Tag Archives: Salad

South American Style Prawn Cocktail

25 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in Fish, Food for One, salads, Snacks and Tapas, Starters

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When I cook for my friends I quite often like to have a theme to the dishes, so once I’d decided on Chicken Burritos as a main course for this particular lunch, I was looking for something to have as an appetiser. There are generally frozen prawns in the freezer, so why not mix them with typical South American salads, tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, add a spicy sauce sharpened with lime juice and have a prawn cocktail?

My guests loved it!


Per person

8 large prawns in their shells

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon quinoa – black or red look good, but if you have neither then the white is fine

1 tablespoon diced green pepper

1 tablespoon diced red pepper

1 tablespoon sweetcorn kernels

1/2 small avocado diced

Lettuce leaves to decorate your dishes

For the dressing

1 small clove of garlic

Fresh red chilli – finely chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh coriander leaves or the same of green coriander seeds

zest and juice of 1/2 a small lime

Boil the quinoa until tender.

Drain and put in a bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients.

Peel the prawns reserving the heads and skins.

Fry the prawns in olive oil until just cooked. Remove to a plate and let cool.

To the same pan add the heads and skins. Fry gently squashing the juices out of the heads with a wooden spatula.

Once the prawn heads are cooked and have given out their juices, add the coconut milk and water. Mix well scraping any solid bits at the bottom of the pan into the liquid and squashing the the heads again to add yet more flavour to the dressing.

Let cook down a little and then take off the heat.

With a pestle and mortar crush the garlic, chilli and coriander with a pinch of salt.

Strain the dressing into the mortar and then mix well.

Add the lime zest and juice, mix again, then add the dressing and cooled prawns to the salad and mix to cover all with the dressing.

Line your serving dishes with leaves and pile on the cocktail.

Enjoy!

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Autumn Red Salad

29 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in salads, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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I made this to have with the Potato and Chickpea Cakes in the previous post using ingredients that are currently in season here. Fragrant green peppers from the huerta, this years almonds which I love dry toasted in their skins, big winter radishes and plum tomatoes from the local market.

You will need –

Several leaves of red oak leaved lettuce

2 medium tomatoes – chopped into chunks

2 samall or 1 large green pepper

about 20 whole almonds – either with skins or if you prefer without

1 large cooked beetroot – cut into smallish cubes

Winter radish – about 20 thin slices

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablesoons water

1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup

2 tablespoons extra virgen olive oil

Start by steeping the radishes. The large winter radishes can be quite peppery, so a sweet marinade will make them less so. Mix the vinegar water and honey or syrup in small bowl, then add the radishes. Leave to marinate for at least ten minutes.

Meanwhile dry toast the almonds in a thick based pan over a low heat. Stir regularly to ensure that they are evenly toasted and a little browned. Remove from the heat and put to one side.

Rip up the lettuce leaves and arrange them on a large plate, then add the chopped tomatoes.

slice the green peppers and arrange on the salad.

Remove the radish slices from their marinade and arrange them over the salad.

Put the beetroot in the marinade and stir to cover all the cubes.

Spoon the cubes and vinegar over the salad, then sprinkle on the almonds.

Finally drizzle over the olive oil.

Enjoy!

Spicy Cauliflower Salad with Toasted Almonds and Coconut

15 Saturday May 2021

Posted by in salads, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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One of my fellow gardening friends has given me a cauliflower he has grown, and it’s the tastiest most tender cauliflower I have eaten in a long time. I blanched some of the florets in boiling water for a minute, before draining them and adding the florets to a mixed salad the other day, which is when I discovered how exceptionally tasty they were. So today I thought to make them the stars of a salad to accompany some Onion Bhaji.

Half a cauliflower – cut into even sized florets

2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons almond flakes

2 tablespoons peanut or olive oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 sweet onion – sliced

2 cloves of garlic – finely chopped

1 small green chilli – finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon lime juice

fresh chopped coriander or green coriander seeds

Put the cauliflower florets in a bowl and cover generously with boiling water. Leave to steep for 2-3 minutes then drain. Leave to cool a little.

Put the coconut in a thick based frying pan on a low heat to toast, stirring from time to time. It will suddenly start to brown so don’t be tempted to wander off as I did once. When it has started to brown stir constantly until the coconut is an even golden brown colour, then tip the coconut onto a plate to cool.

Add the almond flakes to the same pan and toast these. Again to a golden brown colour an the tip onto the plate with the coconut.

Again using the same pan, put the 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan, and then the mustard and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute or two until the seeds start to pop.

Add the onions, chilli and garlic and fry gently until soft. Add the turmeric and stir to mix.

If there is enough room in the pan, add the cauliflower florets, or add the contents of the pan to the florets in a bowl. Stir to mix well.

Add the coconut and almonds and mix again. Season with salt, pepper, chopped coriander or seeds and lime juice.

Enjoy!

Steamed Broccoli & Cabbage with Whole Spices

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in salads, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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Although the vegetables in this dish are cooked, you stop the cooking while they still have some crunch, so it’s like a warm spicy salad, which is just as good when left to go cold.

For 2 portions

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon kalonji/onion seeds

peanut or olive oil

1/2 onion – sliced

4 cloves garlic – finely chopped

1/2 fresh green chilli – finely chopped

1/4 red pepper – cut into small squares

1/4 cabbage – finely sliced

Small head of broccoli – broken into florets

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a shallow pan and when hot add the whole cumin, coriander and kalonji. Fry until they start to pop and release their flavour.

Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and chilli. Fry for five minutes.

Add the cabbage and broccoli. Stir well to coat with the onions and spices.

Season with the garam masala, salt and pepper.

Cover and continue cooking until the cabbage has wilted. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan by about half a centimetre.

Cover and continue cooking, stirring from time to time, for around ten minutes until the vegetables are cooked but still with some bite.

Three Salads

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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In this summer heat, lunch for your friends wants to be a light and fresh affair, Watermelon Gazpacho followed by three salads served with freshly homemade bread. To finish a small pot each of intense dark chocolate sorbet and crispy ginger biscuits.

BEETROOT & RADICCIO SALAD WITH PURPLE BASIL

The beetroot was roasted for an hour with whole cloves of garlic, a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, sprigs of fresh oregano and olive oil, season well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Let the beetroot cool before mixing with shredded chicory and purple basil leaves.

LENTIL & POMEGRANATE SALAD WITH FRESH CORIANDER

His salad is cooked green lentils, a good amount of the little pomegranate jewels that I have plenty of in the garden this year, then finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes and celery. Add a generous amount of roughly chopped coriander leaves and dress lightly with lime juice and olive oil.

I’m a fan of soaking dried grains so that when you come to cooking the grains are already re moistened in the centre, and so require less cooking. Pour boiling water over the lentils and leave an hour or so to steep before cooking until just tender. Drain the lentils and let them cool before adding them to the salad.

SALAD OF FRESH FIGS, ROASTED RED ONIONS AND HAZELNUTS

This is a Yotam Ottolengi recipe which has a lovely contrast of flavours with the sweet roasted red onions and figs, and the peppery watercress and rocket. His recipe uses radiccio rather than rocket, but as I have both I decided that the more peppery rocket suited this recipe better. I was surprised to find that what I thought was weeds in my vegetable patch is actually rocket, and it hasn’t become overly peppery in the strong Spanish heat.
I haven’t used roasted red onions in a salad before, and I have to say, I’m a total convert. I shall be roasting a tray full regularly so that I have them at the ready in the fridge.

This amount serves 4

2 small red onions – peel them and cut each into 6 wedges

50 grams hazelnuts with skin / or ready dry roasted unseasoned hazelnuts

1/2 small head of radicchio / or a similar amount of rocket

good bunch of fresh basil – either the green or purple

bunch of watercress with the stems removed

6 ripe fresh figs, cut into quarters

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Roast the onions drizzled with olive oil at 180 C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

If you are roasting hazelnuts, turn the oven down to 140, and once it has reached this temperature, spread the hazelnuts in a shallow pan and roast for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then break up into pieces with a pestle and mortar. If you are using the ready roasted hazelnuts break these up as above.

To put the salad together, start with the leaves, rip them into pieces and put in a large bowl, add the onions and figs.

Dress with the oil and vinegar and gently toss. I like to do this with my hands as it’s more gentle than using implements.

Scatter over the broken hazelnuts and serve.

Pomegranate & Buckwheat Salad

23 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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After the, for southern Spain, very wet spring that we have had, all the fruit trees have super abundant crops this year. The little pomegranate tree must have at least 70 fruits on it , the ripest of which are splitting open. With so many fruits they are small, I should have thinned them out earlier in the season, and the jewelled seeds are small and not so sweet but so tasty, and lovely for salads.

For 4 servings

100 grams buckwheat

seeds from 1 large or 2 small pomegranates

1/2 green pepper

2 large tomatoes

1 avocado

1/2 cucmber

1/2 sweet salad onion or spring onion

1 stick celery

chicory leaves – cut into thin strips/ watercress / mache salad

extra virgin olive oil

cider vinegar

good bunch of basil leaves

juice of 1 small or 1/2 large lime.

I like to soak the buckwheat in cold water overnight in which case it only takes five minutes to cook in salted water, but if you haven’t time to soak it, don’t worry, it will just take 10 – 15 minutes longer to become tender.

Once just cooked, drain the buckwheat and let it cool.

Peel the cucumber and cut into small dice.

Cut the green pepper, tomato, avocado, onion, and celery into small dice. Put into a salad bowl with the cucumber and cooled buckwheat.

Add the salad leaves and coarser chopped basil leaves. Mix well.

Dress the salad with the olive oil, lime juice and cider vinegar.

Gado Gado

18 Saturday Jul 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This Indonesian salad dressed with the satay sauce from my pervious post, is perfect summer eating. Like many salads its an assembly rather than a recipe. Gado Gado means mix mix, so there are core ingredients that make it typical, and then the variable ingredients depending on the season and what you have in your vegetable garden or fridge. 

 

The core ingredients –

Boiled eggs

Tofu or tempeh – lightly fried in sesame oil with garlic and ginger

potatoes or sweet potatoes – cut into long pieces and steamed

prawn crackers

The rest of the ingredients can be either cooked or raw, choose a variety for both their flavours and colour. Today I had –

french beans – steamed

green asparagus – lightly steamed

sweet corn slices – lightly steamed

edename beans – I buy these frozen and ready blanched

red and green peppers – cut into strips

cucumber – cut into strips

carrots – peeled and cut into strips

tomatoes – cut into thin wedges

Other ingredients that would work well together are –

bean sprouts

broccoli florets – lightly steamed

Any of the green leaves – pak Choi, mizuna, radicchio would add a nice slight bitterness, spinach

radishes

Fresh coriander and basil

Have your satay sauce on the side to spoon onto the salad and to dip into as you eat.

Urap – Vegetable Salad & Coconut Dressing

13 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This Indonesian salad, as with the tofu fritters in the previous post, is from Sri Owen. As with most salads, you can vary the ingredients depending on what you have available that fits with the style of the salad.

I have used –

cucumber – peeled and cut into long wedges

red peppers – cut into long strips

red cabbage – finely shredded and blanched in boiling water for 1 minute

edename beans – I’d got cooked frozen ones that I defrosted

cooked mung beans

Other options are –

radishes

carrots – cut into fine julienne

beansprouts

french beans – lightly cooked

chinese cabbage – shredded and blanched

broccoli florets – blanched

For the dressing –

2 tablespoons very finely chopped fresh coconut

2 tablespoons thick coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh red chilli

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil

juice of 1/2 a lime

1/4 tablespoon brown sugar

salt to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and then add them to the salad and mix well.

Pickled Salad

14 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Preserves, Starters, Techniques, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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This fresh light salad can be made with many different vegetables depending on the season, I will give you the recipe of exactly what I put in this time, and at the end of the recipe a list of the other vegetables that like this type of marinade. The salad is made in a large glass jar which is put on a sunny windowsill for a couple of days to lightly ferment and tenderise the vegetables. The fermentation also adds to the prebiotic qualities of the vegetables.


50 grams sea salt

20 grams sugar

750 ml water

400 ml cider vinegar

romanesco cauliflower – cut into smallish florets

carrots – peeled and very thinly sliced

radishes – very thinly sliced

Spring onion and garlic – sliced diagonally

mustard seeds

In a large jug, mix the water and vinegar with the salt and sugar. Stir well.

Layer the vegetables in a large jar adding a sprinkling of mustard seeds as seasoning with each set of layers.

Push the layers down to compact the vegetables and then see if you need more layers. Once the vegetables soften they will naturally compact down, so it’s a good idea to firm them down at this stage.

Once the jar is full, add the brine and vinegar, fill to the top of the jar.

Stand the jar in a container to catch any overspill of liquid. You will need to put something in the neck of the jar to weigh down the contents and stop them rising above the liquid. I use a small round plastic container to fit inside the jar neck, and a jar of beans as the weight.

Place the whole contraption on a sunny window sill for 2-3 days to ferment. The vegetables will emit bubbles of gas as they marinade, which will push some of the liquid out over the top of the jar, hence the need to have a container to catch the excess.

Once the bubbling has stopped remove the weight, top up the jar with the overspill liquid and more of the brine mix if necessary. Put the lid on the jar. Wash the outside of the jar.

Leave the salad to continue marinating in the fridge for a couple more days and then it will be ready to eat.

The salad will keep for a couple of weeks, so doesn’t need to be eaten all in one sitting.

Other vegetables that can be used for this salad are: white cabbage, Chinese leaves, red peppers, bean sprouts, cucumber and courgettes, broccoli and white cauliflower. The spice and seasoning can be varied too, I used mustard seeds to complement the cauliflower. Dill is traditional in Eastern Europe, coriander, caraway seeds, fresh herbs, citrus peel. If you want to give the salad a more oriental flavour, then add fresh ginger, lemon grass and chilli….and maybe a splash of Nam Pla. Have a play with flavours and see which ones you like!

Red Winter Salad

03 Friday Jan 2020

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For this salad hot stock is added as a dressing which blanches/cooks the ingredients and helps combine their flavours. This jewel bright salad has a Christmassy feel for me, with it containing cranberries, pomegranate and apples.

Enough for 4 portions

1/2 a medium sized red cabbage

sea salt and black pepper

250ml unseasoned vegetable stock

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

40 grams dried cranberries

1 pomegranate

1 red apple

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Start by slicing the cabbage as finely as you can. If you have a mandolin use that.

Put the cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. With your hands crush the seasoning into the cabbage breaking it up a little as you go. Leave to soften for half an hour.

Put the coriander seeds in the stock and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave to steep for half an hour.

Once the cabbage and the stock have steeped, continue finishing the salad.

Remove the seeds from the pomegranate and add to the cabbage together with the dried cranberries.

Cut the apple into small slices and add to the salad.

Dress the salad with the oil and vinegar. Mix well.

Bring the stock back to a boil and pour over the salad. Mix well.

The salad is ready to eat, but will taste even better the next day. If you store it in the fridge, get it out early enough to let it come back to room temperature before eating.