Category: Salads

Barbecue and canapés with girolles

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The second day in Southern Sweden we spent the day in Falsterbo, a lovely little town by the seaside because Christopher was playing golf with Claes there all day, at a links course with insane amounts of water but nice views. I don’t play golf, so I spent the day with my best friend Emma (Claes’s fiancée). We gossiped a lot, had lunch at a nice café and prepared dinner for the boys. When they got back feeling tired after a day outside, we bribed them with beer to light the barbecue, while we took care of the rest of the cooking.

When we went to the supermarket I was pleased to see that they had lots of fresh girolles, that are in season now. It is my favourite mushroom and I find it really sad that I can’t buy them in a normal supermarket here in the UK. Girolles are best paired with butter and garlic and they make out a simple, but delicious, canapé.

We also had souvlaki, a nice salad with cucumber, tomatoes, leafy mixed salad, red onions and plenty of feta and another salad with giant couscous, pitta and homemade tzatsiki.

Emma gave the sauce top marks! It tastes fantastic with fat yoghurt and a big glug of olive oil. Yu-um…

I prefer giant couscous to the smaller variety, it is chewier and tastes better I think. In the salad above I kept it really simple, adding just thin slivers of red onion, herb salt, olive oil and chopped parsley. Simple yet delicious.

Girolle canapés, serves 4

100-150 g girolles, brushed and chopped

1/2 solo garlic or 1 garlic clove, pressed

a large knob of butter (enough to coat the mushrooms generously but not enough for them to bathe in)

chopped parsley

a bag of readymade brushettinis (garlic and herb if available

Fry the girolles on high heat in some of the butter. Add more butter as well as the garlic and lower the heat (so the garlic won’t burn). Season and mix in the parsley. Scoop up onto the biscuits and serve.

Chicken satay with rice, peanut sauce and Asian-inspired salad

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These juicy chicken scewers are absolutely wonderful. You can serve them cold on a picnic; with a salsa dip as a canapé or with rice and peanut sauce as a fulfilling dinner. The chicken should in an ideal world be marinated for 48 hours, but if in a rush, over night will do fine.

Chicken, rice and peanut sauce needs vegetables. Both the fresh salad with pak choi and this pickled cucumber is a nice contrast to the thick and creamy sauce.

Chicken satay scewers, serves 2

300 g chicken fillets

6 garlic cloves, chopped

4 tsp ground coriander

4 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp black pepper (no, it is not a typo)

2 tsp salt

120 ml soy

4 tsp freshly grated ginger (or dried)

6 tbsp olive oil

Dice the chicken. Mix the ingredients for the marinade. Place both in a ziplock bag (bowl covered with cling film) and marinate at least over night in the fridge. Put the meat on scewers and fry in oil.

Asian-inspired salad, serves 2

2 pak choi

100 g sugar snaps

a handful radishes, thinly sliced

3 spring onions, sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

sesame seeds

1/2 lime, the juice

olive oil

Blanch the pak choien and sugar snaps. Plate, and add onions, radishes and sesame seeds. Add the lime juice and olive oil.

Peanut sauce, serves 2

200 g coconut milk

3-4 tbsp smooth peanut butter

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1/2 lime, the juice

Bring the coconut milk to the boil. Add the peanut butter and let it cook for a few minutes. Add sweet chilli and lime juice until it is perfectly balanced.

Asian-inspired quick pickle

1/2 cucumber

acetic acid solution (1 part acetic acid to 7 parts water)

75 ml caster sugar

1 tsp salt

a splash of rice vinegar

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

coriander, chopped

Slice the cucumber wuth a cheese slicer, mix with the chilli. Add sugar, salt, acetic acid solution to almost cover the mixture and rice vinegar. Add the coriander. Keeps in the fridge for a few days. 

Alaskan pollock with mustardy leeks and potato salad with cabbage

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My French colleague Fabienne is always very impressed by my cooking/baking skills and says that she can’t cook. I don’t believe her, I think all French women can cook. And so far she has not been able to convince me, especially not when passing on great recipes like this.

I am referring to the mustardy leeks which are divine although so very simple to make. It is just three ingredients, four if you want to use some nutmeg, and it goes so well with fish, especially if it is a bit plain like my Alaskan pollock above, fried in butter with lemon pepper. Together with a fresh potato salad this is healthy, cheap and delicious weekday food!

Alaskan pollock with mustardy leeks and potato salad with cabbage, serves 2

400 g Alskan pollock

butter

lemon pepper

Leeks:

2 large leeks, chopped

100-150 ml creme fraiche

2 tsp dijon mustard

salt & white pepper

Potato salad:

new potatoes

1 pointy cabbage, chopped

a few radishes, sliced

juice from 1/2 lemon

proper olive oil

chopped parsley

Start by cooking the potatoes. Cut them in half and leave to cool. Put the cabbage in boiling water just to blanch it. Drain after a few minutes. Rinse in cold water. Mix potatoes, cabbage, radishes, parsley, lemon, and oil and mix thoroughly. Place on a platter.

Fry the leeks on low heat in a saucepan until soft and not browned. Add creme fraicge and mustard. Season with salt and pepper (and nutmeg).

Fry the fish in butter. Season with lemon pepper. Serve! 

Broadbean salad with eggs, bacon and parmesan

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I had lived in the UK for two years when I heard about the Two Fat Ladies for the first time, via a Swedish food blog. Oh, the irony… I bought the DVD box straight away and although I love their cooking, the two ladies can be quite annoying to listen to at times.

But all is forgiven when trying their recipes. Like this broadbean salad. The original recipe had anchovies in it, which I substituted for the saltiness of the parmesan. This was a perfect lunch together with a creme fraiche based dressing (creme fraiche + mayo + Italian salad herbs) and a slice of bread.

Broadbean salad with eggs, bacon and parmesan, serves 1

200 ml fresh broadbeans, cooked

1 boiled egg (the way you prefer) cut into 4

3 slices streaky bacon, fried in pieces

olive oil

chopped parsley (or other herbs)

black pepper

parmesan

Mix beans, bacon, oil, parsley and black pepper. Plate and add eggs and parmesan.

Classic tomato salad

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After seeing this the other day, I craved tomato salad, something I haven’t eaten since I was in Provence in 2007. Weird, since it is such a nice and refreshing little salad. And incredibly easy to make. Just make sure you have nice tomatoes and this will be a perfect little side dish, especially with meat.

Classic tomato salad, serves 2

4 medium tomatoes

1/2 large onion, finely chopped

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

Slice the tomatoes and place them on a plate. Sprinkle the onion on top, and salt and freshly ground pepper. Whisk together mustard, vinegar and oil and pour over the salad. 

Mezze: amazing lamb scewers and Damascene lentil salad

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Another recipe courtesy of the carismathic Syrian chef is this phenomenal lentil salad with pasta. Unfortunately my stomach does not allow me to eat lentils, but I still wanted to make this for my friends.

Pasta is actually quite common in the Middle East among with other Italian influences such as pizza. This dish requires lasagne sheets, but I couldn’t find any egg-free lasagne sheets (to make it vegan) in the shops near work so I used fusilli instead. It worked well but I used a little bit too much pasta to get the perfect pasta-lentils ratio, so do use the measurements below. It was still a very tasty dish and this is great buffet food. (And cheap too.)

Damascene lentil salad (Harra s’bao), serves 4

230 ml lentils

2 lasagne sheets, semi-cooked, cut in finger-sized strips

1,4 l water

2 tsp salt

4 lonions, finely chopped

1/2 bunch coriander, chopped

4 garlic cloves, pressed

juice from 2 lemons

3-4 tbsp pomegranate molasses

240 ml olive oil

250 ml pomegranate seeds

Arabic croûtons

Bring the water to the boil in a large saucepan. Add salt, lentils and 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook for 2o mins, covered, stirring occasionally.

Add the pasta after 20 minutes and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until the pasta is cooked.

While the lentils are cooking, fry the onion brown in a frying pan, transfer to a bowl. In the same pan, fry the coriander for a minute (until wilted), add the garlic and fry on low heat. Place with the onions.

When the lentils are done, add olive oil and the rest of the ingredients. Top with Arabic croûtons and pomegranate seeds. 

As I told you earlier, everything was vegan apart from one meat dish, and that is the lamb scewers above. It might not be strictly Middle Eastern influences in this recipe, but it has the chilli and the cumin, and besides, it was too nice not to try!

And if you will be barbecuing just one thing this summer, make sure it is these scewers! The recipe is courtesy of the lovely Rejina at Gastrogeek and you find the recipe here.

I marinated the meat for 2 days to cram in as much flavour as possible, but since we don’t have a barbecue (or a garden, sob) I cooked them in the oven for 15 minutes or so and a few minutes under the grill at the end.

Mezze: Fatoush and Maroccan carrot salad

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At least one salad is compulsory when having mezze, and the most common one is probably tabbouleh, but I chose to make fatoush instead, the same way we made it in Syria when cooking with the chef.

I completely forgot to take a photo of it, but it looks like a regular green salad with tomatoes and peppers, chopped herbs and some Arabic coûtons on top. These:

Fatoush, serves 6-8

4 cucumbers, roughly diced

4 tomatoes, roughly diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 head of lettuce, romaine lettuce, roughly chopped

1 bunch mint, only the leaves, chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

(2 bunches purslane, chopped hackad – if available)

cider vinegar

pomegranate molasses

sumac

salt

Arabic croûtons (deepfried left over pitta/flatbread)

Mix the vegetables. Add the chopped herbs. Season to taste with vinegar, molasses and spices. Add the croûtons just before serving. 

I also made this Maroccan carrot salad from Plenty that was very appreciated. This would work well as a side dishtoo, for something that can handle the spice.

Maroccan carrot salad, serves 4-6

1 kg carrots, peeled and sliced

80 ml olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp caster sugar

3 garlic cloves, pressed

1 spring onion, chopped

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1-2 tbsp pickled lemon peel (I used the same amount grated lemon peel)

1 bunch coriander, chopped

(120 ml Greek yoghurt (I omitted this, soygurt would not have worked)

Peel the carrots and cut them in 1 cm slices. Boil in salted water 10 minutes or until they have softened but still are crunchy. Drain.

Heat up the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions for 10-12 minutes until soft and brown. Add the carrots and the rest of the ingredients apart from the fresh coriander (and yoghurt). Mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Leave to cool completely and sprinkle with coriander just before serving. Ottolenghi suggests serving this in individual bowls with yoghurt on top.

Salad with beetroot and goat’s cheese

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When I eat a salad I want it to be a substanstial one with ingredients like chicken, bacon, cheeses, avocado etc, so i actually feel full for a long time, otherwise I don’t see the point. Don’t get me wrong, I love salads and vegetables, but they aren’t very filling on their own.

Last week I made this salad with the classic combo of beetroots and goat’s cheese. It is lovely and fresh, but still fills you up.

Salad with beetroots and baked goat’s cheese, serves 2

2 little gem lettuce

chives

4 fresh beetroots

mild chèvre

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 part white wine vinegar

2 parts extra virgin olive oil

salt, white pepper

crema di balsamico

optional: pine nuts and other vegetables

Cut the green off the beetroots and boil them (unpeeled) in salted water until they’re soft, about 30-40 minutes. Leave to cool before rubbing off the skin with your hands. Cut in wedges and leave to cool. Rinse the lettuce and divide between two plates. Cut the chives and sprinkle over the lettuce. (Add other vegetables). Cut the goat’s cheese in two, place on a roasting tray, add salt, epper and crema di balsamico. Bake i 200C for 5-10 minutes. Place in the middle of the salad, and add the beetroots. Mix the dressing, season to taste and pour over the salad. Add some more balsamico. Serve with bread or croûtons. 

Roast chicken with lemon and za’atar with potato salad

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Loving the weather right now! Here in London it has been around 20C for a while now, and the sun is shining every day, although battling the clouds from time to time. And this weather just calls for lighter food, don’t you think? On Sunday I did a different take on the Sunday roast with a whole roast chicken, flavoured with za’atar, sumac and lemon served with a classic French potato salad and a side salad. Easy peasy and sooo good! Try this at home, folks.

Roast chicken with lemon and za’atar with potato salad, serves 2

1 medium chicken

30 g softened butter

1 tbsp za’atar

1 tsp sumac

1/2 citron

salt, black pepper

400 g new potatoes

150 ml creme fraiche

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tsp dijon mustard

salt, white pepper

chives

Heat the oven to 200C. Rinse the chicken and place in a roasting tray. Mix butter with spices and the zest from the lemon. Make a cut i the skin on each breast, and place most of the butter there. Smooth it out underneath the skin so it covers most of the breasts. Brush the bird with the remaining butter. Add some more salt and pepper. Place the lemon in the cavity. Place in oven for about an hour. It is done when the meat juices are clear from the thigh joint. Leave to rest a little before serving.

Boil the potatoes, leave to cool. Dice. Mix creme fraiche, mayonnaise, mustard and seasoning. Add the potatoes. Cut the chives with scissors and add to the salad before serving. Stir to combine. 

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous

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I know that a lot of people prefer the fillets when they buy chicken, but I have always prefered the darker meat. Which was perfect at home when I grew up. If he had a whole roast chicken, my dad would have the breasts and my mother and I the darker meats like thighs, wings and drumsticks.

Chicken breast is good for ceratain dishes, but it feels like people in general have forgotten about the other cuts. A shame… But good for me I guess. My favourite part of the chicken is the thighs, and they are really cheap in comparison. And juicier (it is almost impossible to end up with dry thighs) and it also has more flavours.

Last week we had this really nice, but oh so easy to make, dish for supper. Fried marinated chicken thighs with a delicious couscous salad, containing marinated red onions and fried asparagus, served with sweet chili creme fraiche (it goes so well with chicken).

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous, serves 2

4 chicken thighs

4 tbsp garlic marinade (I used a store bought one)

300 ml vegetable stock (boiling water + concentrated stock)

couscous

a bunch of asparagus

1 red onion

1 lime, the juice

olive oil

rocket

creme fraiche

sweet chilli sauce

Pour the marinade in a ziplock bag and add the chicken. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. Fry the chicken on high heat to brown, then transfer to a roasting tray and fry in the oven. 200C ,20 minutes.

Pour the hot stock into a bowl. Add enough coucous to nearly soak up all the water. Add some olive oil. Wait for a minute. Mix with a fork.

Cut the onion in half and slice thinly. Place in a bowl, add lime juice (or lemon) and some olive oil. Leave until everything is ready.

Break the ends off the asparagus, cut into small pieces, diagonally, and fry until soft in olive oil on medium heat. Re-use the pan used for frying the chicken.

Mix creme fraiche with as much sweet chilli sauce as you prefer, add salt.

Take out the chicken from the oven and let it rest while you finish off the salad. Mix the couscous with the asparagus, onion and the marinade for the onion. Put it on a large plate and add rocket. Serve with the chicken and the sauce.