her lips and puffing as a result.   Its good to see them enjoying a bit of healthy salad at this time of year when we are rather surrounded by root vegetables and a lot of hardy brassicas.

This is fab with pork chops or roast chicken (hot or cold) and also works very well with leftovers.  In particular I’m thinking leftover turkey here but then that would make it a challenger to my beloved Christmas Salad (December 2013).  Never mind, we’ll just have both.

Thai salad

Thai Salad

Make the dressing first so that the flavours can sit and meld for a bit.

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons light olive oil

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon sriracha or other chilli sauce

Small thumb ginger, finely grated

1 small clove garlic, finely grated

1/4 white cabbage

1 apple

6 radishes

2 carrots, peeled

1/2 bunch coriander

1/2 bunch mint

Mix the first nine ingredients together to make the dressing.  Taste and adjust as you see fit, a little more chilli perhaps?  Finely chop the rest of the ingredients and mix in a large bowl, add most of the dressing and combine.  You may or may not need all the dressing, it rather depends on the size of your cabbage and carrots!   Enough for 4 as a side.

 

Courgette, Broad Bean and Feta Salad

Posted on by
2

Courgette and feta salad 2

I know I say that every new salad I make is my new favourite but truly, this is.  I must have made it six times in the last two weeks and still show no signs of getting bored.   Crunch from little new courgettes go amazingly well with the glorious double podded emerald green beans.  A flurry of snow white tangy, salty feta along with a lemony garlic dressing brings the whole thing together with a boom.   Completely fresh and seasonal and got to be good for you, what is not to love?  I implore you to make this while the courgettes are small and the beans are around.

Broad beans might not be everyone’s cup of tea when single podded and served in their sometimes tough, grey outer jackets.  This I would concur with, a reminder of school lunches, both chewy and a little bitter.  Unrobe them further however, reveal that stunning inner green and you are in for an absolute treat, a true taste of the English summer.

I admit you need quite a pile of pods to end up with 200g of the inner bean but it is a job I enjoy, sitting at the table releasing each bean from its cosy padded sleeping bag.  A gin and tonic would be the ideal accompaniment to this task and reminds me of sitting with my granny podding beans recently picked from her garden (she had the gin in those days obviously, not me).    Granny’s kitchen garden was one of my favourite places in the world and although its been many years since I was there I remember the rows of vegetables like it was yesterday.   My first taste of asparagus, artichokes and fennel came from here along with beans of all variety.  Fruit trees in one corner offered regular treats when I was wandering around and the strawberries and raspberries further delights if I could negotiate the netting on the fruit cage.  It was a dreamy place and the excitement of picking fresh produce has never left me.

You will see feta mentioned again and I admit it finds its way into a lot of my salads.  If you aren’t keen on it though a little labneh (simply drained yogurt) would be a perfect, less salty alternative or some fresh ricotta (Herby Ricotta, September 2014) a delicious addition.

Courgette and feta salad-2

Courgette, Broad Bean and Feta Salad

3 small courgettes

200g double podded broad beans,

100g feta, cubed

1 small clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Fresh mint or marjoram, chopped to serve

Finely slice the courgettes and put into a bowl.  Blanch the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes then drain and run under cold water and drain again.  Mix the garlic with the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper, taste and check you are happy with the seasoning but bear in mind the feta can be quite salty.  Turn the courgettes in the dressing and make sure they are well covered then add the beans and feta and mix the in gently, sprinkle with herbs and serve.  Enough for 4 alongside other things or 2 on its own.

 

 

 

Roasted Aubergine, Feta and Mint Salad

Posted on by
2

Aubergine and Feta salad

At this time of year I am happy to eat salad after salad.   By this I don’t mean just a regular green salad with a vinaigrette.  Rather piles of fresh crunchy vegetables with handfuls of fragrant herbs, texture from seeds or grains, creamy feta, labne or ricotta and all anointed with a punchy dressing designed to bring the components together.

I like a classic Nicoise or a retro Coronation as well as the next person and a perfectly made Caesar is a thing of joy.  More often though my salads will be veggie based, at once healthy and delicious whilst celebrating the bounty of salad leaves and vegetables spilling from the shelves during the summer months.  Tomatoes, courgettes, beans of all kinds, beetroot, aubergines, carrots, peppers either raw, steamed or roasted.   Loads of verdant green herbs bringing all their gorgeous flavours to the party and lots of salady leaves.  If there is meat or fish it will often be almost as a seasoning, some small cubes of chorizo or bacon for example or salty slivers of anchovy.

You will find lots of suggestions here, Green Beans with Tomatoes and Chorizo (September 2013), Christmas Salad (December 2013), Favourite Green Salad (January 2014) and Roast Vegetables with Pomegranate Molasses (July 2014).   I turn to all these regularly and honestly, never get bored of them.  Todays salad is a new kid on the block and celebrates that trinity of good friends aubergine, feta and mint.  I often use these ingredients in other dishes but this time wanted them to shine and along with some bulgar for body, leaves of rocket and a garlicky dressing it is a stellar combination.

Aubergine and Feta salad 2

Aubergine, Feta and Mint Salad

I have mentioned previously my determination to find a way to make all vegetables agreeable to my children but it would seem that aubergine may be my nemesis…..

2 aubergines, sliced and then cubed

1 tablespoon olive oil

100g bulgar wheat

1 large handful of mint, torn

100g feta (more if you like) roughly cubed

1 large handful of rocket

1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 teaspoon runny honey

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200, turn the aubergine cubes in the oil and spread out on a baking tray (you may need two), sprinkle with salt and roast for 20-30 minutes until golden.  Put the bulgar wheat into a bowl with a pinch of salt and cover with boiling water to about 1cm over the bulgar and leave for 10 minutes.  After this time taste a bit, if it is still a little hard leave for a few more minutes before draining.   Meanwhile make the dressing by mixing the garlic, honey, lemon juice and oil, season with salt and pepper until you are happy with it.  Mix the bulgar with most of the dressing and then gently mix in the aubergine, feta, rocket and mint.  Taste for seasoning and just before serving pour over a little more dressing.  Serves 4 alongside other things.