Salmon Nicoise

Recipe adapted from Masterchef- February 2012 issue, page 70

Serves 4

Ingredients

600g baby potatoes
200g green beans
4 eggs
extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
4 x 150g skinless, boneless salmon pieces
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
250g cherry tomatoes
1 butter lettuce
70g kalamata olives

White wine vinaigrette

1 eschalot
½ lemon
1 clove garlic
¼ bunch basil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 anchovy fillets

Method

1. Scrub potatoes. Place in a saucepan of salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Trim beans, add to pan, then cook for 3 minutes or until tender. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a colander, then refresh under cold water. Add eggs to saucepan and cook for 7 minutes for almost hard-boiled.
3. To make vinaigrette, chop eschalot and place in the bowl of a food processor. Squeeze over 1 tablespoon lemon juice and crush over garlic. Pick basil leaves and add with mustard, vinegar, oil and anchovies. Process until smooth.
4. Heat a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Drizzle oil over fish. Roughly chop fennel seeds, scatter over fish, then season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes each side or until just cooked. Rest in pan for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into 1.5cm-thick rounds and place in a bowl. Halve tomatoes. Add to potatoes with beans and half the dressing, then toss to combine. Peel and slice eggs then add to bowl. Wash and dry lettuce, then toss in a separate bowl with remaining dressing.
6. Layer potato mixture, lettuce and salmon on a platter, flaking salmon as you go. Scatter with olives to serve.

Chicken & Sweet Potato Pasta Salad

Ingredients

600g sweet potato or pumpkin, chopped into 2.5cm pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
400g spiral pasta
½ bbq chicken, shredded
1 punnnet, cherry tomatoes
50g baby spinach leaves
40g (1 mini tub) Philadelphia cream cheese 
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Place sweet potato, olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper in a large bowl and toss to combine. Transfer to a large baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender and lightly golden. Remove and set aside. Allow to cool.
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water according to packet instructions or until al dente. Drain and return to pan. Add the chicken, tomatoes, sweet potato and baby spinach leaves.

• Spoon the salad into a serving bowl then toss over the cream cheese, mustard and extra virgin olive oil.  Serve warm or cold. 

Tropical Fruit Salad

Just the other day, hubby and I had a real craving for fruit so we headed to our local fruit shop, picked up a stack of fresh fruits and made ourselves a refreshing fruit salad. All in all, we included 10 different types of fruit in this salad! See if you can spot them all!

The possibilities for fruit salad recipes are endless as you can use any combination of fruits. One of the best things about warmer weather is that many tropical fruits are more readily available, so mix and match to whatever suits your palette.

Ingredients

½ pineapple, peeled, chopped
800g seedless watermelon, chopped
½ honeydew, peeled, chopped
2 mangoes, peeled, chopped
2 oranges, peeled, chopped
3 kiwifruit, peeled, chopped
3 nectarines, halved, stone removed, cut into wedges
250g strawberries, hulled, quartered
x2 punnet blueberries
200g blackberries
200g raspberries

Method

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve chilled

Notes & Tips

When making a fruit salad use fruits that are in season
Fruit salad is best eaten the day it's made otherwise it will become soggy and the fruit will lose its sweetness.

Caesar Salad

I went to a friend's baby shower today and was asked to bring along a salad so I decided to make a Caesar salad as it's fairly simple to throw together and well liked amongst most people. You can also add chicken pieces to this salad to turn it into a chicken caesar salad. For my chicken caesar salad recipe, click here.

Ingredients

2 eggs, hard boiled, cut into slices

8 bacon rashers, rind removed, cut crossways into thin strips
a handful of croutons
2 baby cos lettuce, leaves washed, dried and coarsely chopped
300ml Caesar salad dressing

40g Parmesan cheese, shaved 

Method

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until crisp.
2. Arrange the lettuce, eggs and croutons on a serving platter. Drizzle with the Caesar salad dressing and sprinkle with bacon and shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Notes & Tips

Use a salad spinner to get rid of excess water from your salad leaves

Salad Nicoise with Slow Roasted Vegetable Ravioli

This light dinner dish is a modern twist on the French classic!

Adapted from the Latina Deliciously Fresh Recipe Book, page 20

Serves 4

Ingredients

625g pack fresh slow roasted vegetable ravioli
4 eggs
375g green beans, blanched and halved diagonally
4 large vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 x 185g cans tuna in olive oil, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons of oil
¼-½ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly torn
8 small anchovy fillets, torn lengthways
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Freshly cracked pepper, for serving

Method

1. Add ravioli to large saucepan of boiling water. Return to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, place eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 4 minutes. Cool in cold water, peel and cut into quarters.
3. Combine ravioli, beans, tomatoes, tuna, olives, parsley and anchovies in a large bowl.
4. Combine reserved oil from tuna and lemon juice in a screw top jar.
5. Add dressing to salad and gently combine. Serve topped with eggs and pepper.

Pear and Rocket Salad

What I really love about this salad is the explosion of flavours- the crunchiness that comes from the hazelnuts, the saltiness from the pancetta and goat's cheese, the fresh taste and sweetness of the pears, the bitterness of the rocket and the acidity from the dressing. This salad is a great accompaniment to any meat dish and just so simple to put together.

There are 2 ways I like to use the pear when making this salad. The first way is to caramelise the pears and the second way is to just thinly slice the pears lengthways using a mandolin and serving it fresh/uncooked. I tend to caramelise the pears in Winter since it's cold and I don't often feel like eating cold salad, but in Summer I tend to just slice the pears and have it fresh. Whichever way, both work with this salad.

Adapted from the recipe in Notebook magazine, March 2 2010, page 7

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 pancetta slices
2 Williams pears, peeled and cored
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 bunch baby rocket (approx. 65g), washed
¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
50g goat's milk cheese

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook, turning occasionally, for 2 minutes or until golden-brown and crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.  
2. Combine the vinegar, oil, mustard and honey in a screw-top jar and shake until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 
3. Arrange the rocket leaves onto a serving platter. Coarsely break up the pancetta and sprinkle over the rocket with the pears and hazelnuts. Crumble over the goat's cheese. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

Notes & Tips

To make caramelised pears, heat 20g butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar in a small non stick frying pan over medium heat. Add pears (cored and cut into wedges) and sauté for 2-3 minutes until light golden.

To slice the pears thinly, use a mandolin.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Ingredients

2 chicken breast fillets
2 eggs
8 bacon rashers, rind removed, cut crossways into thin strips
2 baby cos lettuce, leaves separated, washed, dried
300ml Caesar salad dressing
40g Parmesan cheese, shaved
croutons


Method

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, add to pan and cook for 4-5 minutes each side or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil. Set aside for 10 minutes to rest. Thinly slice across the grain. 
2. Meanwhile, place the eggs in a small saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil, stirring often to create a whirlpool (to centre yolks). Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, uncovered, for 6 minutes (for medium boiled eggs). Drain and cool under cold running water. Peel and thinly slice.  
3. Heat the frying pan over high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until crisp.
4. Arrange the chicken, egg, croutons and lettuce on a serving platter. Drizzle with the Caesar salad dressing and sprinkle with bacon and shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic, minced
4 coriander roots, finely chopped
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons oil
400-500g piece rump or sirloin steak
125g-200g mixed salad leaves
125g cherry tomatoes
½ small red onion, finely sliced
fresh coriander and mint leaves, chopped

Dressing

2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon caster sugar or soft brown sugar
1-2 red chillies, chopped
1 tablespoon mint, finely chopped
1 tablespoon red onion, finely chopped



Method

1. Combine the chopped garlic and coriander roots, black pepper and 2 tablespoons of the oil. If you have a mortar and pestle, use it to finely grind the mixture. Alternatively, blend the mixture well in a food processor or blender. Spread the mixture evenly over the steak.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a heavy based frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the steak to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes each side, turning the steak once only during the cooking time. Remove the steak from the pan and allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, wash the salad leaves and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Arrange the prepared leaves on a serving plate and arrange the cherry tomatoes over the top with the sliced onions.
4. Prepare dressing by combining all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Cut the cooled steak across the grain into thin strips and arrange over the salad leaves. Drizzle with the dressing and scatter the fresh mint leaves over the top. Serve immediately.
   

Minted Pork & Mango Salad

The weather has been pretty hot lately so I've been making lots of salads. This minted pork and mango salad is one of my favourites :)

In this recipe I use mangoes but I have substituted them with ripe papaya when it hasn't been mango season and it still works for this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
500g lean pork mince
60g canned water chestnuts, chopped
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
60g bean sprouts
3 green onions (shallots/scallions)
4 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
2 tbsp coriander, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
200g assorted lettuce leaves
1-2 mangoes, peeled and sliced
60g toasted hazelnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok over a medium heat. Add pork, water chestnuts, and lemongrass and stir fry until pork is browned. Remove from wok and set aside to cool.
2. Place pork mixture, lime juice, and fish sauce in a bowl and mix to combine. Add beansprouts, green onions, mint, coriander and black pepper to taste, and toss gently.
3. Line a serving platter with lettuce leaves, then top with mangoes and pork mixture. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts or pecans.

Note:
This salad can be prepared to the end of step 2 several hours in advance. Cover and keep at room temperature. If preparing more than 2 hours in advance store in the refrigerator and remove 30 minutes before you are ready to assemble and serve it.

Tabouli

Ingredients

¼ cup burghul (cracked wheat)
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
¼ cup mint leaves, chopped 
1 tomato, chopped
½ small red onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice

Method

Place burghul in a small bowl. Cover with cold water. Stand for 15 minutes. Drain. Use the back of a large metal spoon to press out excess water. Transfer burghul to a large bowl. Add parsley, mint, tomato, onion, olive oil and lemon juice. Mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Honey & Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients

1 kg butternut pumpkin, deseeded, cut into 2 cm thick pieces
Olive oil cooking spray
¼ cup pine nuts (optional)
200g mixed salad leaves

Honey & Balsamic Dressing

¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250⁰C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin in a single layer on tray. Spray with oil and turn to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast pumpkin, turning once, for 25 minutes or until golden and tender. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, heat a small, non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add pine nuts. Cook, stirring for 3 minutes or until golden.
3. Make honey and balsamic dressing: Combine honey, vinegar and oil in a jug. Microwave on high (100%) for 10 seconds or until honey is melted. Stir until well combined.
4. Place salad leaves and pumpkin in a large bowl. Sprinkle with pine nuts. Drizzle with dressing. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve.