Posts Tagged ‘Salad’

Perk yourself up this January with a refreshing, seasonal salad…

1 orange
1 pink grapefruit
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

Peel and segment the orange and grapefruit, segment and remove the pith. Add the segments to a bowl.

Thinly slice the fennel and add to the citrus. Lightly mix and set aside.

Dry-fry the coriander and cumin seeds to release their aromas, then crush to a coarse powder in a pestle and mortar or food processor. Mix the crushed seeds into the salad.

Serve and enjoy!

Serves 2 as a side dish

1 Sicilian cucumber
50g borage
2cm ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
1tbsp caster sugar
5 tbsp rice vinegar
½ tsp soy sauce
salt

Peel alternate strips off the cucumber so that you end up with a stripey cucumber. Then slice very thinly and sprinkle with salt and leave to rest in a colander for 10 minutes until softened.

Chop the borage in 2 cm stripes, then lightly steam until just about wilted.

Mix the sugar and a pinch of salt with the vinegar and soy sauce.

Rinse the cucumber and squeeze to drain excess water.

Mix the cucumber and borage with the dressing, then sprinkle the ginger matchsticks on top.

This is a very refreshing salad so it’s a good accompaniment to rich meats and oily fish.

100g watercress
500g belle de fontenay potatoes, halved
150g smoked mackerel, flaked
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
150g mache and peashoots
1 avocado

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10-12 minutes until tender.

Blend the watercress with the lemon and mustard in a blender, add the olive oil and season with salt and just a touch of pepper.

Toss the cooked potatoes and the mache and peashoots together with the dressing, and place in a large serving bowl.

Slice the avocado and arrange with the flaked mackerel on top of the salad. Serve with more of the watercress and lemon dressing drizzled over.

Taste: These peppery and tangy little leaves are the perfect lift me up in many dishes. They add a kick to salads, soups, dressings or mashed potatoes. Try them with fish or meat, blend in a pesto, let you imagination free to improvise. You can’t go wrong!

Region: We get our spinach from France, where they grow in larger, darker and beautifully peppery leaves.

Quality: We buy watercress twice a week directly from the market in Paris, where our buyer only select what’s looking and tasting best. You can be sure it’s extra fresh and that it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for too long.

Cost: We always let you know the price per kg so you can easily compare our prices. This superb watercress is not only better quality, but also cheaper than what is found in the supermarket.

Natoora “Watercress” £1.34/100gr, £13.40/kg

Ocado “Watercress Waitrose” £1.35/100gr, £13.50/kg

Prices checked on 13/01/2011

Taste: Also known as lamb’s lettuce, mache has beautiful velvety green leaves. They have a lightly nutty flavour, perfect for adding to mixed salads. Use a mustardy dressing to bring out its full flavour. The “Coquille” variety has larger, shell shaped leaves and is richer in flavour.

Region: We get our Mache from France, where this variety is in full season at the moment.

Quality: We buy mache twice a week directly from the market in Paris, where our buyer only select what’s looking and tasting best. You can be sure it’s extra fresh and that it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for too long.

Cost: We always let you know the price per kg so you can easily compare our prices. This superb mache is fresher, better quality and at the same price than its supermarket equivalent.

Natoora “Mache Coquille” £1.99/100gr

Ocado “Lamb’s Lettuce” £1.99/100gr

Prices checked on 17/02/2011

200gr cooked beetroot
200gr white chicory
250gr mache
1 apple
1 large lemon
a handful of peeled walnuts, chopped
30gr Roquefort cheese (optional)
Oil
Salt and pepper

Peel and chop the cooked beetroot. Trim, wash and cut the white chicory into rings. Wash and dry the mache. Peel, core and thinly slice the apple, then drizzle with lemon juice.

Place all ingredients in a salad bowl. Prepare a vinaigrette with the remaining juice of the lemon, oil, salt and pepper. If you like, mix in the roquefort cheese.

Coarsely chop the walnuts, add to the salad and dress with the vinaigrette, mixing well.

A simple, healthy and delicious recipe to get your January detox off to a tasty start…

Tarocco Nocellara Oranges
Mixed Radicchio
Pumpkin Seeds

First peel the oranges. Slice off the very top and bottom to create flat edges, then run the knife down each side to remove the skin and pith. Segment following the natural lines.

Chop or tear the mixed radicchio. Toss together with the orange segments and some pumpkin seeds.

The juice of the orange should dress the leaves and the sweetness of the oranges will naturally counteract the bitter radicchio leaves. Serve immediately.

All our oranges are tasting superb at the moment and they make a wonderful match the fresh flavours of fennel and red onion…

2 oranges
2 fennels
half red onion
2 anchovies in oil
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano

Thinly slice the washed fennel, dress with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and leave to marinate on the side.

Thinly slice the red onion and add to the fennel. Divide the orange segments and cut in half. Drain and roughly chop the anchovies. Add everything to the fennel, dress with salt, pepper, oregano and plenty of extra virgin olive oil.

A delicious take on a classic steak. Try out some refreshing Oriental flavours with this tangy recipe…

1 Bavette Steak
2 Spring Onions
1 Carrot
1 Small Mango
Red  Chilli
Fresh Ginger
Coriander
Rice Vinegar
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil

Thinly slice the onions, carrot, chilli and dice the mango. Dress with finely chopped coriander, grated ginger, some rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Season with salt and pepper if you like, but the soy sauce should give enough flavour.

Grill the steak to medium rare, set aside to cool down. Once warm, slice in medium/thin slices, arrange on the plate and top with the salad.

Asparagus is so delicious, it’s very easy to cook and to make a simple, delicious meal. All you need to do is trim off the woody ends – some people say you should take the spears individually and gently bend the tops over until they snap – and use them in salads. With older asparagus the best thing may be to throw the tougher ends away, but I tend to save them for adding chopped to a pasta dish or a soup, taking advantage of their distinctive taste more than their looks.

Steam the plump green spears and drizzle them with some olive oil and lemon juice, or make some homemade mayonnaise to dunk them into – a few dark green spears can make a simple supper or light starter. As well as the oil and the creamy homemade mayonnaise complementing the crisp spears, slightly soft-boiled eggs and shavings of Parmesan cheese turn them into a delicious indulgent-tasting salad, into which I’ve thrown some chopped fresh dill – I’m somewhat obsessed with this fresh herb at the moment, but you could equally add fresh parsley, or coriander, for a herbal zing.

Many recipes for asparagus and egg salad partner it with small pieces of pancetta, but I find that this can be a little too greasy (and would by the way take the fat level of the salad pretty high), so I prefer to get the smoky meat flavours from thin slices of San Daniele ham (from which I trim any excess visible fat). If you can, buy wafer-thin pieces of this Italian ham and then it will melt in your mouth. English roast ham can work well too – everything fresh asparagus needs to make it into a delicious lunch or supper.

I think one trick with asparagus is, the same as with all vegetables, not to overcook it, as then it turns mushy –it’s best to undercook it if anything, so that you have some crunch when you bite into it. And of course, nutritionally, the less you cook it the fewer vitamins and minerals you will lose; this is especially the case with the water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C, so you’re best to steam or chargrill your asparagus to maximize how much vitamin C you have left when you bite into the spears.

Nutritionally asparagus is rich in fibre , especially a soluble fibre called inulin, which is what we call a prebiotic – a type of fibre that encourages the body to grow good bacteria such as acidophilus and bifidus, which may have benefits for reducing heart disease and certain cancers as well as help relieve IBS symptoms. Asparagus also contains Vitamin C, a little iron, a small amount of vitamin E and some B vitamins.

But back to eating the delicious stuff-a good asparagus based nibble can be simply popped together by wrapping the lightly cooked spears in wafer-thin slices of ham or smoked fish, or mashing them with some ripe avocado and lemon juice and serving them rather like guacamole – although I would only tend to do this when I’ve picked up a few cheaper bunches, which you may be lucky enough to do at a roadside or market stall, or when I have some cooked spears left over from a meal, as it’s a pity not to take advantage of asparagus’s attractive fronds.

Asparagus Salad with San Daniele Ham and Soft-Boiled Egg

This salad is also delicious if you use roast chicken instead of the ham, or different young raw vegetables, such as baby carrots, fresh crisp fennel (sliced), ripe tomatoes, rocket or radishes – it’s an all-round delicious salad that works throughout the spring and summer, depending on what you have around.

Serves 4

500g asparagus
300g broad beans
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 x 300g bag of watercress
8 slices of San Daniele ham

In a large pan of slightly salted boiling water, cook the asparagus for a couple of minutes before adding the broad beans. Let them simmer for a further couple of minutes until both beans and asparagus are tender but not mushy – you want them still to have a bit of bite, otherwise the salad can taste a little mushy. Drain them well and put to one side. Some people like to remove the skins from the broad beans, and this is a fun thing to do with little ones, as they literally squeeze them slightly and out pops the dark green bean, but if the beans are very fresh and young it’s fine to eat them as they are, with their skins on.

Next bring a large pan of boiling water to the boil for poaching the eggs. People poach eggs in different ways, but I tend to crack the egg into a teacup and gently tip it into the water. Do the same with the remaining eggs, then simmer them all very gently for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave them to sit for 5 minutes, until the eggs are just set. Meanwhile, make your dressing by mixing together the oil, lemon juice, mustard and dill.

Put the watercress, asparagus and broad beans into a bowl and mix lightly with the dressing. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Serve the salad on a large platter or 4 individual plates, top with the eggs and slices of ham, and tuck in.