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Posts Tagged ‘Salad’

Spicy sweet potato & feta salad

Posted in Food, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 13 August 2011| Leave a Comment »

This was supposed to be Thursday night’s dinner but we were seduced by some Minervois and French food in La Cave instead. Thankfully it works just as well on a Friday night! The spicy sweet potatoes make this a main meal salad but you could also serve it as a side to some barbecued meat or even a starter.

Sweet potato salad – to serve 8 (we adjusted quantities to serve 2)

  • 4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
  • olive oil
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed with a pestle and mortar
  • 3 dried chillies, crumbled 0r some chilli flakes
  • 4 scallions
  • 400g vine tomatoes
  • a small bunch of basil leaves
  • balsamic vinegar
  • 100g watercress
  • 200g feta cheese
  • a handful of mixed seeds, toasted (we used pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds)

Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Roughly chop the sweet potatoes into large chunks then toss in olive oil, salt and pepper, the crushed cumin and chillies until well coated. Put on a baking tray and roast for about 25 minutes or until they are soft inside and crispy outside. Let them cool a bit.

Roughly chop the scallions and tomatoes and add to a bowl with the basil leaves. Dress with a good splash of balsamic vinegar and twice as much good quality olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

Squidge the sweet potato on to a big platter and top with the dressed onions and tomatoes. Pile the watercress on top and crumble over the feta. Drizzle some more olive oil over and sprinkle with the toasted nuts. Delicious!

(Original recipe by Jamie Oliver for Sainsbury’s magazine, August 2009)

 Wine suggestion: try a white wine with good food ability and fresh fruit flavours. We chose a white Bordeaux, G de Guiraud, the dry white wine made by famous Sauternes producer Chateau Guiraud. The Semillon gives it a great food friendliness and structure to stand up to the many flavours in the salad, while the Sauvignon Blanc brings a fruitiness which balances the spicy chilli flavours.

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Chorizo & Soft Egg Salad

Posted in Food, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on 1 August 2011| Leave a Comment »

Oh so tasty and perfect for a weeknight or even weekend brunch/lunch. If you’ve been watching Rick Stein’s Spain on the tv you will have heard him rave about Sherry vinegar – really worth having in the cupboard as you can use if in lots of dishes.

Chorizo & soft egg salad – to serve 4 (or halve for 2)

  • 500g baby new potatoes, halved
  • 4 eggs
  • 225g green beans, trimmed
  • 225g chorizo, sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, sliced
  • 2 tbsp Sherry vinegar
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  1. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 12 minutes, adding the eggs after 6 minutes, and the beans for the final 2 minutes. Drain and cool the eggs under cold running water.
  2. Meanwhile fry chorizo for a minute or two, until starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan. Add the garlic to the chorizo oil and cook gently for 1 minute.
  3. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vinegar and parsley, then toss with the potatoes, beans, chorizo and some seasoning. Shell the eggs, cut into quarters and add to the salad.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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Prawn Salad # 2

Posted in Food, Healthy, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , on 8 June 2011| Leave a Comment »

We’re mad for prawns these day; mostly because we have a huge bag in the freezer. We’re also mad for avocados; but that’s because they are in season and taste yum at the minute! We even managed to eat this on the patio just before another big, rainy cloud came over. We love summers in Ireland; we might not get the weather but at least we can get summery produce.

Prawn, grapefruit and avocado salad – to serve 4 on the patio (weather permitting)

  • a medium rustic-style loaf, torn into big chunks
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large pink grapefruit
  • 2 avocados
  • 4 little gem lettuces
  • 200g cooked large prawns
  • 3 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
Heat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7. Put the bread chunks onto a baking tray, drizzle with 2 tsp of oil and rub in with your hands. Season and bake for 10 minutes until they are crispy and golden.
Cut the peel and pith off one of the grapefruits and slice into segments. Throw these in your salad bowl.
Squeeze the juice from the other grapefruit into a separate small bowl.
Peel, stone and slice the avocados and separate the lettuce leaves. Add these to the grapefruit segments along with the prawns.
Whisk the sweet chilli sauce and remaining tsp of oil into the grapefruit juice and season.
Cool the croutons for a few minutes before tossing with the rest of the salad and drizzling over the sweet chilli dressing.
Dada!

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Italian Summer Avocado and Prawn Salad

Posted in Food, Healthy, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , , on 6 June 2011| 2 Comments »

It’s avocado season and we have a big bag of prawns in the freezer. This is one of two prawn and avocado salads we’ve tried in the last few days. The seasoned pistachios make this one a bit special. We loved it.

Avocado and prawn salad (Insalata di avocado e gamberetti)

  • 50g pistachio nuts, shelled and chopped
  • 2 avocados
  • juice of a lemon
  • 200g cooked peeled prawns
  • olive oil
  • salt and white pepper
Mix the pistachios with a pinch of pepper in a bowl.
Peel, half and stone the avocados. Slice them thinly and drizzle with the lemon juice.
Put the avocado in a salad bowl, add the prawns and stir gently.
Sprinkle the pistachios over, season lightly with salt, drizzle with oil and serve.
Wine Suggestion: Try a dry Gasgogny rose (ours was Domaine de Pellehaut from Mitchell & Son on offer for €7.95. Bargain!)
(Original recipe from ‘Recipes from an Italian Summer’ published by Phaidon)

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Jamie’s 30 minute mushroom risotto and spinach salad

Posted in Australia, Food, Riesling, Vegetarian, Wine, tagged , , , , , , , , on 16 January 2011| 13 Comments »

This was our first attempt at a Jamie 30 minute meal but we didn’t really try to do it in 30 minutes as we like to relax when we’re cooking. We didn’t bother with dessert either. The result was pretty good – very nice risotto and a fabulous salad which we’ll definitely do again with other dishes. We found the recipe quite confusing to follow and it’s particularly difficult if you’re not cooking the entire meal (dessert included). We’ve given you the recipes below but they’re in old-fashioned format, i.e. prep first and cook second, so sorry if that’s not your style but we find the traditional format easier.

Mushroom risotto to serve 4

  • 1 large white onion, halved and peeled
  • 1 stick celery
  • 15g dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
  • 300g risotto rice
  • 1/2 a glass of white wine
  • 1 vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 litre boiling water or stock (we used Marigold swiss bouillon)
  • 500g mixed mushrooms, wiped clean and torn (we used a mixture of chestnut, shiitake and oyster mushrooms)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked
  • a large knob of butter
  • 40g Parmesan, grated
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Put the onion, celery and dried porcini into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Heat a large saucepan on medium and add a good lug of olive oil. Scrape in the processed mixture and cook for a few minutes.

Throw in the chopped rosemary and rice; stir well for a minute. Pour in the white wine and crumble in the stock cube. Stir until the wine is absorbed and then season.

Add a couple of ladles of the stock or water and stir in well. You need to then keep coming back to the risotto every minute for about 16-18 minutes – stirring in a bit more stock each time. Add half the mushrooms after a couple of minutes.

Heat the grill.

Heat a large ovenproof frying pan and add a couple of good lugs of olive oil, the remaining mushrooms, garlic, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir for a second, add half the thyme and take off the heat. Add the remaining thyme to the rice.

Put frying pan of mushrooms under the grill to crisp up, turn the grill off when they are golden and crispy.

When the rice is al dente stir in the butter and most of the Parmesan, add lemon juice and taste for seasoning.

Stir in half the parsley and throw the rest over the grilled mushrooms.

Put the lid on the risotto and let it rest for a minute or two – you could dress the salad at this point.

Ladle the risotto onto plates and spoon some grilled mushrooms over the top with some extra Parmesan.

Spinach salad to serve 4

  • 100g pinenuts, toasted in a non-stick pan
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 200g baby spinach, sliced roughly into 1cm thick strips
  • 3 large sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked
  • 5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
  • 1 medium cucumber, halved and sliced on an angle about 1cm thick

Put balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a large salad bowl and add the pine nuts.

Add the spinach, mint leaves, sun-dried tomatoes and cucumber. Don’t toss until the last minute.

Serve with the risotto (or anything else you fancy a nice salad with).

Wine suggestion: we had a really nice Riesling from Mount Horrocks in the Clare Valley, South Australia. If you come across anything from Mount Horrocks it is well worth a try as everything we have tasted has been really special (Jono got a bottle of their Semillon, which is barrel fermented, for a Christmas gift and we loved it!). Also has a nice label if such things matter to you.

 

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Roasted beetroot with watercress & horseradish apple sauce

Posted in Healthy, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , on 5 December 2010| Leave a Comment »

This is the first of three side dishes which we served with a delicious baked ham (scroll down to see the other dishes and final result).

If you are having guests between now and Christmas we highly recommend this tasty menu (much of which can be prepared in advance). We served this up on a Friday night after work, as part of the Irish Foodies Christmas Cookalong,  and it was entirely hassle free.

We boiled the ham and roasted the beetroot the night before.

Menu to serve 8:

  • Ginger beer & tangerine glazed ham
  • Roasted beetroot with watercress & horseradish apple sauce
  • Chilli & tangerine braised lentils
  • Roasted cauliflower with garlic, bay & lemon

Roasted beetroot with watercress & horseradish apple sauce (to feed 8 as a side dish)

1kg raw unpeeled beetroot

2 apples, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cider or red wine vinegar

6 tbsp freshly grated horseradish

4 tbsp soured cream

watercress

  • Heat oven to 180C (gas 6). Leave the beetroot whole – wash and pat dry.
  • Wrap individually in foil and roast until tender (1-2 hours depending on how big they are). Cool in the foil before peeling.
  • Heat a small frying pan and toss in the apples with the sugar and a tbsp of water. Cover and cook until mushy. Remove from the heat, add the vinegar and whizz in a food processor (or use a hand blender).
  • Stir the horseradish and sour cream into the sauce and season with salt.
  • To serve, cut the beetroot into wedges, put in a bowl and mix with the sauce. Serve on a bed of watercress.

Click here for original recipe from BBC Good Food.

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