Category Archives: Salads

Food Monday ~ Juicy Summer Salad

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Summertime and the living is easy, so why not make an easy lunch at home or put the  ingredients in a lunch box to eat while sitting in the local park and soaking up a free helping of Vitamin D.

Juicy Summer Salad

A handful of  rocket,
cherry tomatoes
couple of scallions/salad onions
few slices of yellow pepper
red/black grapes
Melon chunks
pineapple chunks,
pinch of curry powder, and mayonnaise, mixed together or dressing of your choice.

Wash and dry the rocket leaves, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper and grapes and place in a bowl. Clean and slice the salad onions and add to the bowl. Add the melon & pineapple chunks and toss lightly.
Mix the curry powder with the mayonnaise together and stir through the salad.
Serve with crusty French, ciabatta or sour dough bread.

What do you add to make a summer salad special?

Food Monday ~ Peanut Potato Salad

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Peanut Potato Salad
4 Servings
500g new potatoes, scrubbed
50g thickly sliced cooked ham, diced
60 ml mayonnaise
15 ml peanut butter
Lettuce leaves

To garnish: 50g salted peanuts

Boil or steam the new potatoes until tender. Drain well and place in a bowl.  Add the chopped ham and toss lightly. Mix the mayonnaise & peanut butter together in a small bowl, add to the potato mixture and stir through.

Arrange the lettuce leaves on a serving plate and spoon the potato mixture on top. Sprinkle with the salted peanuts.

Food Monday ~ Californian Potato Salad

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Californian Potato Salad

750g small new potatoes, scrubbed & quartered.
125g rindless streaky bacon
125g raisins
25g cashew nuts

For the dressing:
60 ml  natural yoghurt
5 ml clear honey
50 g blue cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steam the quartered new potatoes until tender. Drain thoroughly, place in a bowl and allow to cool.
Grill the bacon until crisp, then crumble and add to the potatoes with the raisins, mix them together.

To make the dressing:
Mix the yoghurt, honey and cheese in another bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add to the potato mixture and toss through to coat.
Serve the salad warm or cold, sprinkled with cashew nuts.

Food Monday ~ Apple & Cucumber Salad

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For a juicy starter for two or light lunch for one.

Apple & Cucumber Salad

1 sweet dessert apple
juice of 1 orange
4 inch piece of cucumber
2 pieces of preserved stem ginger
Watercress

Dressing:
1 dessertspoon of ginger syrup
¼ teaspoon of ground ginger
2 tablespoons of French dressing

Slice apple and put into a bowl, sprinkle with orange juice and stir to preserve the colour.  Chop the cucumber in large dice and add it to the apple with 2 pieces of preserved stem ginger, grated or thinly sliced.

Dressing:
Mix ginger syrup (from the jar of preserved ginger) with ground ginger and French dressing and pour over the apples and cucumber. Toss well

Serve on a bed of watercress with bread sticks

Food Monday ~ Fennel and…..

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I love Fennel, be it bulb form or seeds.

Looking in my fridge a few minutes ago I spied the bulb variety.  Lunch sorted!

If I cut the bulb in two from top to bottom, one half will be enough for my salad and the remainder can be roasted tomorrow with the kitchen sink!  No! I do not roast the sink, but you know what I mean.

Now to prepare lunch

Fennel, Potato and Radish Salad (for one)

125g new potatoes
salt
2 or 3 sprigs of mint
half a fennel bulb
2 radishes
1 tablespoon of French dressing

Cook the potato in their skins in boiling salted water, with one sprig of mint, for 15 minutes.  drain well.
Slice the fennel, radishes and potatoes.  Strip the leaves from the other mint sprigs, and chop.
Place the fennel, potato, radishes and mint in salad bowl.
Pour over the dressing while the potatoes are still warm and toss well.

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Roast Vegetable selection with Fennel

My roast vegetables will be a pick and mix of what is in the veg box.   Even sized chunks of plain and sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, fennel, beetroot, Butternut squash, courgette, red onion halved or quartered and sometimes a whole clove of garlic topped and tailed.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

In a bowl I place two or three tablespoons of olive oil, and some black pepper and two teaspoons of chopped herbs of my choice for the day. Depending on my mood, I might add a dash of flavoured vinegar or a drop from an open bottle….  and mix them well together.

Then add in the vegetable chunks and toss gently to coat in the oil.  When ready to cook –spread in a single layer on an oven tray and roast for 35-40 minutess till wrinkly and tender.

Food Monday ~ Stuffed Tomato Salad

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Stuffed Tomato Salad

8 large, firm tomatoes
50g cottage cheese, sieved
50g grated Cheddar cheese
1 X 5ml spoon mustard powder
1 X2.5 ml spoon Tabasco sauce
10 cm cucumber, grated
Salt
1 small endive
To garnish 1 large carrot, cut in matchstick lengths

Cut a very thin slice off the base of each tomato, so that they stand steadily.
Cut a slice from the top of each and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
Beat in the cheeses, mustard, Tabasco sauce and cucumber, and season to taste with salt.
Spoon the filling into the tomato cases and replace the cut-off lids at a jaunty angle.
Separate the endive leaves and line a flat serving dish.  Arrange the tomatoes on the salad leaves, and decorate with the carrot sticks.
Serve with mayonnaise.

Tomatoes make perfect containers for savoury mixtures and great for left-over rice, pâté or dips.

Food Monday ~ A Sweet & Sour Salad

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A Sweet & Sour Salad

juice of ½ lemon
juice of ½ orange
5 ml spoon wine or cider vinegar
15 ml spoon olive oil
a pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
1 large ripe pear, peeled, cored and sliced
few sticks from centre of a head of celery. chopped
5 cm cucumber, chopped
small bunch watercress
25g dry roasted peanuts

Mix the fruit juices with the vinegar, oil, sugar and seasoning, and place in a bowl. Add the pear, making sure that it is well covered with the dressing.  Mix in the celery and cucumber.  Arrange the watercress in a circle on the top. Sprinkle with the nuts and serve immediately.

Food Monday ~ Sweet Sorrel Salad

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Reading Peter’s Blog Post on sorrel about ten days ago, I was reminded of this recipe.

Sweet Sorrel Salad

100g young sorrel leaves
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
10cm cucumber, diced

Dressing

1 X 5ml spoon whole grain mustard
2 X 5ml spoons thick honey
2 X 15ml French dressing
1 X 15ml spoon natural yoghurt

Hold the sorrel leaves in a bunch and cut through them with a scissors to a produce a fine shred.  In a serving bowl, stir together the sorrel, celery, pepper and cucumber.

Blend the mustard, honey and French dressing, then stir in the yoghurt.  Pour the dressing over the salad, toss well and leave to stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Garnish with sliced tomato before serving.

Food Monday ~ A Simple Salad

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Watermelon Salad with Feta and a Mint & Lemon Dressing
Serves 4
1 medium or 1/2 large watermelon
200g feta cheese
salad leaves or watercress
10ml runny honey
60ml  extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
30ml fresh mint

Cut the watermelon into large chunks and remove the seeds. Cube the cheese. Mix together the oil, honey, and juice of 1 lemon. Finely chop the mint and add. Mix together, season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Arrange the salad in a bowl and add the melon and cheese.

Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Food Monday ~ Date & Banana Slaw

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Date & Banana Slaw

  • 4 ozs of red cabbage, shredded
  • 4 ozs of white cabbage, shredded
  • 2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 ozs stoned dates, finely chopped
  • 1 large banana, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Dressing

  • 1 tablespoon single cream
  • 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • Salt & black pepper

Put the red and white cabbage, celery and dates in a bowl.Toss the banana in the lemon juice to preserve the colour and add to the bowl.Mix together the cream and mayonnaise, and season to taste.Spoon the dressing over the salad and toss until the vegetables are well coated.Turn into serving bowl and sprinkle with pine kernels.