Carrot and Apple Salad

Somehow we ended up with a couple of kilograms of carrots and apples hanging around the fridge, and I remembered this classic salad combination. It's fast, fresh, crunchy, and it even keeps for a week in the fridge. I also like it in a sandwich, particularly with blue cheese, although I imagine cheddar would work well, too.

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbsp sesame seeds
• 4 carrots
• 1-2 sharp apples
• a handful of raisins
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Dry-fry the sesame seeds until they are golden and fragrant. Shred the carrots using a tower grater. You can shred the apple too, but I prefer it finely diced or julienned, and find the salad is less soggy that way. Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt and olive oil, and crush in the garlic clove, then whisk together until emulsified. Toss the carrots, apples, raisins, sesame seeds and dressing together; serve cold or at room temperature.

Jamie's Salads

After a hugely decadent Christmas, and a 42C welcome to Perth, we ate nothing but salad for a whole week. I brushed off my old favourites: mango, mint and bulghur wheat; salad nicoise; and simple greens with lots of avocado. Toward the end of the week I recovered some appetite, enough to try a couple of new, more filling salads: Jamie's superfood salad, which reminded me of how good salad can be when you just chuck in the contents of the fridge, and Jamie's sexy salad, which is as good a salad as you can expect, having spent around $20 on the ingredients.

The best thing is, it's summer here, so it's the season for figs (as above), but also mangoes, peaches, apricots, and cherries. Love it!

Asparagus Shiraae

Asparagus is in season, and I have a Japanese food craving. Irreconcilable? I do not think this word means what you think it means! I went out on a limb and tried the most unusual (to me) recipe from The Guardian's Top Ten Asparagus Recipes. This definitely isn't for everyone... I can imagine the texture would really be off-putting for people who don't like jelly. But if you know you like soft tofu and sesame, give this a try. The recipe said serves four... well, that was total nonsense. Served two of us, with plain boiled rice and nasu dengaku to go with.

Ingredients

• 300g soft/silken tofu
• 200g asparagus
• 4 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted and ground
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• ½ tsp miso
• Salt

Drain the tofu from the packet, wrap it in plenty of kitchen paper, put it on a plate and place a weight on top of it to squeeze the water out. Leave the tofu for 30 minutes, until it weighs around 180g. Remove the woody part of the asparagus, then cut each spear diagonally into thirds.Bring some water to the boil in a saucepan, then add a little salt and lightly cook the asparagus for a few minutes. It should still be firm when drained. Cool the spears under cold running water and pat them dry.

Put the tofu in a bowl and add the ground sesame seeds, sugar, light soy sauce and miso and mix thoroughly. Add the asparagus to the bowl and mix into the dressing, seasoning with extra salt if required. Serve!

Kale and Apple Salad

One thing I'll say about no frost here is that it makes kale a premium, exotic ingredient. Instead of being a huge prickly vegetable so tough you either need to boil it or feed it to a pig, it's packed up like salad and is so tender you can eat it raw. A rather tasty way of doing so is to combine it with some mandolined apple and a handful of chopped dried fruits and nuts (e.g. raisins and almonds, as we did) and dressed simply with lemon juice and olive oil.

You still have to shred it finely, and it takes more of a chew than lettuce, but it's pretty filling, especially with a couple of boiled potatoes to give the sharp salad a contrast. If you want a bit more protein, feel free to shave over some feta, goats' cheese, or even parmesan.

Tabbouleh

Niki Segnit tried to convince me to add more parsley to my tabbouleh. She likes a 5:1 ratio of parsley to everything else. I tried.... but it just tasted too much of parsley to me! My preferred proportions are below:


Ingredients:

• 75g cracked wheat
• 1 large bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 small bunch mint, chopped
• 5 tomatoes, diced
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped (I'm not a big fan of onions)
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt to taste

Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over the cracked wheat; cover and allow to rehydrate for 10-15 minutes. Combine everything else together, then add the cracked wheat when it has cooled. Best served topped with a couple of BBQ'd lamb chops!

Wagamama Week: Yasai Korroke

At last! A successful recipe - something I might try again! Shame the ingredients list will be the longest I have ever posted :) I have given up revising their quantities in the ingredients list, and just written the ones that I used. For once the original recipe didn't make enough food, and while I'm willing to try making too much, I'm not willing to go hungry for the sake of following the recipe!

Ingredients:
Amai sauce:

• 1tbsp malt vinegar
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tsp tamarind paste

Salad dressing:

• 1 tsp finely chopped shallot
• 1/2" piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 50ml vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

Vegetable cakes:

• oil for deep-frying
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 50g frozen peas
• 75g tinned sweetcorn, drained
• 1 small onion
• 1 red chilli
• 3-4 tbsp plain flour
• 1 egg
• 75g fine breadcrumbs

Salad:

• half a bag of mixed salad
• 1/2 red pepper
• 10g dried wakame

Microwave the vinegar, sugar and soy sauce until the sugar has dissolved, then whisk in the rest of the amai sauce ingredients and set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, whisk together the salad dressing ingredients and set aside as well.

Peel and chop the potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Boil the potatoes for 12 minutes; add the sweet potatoes after 3-4 minutes so they are done at the same time. Drain very well, and cover with a teatowel to absorb the moisture. When reasonably dry, mash roughly with a fork, then stir in the peas and sweet corn and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion, and trim and deseed the chilli (or leave the seeds in, if you like the kick). Fry in a few tbsp of vegetable oil at a low heat, until soft and fragrant. Stir into the potato mixture. Using your hands, form the mixture into small cakes, and then dip into the flour, the egg, and then the breadcrumbs, and deep-fry at 180C for 4-5 minutes until crisp and golden. If the cakes are too fragile, chill them for an hour and then fry them slightly longer.

Meanwhile, finely-slice the red pepper and rehydrate the wakame. Toss with the salad leaves and dressing, then serve the cakes on top of the salad.

Verdict:
Ahh, this was a breath of fresh air. Crisp, delicate vegetable cakes that were surprisingly light and more complex than the sum of their parts. A salad dressing that looked thoroughly unappetising and unbalanced, but shined when combined with the crisp red pepper and earthy seaweed. I couldn't keep track of the quantities I adjusted this time: they suggested 50g of dried wakame go into the salad... that would be like one of the serving bowls entirely filled with wakame. And while this recipe nestles happily in the middle of the vegetarian main meal section, where the recipes seem balanced for 3-4 people despite being advertised for two, the original would only just have fed one. Strange book; it's like they went into the kitchens and tried to guess what quantities of raw ingredients went into each meal, rather than asking one of the chefs.

Chick Pea, Chorizo and Orange Salad

I spent most of last week sleeping and reading, trying to shake off a nasty cold. As a result we hadn't worn down the food stores quite as much as usual, so this week I'm attempting to cook entirely using whatever I have left in the fridge from last week. OK - I definitely cheated here, as there was a HUGE bag of red peppers going cheaply at the grocers' when I popped into the park centre to buy milk, and I did have to top up the onion supply. Now that I've made this salad, I think it's actually worth going out to get the ingredients, as it was amazing! No internet link this time; I just had ingredients I needed to use and found the right flavours to link them together.

Ingredients:

• one tin of chick peas
• one medium white onion
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• a handful of green beans
• a small handful of raisins
• a fat, spicy chorizo sausage
• two roasted peppers, skinned
• an orange
• a small handful of mint
• 1 heaped tsp dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Drain the tin of chick peas and tip into a salad bowl. Thinly slice the onion into slivers, and fry over a very low heat until golden, translucent and falling apart - about 12 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for a further minute, then tip out of the pan onto the chick peas. Meanwhile, top, tail and blanch the green beans and raisins, then drain and add to the salad bowl.

If the skin of the sausage is tough, skin it, then finely slice the sausage and fry in the onion pan for a couple of minutes, until crisping up and colouring. If you like, blot the excess fat with kitchen paper before adding to the salad bowl. Slice or tear the peppers into strips and add to the bowl. Using a sharp knife, cut the peel and pith from the orange, then segment into the bowl; squeeze out the core over the bowl to retain all of the lovely juices. Finely chop the mint and add to the bowl.

Whisk the remaining ingredients together to form a dressing, pour over the salad, toss well and serve immediately.

Shaved Courgette Salad

I've tried using courgettes in salads for years, always with disappointing results. What I realised recently is that depending on how you slice courgettes, they can either be very watery and limp or crisp and refreshing - cucumber behaves similarly. I believe it's dependent on what the slicing method does to the cell structure, which I surmise must be fairly fragile. Grating courgette bruises the cells and causes lots of water to be released, which is fine if you want to squeeze the shreds out and use them in, say, a cute little fried vegetable cake. For a salad, the perfect way to prepare them is to use a sharp vegetable peeler: hold the courgette upright, and use the peeler to make long thin strips, until you hit the seedy core. Rotate the courgette by ~30 degrees and peel again, until all you're left with is the seedy core, which you can eat raw or discard.

The rest of this salad follows naturally: a heady mix of balanced flavours which would work well as a side dish to anything, or even as a centrepiece with some quality serrano ham (or a strong, rinded goat's or brie-like cheese) and good crusty bread. The smaller the courgette you use, the more flavourful it will be, and the less core there will be to discard.

Ingredients:

• a few large sprigs of mint
• half a lemon
• 2 tbsp capers
• 3 baby or 1 medium courgette
• olive oil

Rinse and finely chop the mint. Zest and juice the lemon. Peel the courgettes into long thin strips. Combine the courgettes, mint, lemon and a few glugs of olive oil. Season with salt and peper and scatter over the capers. Serve immediately.

Cauliflower and Cashew Salad (with Pork Chop)

I can't remember where I picked up this recipe but it's one of my favourite ways of eating cauliflower. By being extremely careful not to overcook it, you can preserve its earthy, mealy flavour and freshen it with a spike of lemon juice and mustard. I love to pair it with soaked raisins for sweetness, toasted cashews for a sort of smokiness, and serve it with a freshly-grilled pork chop, only just done and dripping with hot juices. A dollop of mash is purely optional (as is the chop, for vegetarians).

Ingredients:

• Half a head of a large or a whole small cauliflower
• A generous handful of raisins
• A generous handful of cashews
• juice of a lemon
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• a small bunch of basil

Break the cauliflower into small florets and pop them in a steamer; steam for four minutes, then test every minute until just barely done, and remove from the heat immediately. They will continue to cook in their own heat. Soak the raisins in a little hot water. Toast the cashews over a low heat until brittle and crunchy. Combine the remaining ingredients and shake to form a dressing. Wash and tear the basil into a salad bowl. Drain the raisins and combine with everything else in the bowl; toss gently and serve while still warm.

Purple Salad (and Potato Rosti)

It's the end of the week and the fridge needs clearing out, so it's time to reinvent old recipes by substituting almost all of the ingredients! I also had a go at making a potato rosti, but the edges of my pan were too tall, so it was impossible to detach and flip cleanly. We'll buy a good skillet and sometime I'll put a recipe for rosti up.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium or 4 small beetroot
• a big handful of green beans
• 1-2 ripe avocados
• a few handfuls of salad leaves
• a generous handful of basil (chives would work too)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 4 tbsp crème fraîche
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp grain mustard

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Scrub, top and tail the beetroot and slice into wedges; peel if the skin is tough. Brush with olive oil and roast for an hour, until soft, sweet and caramelised. Top the green beans, halve and steam until green but not overdone: they will continue to cook after you remove them from the steamer. Peel and stone the avocadoes, and slice into wedges. Blend half of the basil and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor to make a thick dressing; taste and season.

When the beetroot are cooked, fold them gently with the beans, avocados and salad dressing until slightly but not totally combined (or everything will be bright magenta!). Serve immediately.

Warm Salad of Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Prunes

Just the ticket to go with my totally nom sweetcorn patties. Would work well any time of year, but it's pretty handy right now with sweet potatoes dropping in price by the day.

Sweetcorn patties, avocado & kiwi salsa, and
salad of sweet potato, quinoa and prunes

Ingredients:

• 100g quinoa
• one large sweet potato
• a large handful of plump prunes
• 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp olive oil

If you have very dry prunes, soak them in warm water for ten minutes while you prepare the other ingredients. Boil the quinoa for ten minutes, or as according to its packet instructions. Cut the sweet potato into small cubes and simmer for five minutes, then check for doneness every minute onward, until sweet and tender, but not falling apart. Drain the quinoa and potato very well, then put in a salad bowl. Finely dice the prunes and add.

Put the vinegar, honey and olive oil in a jar or bowl and microwave for 10-20 seconds, until warm and the honey is very runny. Whisk together with a fork and pour over the sweet potato, quinoa and prunes, then toss together.

10th Anniversary Dinner: Garlic and Butter Scallops with Pasta and Fennel and Orange Salad

They had an absolutely amazing fennel in the market at the weekend, and I'd been thinking about what to do with it all week. Following the success of our excellent peeler on the courgette salad earlier in the week, I decided to finely shave the finest bits of the fennel and slice the huge and beautiful fronds into a salad, while reserving the tougher stalks for a stew later in the week. Some sort of acidity would work well with the fennel, and also I wanted to serve seafood, so again I thought the flavours would marry very well. It all turned out totally yum!

I couldn't find the sort of large, quivering Scottish scallops I enjoyed so much in the UK - I had been planning to buy just ten, one for each of our years together. As the scallops were so much smaller, I bought ten each - still a hit to the wallet but worth it for the occasion :)

Ingredients

• One large fennel, preferably with lots of green frondy bits
• One large, ripe orange
• 1 tsp grain mustard
• 100g long pasta, like fettuccine
• very good olive oil
• 20 small or 10 large scallops
• four cloves of garlic
• 25g butter
• 1 tbsp honey
• a handful of basil leaves

Cut all the nice dark green frondy bits from the fennel and reserve. Cut off the tough stalks where they meet the bulb, and remove any really tough external layers. Wash the remaining parts, and then finely shave into a salad bowl. Save the tough heart, stalks and external layers for another meal.

Place the orange on a chopping board and cut off the top and bottom so that it is flat on each end. Place the bottom flat end on the board and, using a very sharp knife, cut the peel from the orange, following the curve around to the bottom. When you have worked your way all around the orange, turn it over and cut the last bits of pith from the bottom. Hold the orange in the palm of your hand, over the salad bowl. Slice as close as you can along the skin of each segment, letting each one drop into the salad bowl, working your way around the orange. When you have removed all of the juicy segments, squeeze the pithy core out over the salad, then discard. Stir through the mustard then chill while you prepare the scallops.

Set the pasta to cook according to its packet instructions. Finely slice the garlic into slivers. Heat the butter and a tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan, until the butter begins to colour and froth. Add the scallops and sear on one side, then turn and add the garlic. Fry until the garlic is golden and the scallops are done, then turn off the heat and tear in the basil leaves, and stir in the honey. Serve the pasta and salad onto the plate, and top the former with the scallops and butter sauce, and the latter with a drizzle of olive oil.

10th Anniversary Dinner: Melon, Mozzarella and Basil Salad

Ten wonderful years with my lovely partner :) How better to celebrate than to cook a really delicious meal, pop a bottle of bubbly and watch The Muppets :)

This is a starter I'd been thinking about making since I saw a delicious honeydew melon for sale in the market at the weekend. It's super-simple.

Ingredients:

• half a good, ripe melon
• a tub of tiny bocconcini
• a few large, fragrant basil leaves
• very good olive oil

Spoon out the melon into small balls with a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller - or in my case, a spoon. Arrange with a few balls of bocconcini on a couple of basil leaves. Just before serving, drizzle with olive oil.

Courgette and Feta Quinoa Salad with Carrot Fritters

I'm not usually a fan of courgettes in salad, as they can be watery and tasteless. However I came across and immediately wanted to make this recipe. I thought that with a little tweaking, I could prevent the curse of tasteless courgette. I made a couple of carrot fritters, adapting my usual recipe to include only carrots, root ginger, ground coriander, flour and egg; otherwise it would be courgette overkill!

Ingredients:

• 100g quinoa
• one medium or two small courgettes
• 1 tsp salt
• one tomato
• 150g sharp feta
• a large handful of mint leaves
• half a red chilli
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp of good olive oil

Cook the quinoa according to its packet instructions; I usually cook it at a low boil in a 4:1 water:quinoa ratio. Wash the courgettes and cut off any discoloured parts. If your courgette is on the large side, cut it in half lengthwise, and scoop out the inner seeds with a spoon, and eat or discard. Using a sharp or serrated peeler (we got a great one for Xmas!) or a very sharp knife, shave the courgette into fat ribbons. Layer into a sieve, sprinkling with the tsp of salt, then leave to drain.

Cut the tomato into small cubes, placing into a salad bowl. Crumble over the feta. Wash and shred the mint leaves, and finely chop the chilli; add to the bowl. When the quinoa is done, cool and add to the salad bowl. When the courgettes have started to drip, scoop them up and squeeze the excess water out (discard). Add the ribbons to the salad bowl. Shake up the dressing ingredients and pour over, then very gently toss all of the ingredients together. Don't over-stir; you don't want the feta to break up too much.

French-ish Salad with Sauteed Potatoes

We spent another weekend away - this time attempting to dive in Exmouth, in north-west WA. Unfortunately the weather was against us, with a cyclone a few 100km away causing massive sea swell and poor visibility. So we cut the holiday short and came back, just in time to do some really zonked-out shopping. After all the sunshine and travelling, I had only enough energy to throw together a quick salad for a nutrient hit, with just a couple of potatoes, few and sliced thickly enough that I could sautee them altogether in a single batch.

Ingredients:

• one tomato
• half an avocado
• a handful of lettuce or mixed leaves
• a few slices of prosciutto
• two eggs
• a handful of sprouting seeds
• one generous tsp dijon mustard
• one flat tsp grain mustard
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper

Boil the eggs to your liking - I prefer to put them in cold water, allow it to come to the boil, give them 2 minutes 30 seconds, then take them out and leave them in a bowl to cool. That way I can also boil the potatoes in the same water.

Chop the tomato and avocado, and wash and tear the lettuce into a large salad bowl. Tear in the proscuitto and tip the seeds in over the lettuce. Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar and pour over, then toss. Peel the eggs, quarter them and arrange over the salad on individual plates.

BBQ Aubergines and Double Bean Salad

At last, a meal this week that I put together and actually feel happy about. As I previously covered, aubergines work great on the barbie; this time I spiced them up a little with some ground black pepper, Chinese five-spice and ground coriander. While the aubergine slices and a couple of sweetcorn slowly toasted over the BBQ, I put together a tasty little salad.

Ingredients:

• 250g green beans, tailed
• two ripe red tomatoes
• a small bunch of basil
• a tin of butter beans
• 2 tbsp capers
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Steam the green beans for five minutes, until just cooked. Drain and rinse briefly; they will continue cooking while they're hot, so if they're in danger of going soggy, blanch them in ice cold water. Cut the tomatoes into small cubes and tear the basil into pieces. Drain the tin of beans and combine with the vegetables and capers in a large salad bowl. Whisk the lemon juice, sugar, salt and olive oil together in a jar or bowl then pour over the salad. Toss and serve immediately.

BBQ Kangaroo Steaks, Salad and Sauteed Potatoes

Not much to report beyond the awesomeness of my husband. A couple of kangaroo steaks seared on the barbie, sauteed potatoes, and a man-salad of rocket, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and croutons. Tasty, simple and great after Zumba!

Sticky Spare Ribs with Watermelon Salad

Saturday we went out for a huge birthday lunch for my cousin at a lovely winery. I had a massive slab of pork belly, which was totally yum, and then a giant Bombe Alaska, sprinkled with popping candy, which made for a very cool multi-sensory dessert! One of the sides during the meal really shined for me - a simple salad of cubed watermelon, torn basil, and feta cheese. I replicated it at home; it was hard to guess the dressing but in the end I went for the juice of half a lemon, between two people, and that was exactly right. Just a tiny touch of acidity to balance the sweetness of the watermelon.

At the local butcher's, I picked up a short rack of spare ribs, which we BBQd for five minutes a side, and basted frequently with sweet barbecue sauce, until totally caramelised and sticky. Plain white rice was all we needed to complete the meal, cooked as usual in a 2:1 water:rice ratio. I'm glad we went for a 40k cycle ride or it would all have been a bit too decadent!

Peaches and Mozzarella Salad

This is a brilliant little meal if you want something sweet, light and refreshing in the evening. Just slice a few peaches, tear some lettuce leaves and a large ball of (fresh, buffalo) mozarella or a pot of bocconcini, and top wih a dressing of half lemon juice, half olive oil. Tonight I popped by the bakery to get some nice bread to go with, but found it wasn't all that fresh. So we toasted big hunks of it it in the oven for a few minutes, then buttered generously with olive oil spread. Totally tasty.

Chicken and Lemongrass Patties

It takes longer to type this than to actually cook it. We simply blended a chicken breast with the tenderest parts of a lemongrass stick and half a slice of bread, made small patties, lightly oiled and BBQ'd them for a few minutes a side. A dressing of the juice of a lime, a few tbsp of sweet chilli sauce and a dash of soy sauce gave a pleasing sweet-sourness to drizzle for the patties and a dressing for a herby salad, and we rested the patties on a bed of deep-fried rice vermicelli, which I have made a little video of since I love making it so much!