Tag Archives: salad

04May / 2016

Thai Crab Cakes and Papaya Salad

Thai Crab Cakes and Papaya Salad

I was a little worried that the crab cakes would come out floppy but once cooled they were the perfect consistency.  If you want to eat straight away it might be worth making the crab cakes in advance ready to go in the oven and then leaving them out for half an hour to dry out a little.

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Makes 5 lunches

Crab Cakes

75g celeriac

6 lime leaves

zest of 1 1/2 limes

1 stick of lemon grass

3 spring onions

7cm ginger root

2 small/1 big clove of garlic

2 small/1 big chilli

3 170g (120g drained) cans of white crab meat

3 tbsp millet or oats

1 tbsp olive oil

Salad

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

1 – 2 red peppers

1/2 chinese cabbage or any crunchy lettuce

1 papaya

1 bulb of fennel

3 tbsp cashew nuts

1 large handful of coriander leaves

Dressing

1 1/2 limes (use the zested ones as we just need the juice)

3 tbsp coconut milk

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
  2. Boil the kettle and heat up a hob.
  3. Remove the tough outer skin of the celeriac and cube into 1cm pieces.
  4. Add to a medium saucepan with boiling water and bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until soft.
  5. Meanwhile, top and tail and peel the other crab cake ingredients as necessary, except for the millet and the crab. Roughly chop and blitz in a food processor and leave it in there.
  6. Drain the crab and flake into a large bowl.
  7. When the celeriac is done, drain well, pat dry with kitchen roll and add to the food processor and blitz once again.  Add the contents of the food processor to the bowl with the millet to soak up some of the moisture.  Mix well.
  8. Oil a couple of baking trays.  Using your hands shape the crab cake mixture into little patties about 4cm in diameter.  Arrange on the baking trays.
  9. Cook for 25 minutes turning halfway through.  ( You might want to wash up the bowl at this point unless you have more than one!)
  10. To make the salad, simply chop out the core of the pepper and discard.  Cut into 5mm strips and cut each strip in half.
  11. Shred the cabbage.
  12. Cut off the core of the fennel, cut in half lengthways so the pieces aren’t too big and shred using a mandolin.
  13. Remove the skin and the seeds from the papaya and chop into bite sized chunks.
  14. Finely chop the coriander.
  15. Add all the salad ingredients including the bean sprouts and cashews to a large bowl.
  16. Mix the coconut milk and juice of the limes together and use that to dress the salad.
  17. Arrange into bowls/tupperware and top with the crab cakes when you are ready to serve.

 

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17Apr / 2016

Falafel Salad with Tahini Dressing

Falafel Salad with Tahini Dressing

Apologies for not including the carrot in the picture, it was hiding in my grater and I completely forgot about it!

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Makes 5 lunches

Falafel

200g dried chickpeas (makes about 400g when rehydrated)

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1 handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (leaves of)

1 handful of fresh coriander (leaves of)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A pinch of all spice

10 cardamom pods

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Salad

1 large carrot

2 red peppers

1/2 cucumber

5 medium sized tomatoes

1/2 red cabbage

70g rocket

15-20 kalamata olives

Dressing

1 lemon

2 1/2 tbsp live full fat yohurt

2 tbsp tahini

To serve

1 tbsp sesame seeds

  1. Soak the chickpeas overnight.
  2. In the morning, wash through twice, put on the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until soft
  3. Put a small frying pan on a medium heat and add 1/2 a tbsp of the oil
  4. Dice the onion and saute on a medium heat for 5 minutes
  5. Crush the garlic clove into the same pan and saute for a further minute
  6. Use a pestle and mortar to grind the cardamom pods and remove the outer shells.
  7. Drain the chickpeas and add with the cooked onion, garlic, cardamom and all the other ingredients for the falafel apart from the oil into a food processor.  Blitz until everything is mixed but still slightly chunky.
  8. Shape into small balls (about 4cm in diameter) and flatten slightly to make a patty.
  9. Put a clean frying pan on a medium heat, add a little more oil and fry the falafel.  The ones in the centre need only 3 minutes per side but as you move the ones that are done to the edge, the others will need a little longer.  Add a little oil at a time so it isn’t soaked up all at once.
  10. Once done leave the falafel to cool.
  11. Slice the red cabbage into wedges and remove the stalk.  Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, shred the cabbage.
  12. Cut the cucumber into 3 and slice each piece lengthways using the mandolin on the thickest setting.  Cut each tomato into quarters and remove the stalk.  Slide each quarter into 3 slivers.
  13. Peel, top, tail and grate the carrot.
  14. Remove the stalk and seeds from the peppers and dice small (about 5mm)
  15. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a bowl, add the yoghurt and tahini and stir vigorously.
  16. Arrange the salad (not forgetting the rocket and olives) with the falafel on top, drizzle over the dressing and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

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10Apr / 2016

Mango Chicken Salad with Lime and Coriander Mayonnaise

Mango Chicken Salad with Lime and Coriander Mayonnaise

I will stretch this out to a week’s worth of lunches but you might want to add more chicken and spices if you think you will need more sustenance.  When you make mayonnaise from scratch you realise just how much oil is in there!  However, you can also make sure that you only put in the oil that you like and have much more control over the flavour.  The mint and mango combination reminds me of mojitos – delicious!

Makes 4 – 5 lunches

For the chicken

3 chicken breasts

1 tsp dried thyme

2 small or 1 large clove of garlic

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

For the lime mayonnaise

1 medium sized egg

1/4 tsp salt

10 tbsp olive oil (or other light oil of your choice)

1/2 lime

1 large handful of coriander leaves

For the salad

1 large red pepper

1 courgette

250g mango chunks

small handful of mint

1/2 lime

100g baby leaf spinach

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Put slashes 4 into the chicken each side going against the grain so that it will cook quicker and you can get more flavour into it.
  3. Add the thyme, spices and seasoning and rub into the meat.
  4. Crush over the garlic and push it into the slashes in the meat.
  5. Place the chicken breasts in a small roasting tray and put in the oven for 12 minutes each side.
  6. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the mayonnaise.
  7. Crack the egg into a food processor and add the salt.  Blend the mixture and add the oil, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture is thickened but not too firm.  We want it to be a dressing and not a dipping sauce.
  8. Add the juice from the lime half and coriander and blitz again until all of the ingredients are mixed and the coriander is chopped finely.
  9. Now for the salad.  Chop the pepper into 5 mm strips discarding the centre with the seeds.  Chop each strip in half so they are easier to eat without chopping.
  10. Chop the courgette lengthways and using a mandolin, thinly slice so that you have half moons.
  11. Finely chop the mint and chop the mango into bite sized chunks if it isn’t small enough already.  Add all of the salad ingredients into a bowl.  Squeeze in the other half of the lime and toss to dress.
  12. When the time is up, check the chicken is completely cooked through otherwise return it to the oven and keep checking every 2 minutes.  It should be white all the way through with no pink.
  13. Leave the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
  14. If you want to serve the chicken warm then chop it into bitesized pieces, otherwise leave it to cool and rip along the grain and the slashes.
  15. Serve the chicken on top of the salad and drizzle over the mayonnaise dressing.

 

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09Apr / 2016

Chinese Duck and Orange Salad

Chinese Duck and Orange Salad

I don’t personally like raw spring onions so I took them out in the end.

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Makes 5 lunches

2 duck breasts

5cm ginger peeled and grated

2 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 tsp chinese 5 spice

4 spring onions (optional)

10 cm cucumber

100g radishes

1 medium carrot

100g baby leaf salad leaves

100g peanuts

4 oranges

Dressing

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 lime

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  1.  Heat a medium saucepan on a medium low hob (3).  You do not need to add any oil to the pan.
  2. Using a sharp knife, slash the skin of the duck breasts, diagonally 4-5 times.  Add the chinese 5 spice and rub in both sides of the breasts
  3. Add the ginger to the duck, it may end up looking a bit “hairy” because of the fibres in the ginger mixed with the spice but you can always remove these bits at the end.
  4. Add the breasts to the pan skin side down and crush the garlic onto the side facing upwards.  After 18 minutes, turn and cook for 6 minutes or less if you like it rare.  I like mine medium, slightly pink in the middle.
  5. While the duck is cooking, finely slice or mandolin the radishes and spring onion if using.  Cut the cucumber in half lengthways and mandolin or finely slice to make half moon shapes.
  6. Peel and grate the carrot.
  7. Blitz the peanuts in the food processor so they are roughly chopped.  Keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to be a too small.
  8. Once the duck is cooked, remove it from the pan and put onto a chopping board.  Leave it to rest.
  9. Segment the oranges.
  10. Squeeze the juice from the lime into a small bowl and add the sesame seed oil and extra virgin oil to make a dressing.  Dress the leaves.
  11. Add the cucumber, radishes and carrot.
  12. Finely slice the duck.
  13. Top the salad with the duck, orange and then peanuts and spring onion if using.

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28Mar / 2016

Greek inspired chicken salad

Greek inspired chicken salad

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Serves 2

Chicken

1/2 lemon

2 tbsp full fat probiotic yoghurt

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

1 clove of garlic

2 chicken breasts

Salad:

1/2 romaine/cos lettuce shredded

6cm of cucumber cut into bite sized chunks

5 small-medium tomatoes cut into bite sized chunks

 

12 purple kalamata olives cut in half

20 pistachios shelled

1 squeeze of lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  1.  Slash chicken breasts against the grain, place in a sealable tupperware and add the yoghurt, oregano and paprika.  Crush in the garlic and squeeze in the lemon.  Mix, seal the tub and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200C.
  3. After 20 minutes place the chicken into the oven on a baking tray for 12 – 15 minutes each side depending on the size of the chicken breast.
  4. Check it is cooked all the way through and then leave to cool.
  5. Shred or chop into bitesized pieces
  6. Add to the salad ingredients and mix well

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13Mar / 2016

Mackerel with Roasted Beetroot, Lambs Lettuce, Lentils and Horseradish Dipping Sauce

Mackerel with Roasted Beetroot, Lambs Lettuce, Lentils and Horseradish Dipping Sauce

I managed to source some fresh horseradish from my local farmer’s market.  So I relished (excused the pun!) the opportunity to make something with a horseradish flavour without mayonnaise or vinegar in it.

Serves 2

50 mins

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4 raw beetroot

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

60g lentils

Sprig of thyme

4-5 parsley stalks

Fresh horseradish (4 tsp when finely grated)

4 tsp chopped parsley

3 tbsp full fat probiotic yoghurt

50g lambs lettuce

1 lemon

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

4 fresh mackerel fillets (skin left on)

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

  1.  Preheat the oven to 180C
  2. Chop the leafy tops off the beetroot and scrub away mud under the tap.
  3. Chop off top and tail and slice away any rough edges.  Cut into about 6 wedges per beetroot.
  4. Place in a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil.  Toss with your hands so all the wedges are covered.  Spinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes until cooked through turning halfway through.
  5. Boil the kettle
  6. Put lentils in with thyme, parsley stalks and half a litre of hot water, bring to the boil and simmer for 25 – 30 minutes until  the water is absorbed, the lentils are cooked through but not mushy.
  7. Grate the horseradish, chop the parsley and add to the yoghurt for your dipping sauce.
  8. Dress the lambs lettuce with the juice of half the lemon and extra virgin olive oil
  9. 8 minutes before everything is ready heat up a frying pan on the hob with 1 tbsp of olive oil.
  10. After 3 minutes turn down to medium and add the mackerel one fillet at a time, skin side down, pushing down with a fish slice so it doesn’t curl up.  Once all are added, squeeze over the juice of the other lemon half and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook for 3 – 4 minutes until the top is almost all white then flip over and cook the other side for 1 minute.
  11. Remove all from heat.  Arrange the lambs lettuce on plates, sprinkle with lentils, add beetroot and fish.  Drizzle over some dipping sauce but put the rest in a little bowl for dipping!
  12. Delicious and healthy!

 

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