More Amazing Salads

I have always been looking for a good salad recipe to use up left over chicken. This Thai Chicken, Coconut and Coriander Salad with Crispy Shallots is the best one I have found yet. If you don’t have any left over chicken, poach the chicken in the dressing as in the recipe., Coconut and Coriander Salad with Crispy Shallots

Thai Chicken, Coconut and Coriander Salad
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
Fresh or frozen lime leaves
2 Thai birds eye chillis, lightly bashed
Small bunch coriander
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar, or brown sugar
2 chicken breasts, trimmed
40g toasted coconut chips (try Ocado)
½ a cucumber
3 carrots, peeled
1 red pepper, cut into very thin rings
1 lime
3 shallots, peeled
Sunflower oil
Sea salt

Place the coconut milk, fish sauce, the stalks of the coriander (saving the leaves for the salad), the chillis, the sugar, a teaspoon of salt and the lime leaves in a saucepan. Add the chicken breast and bring to the boil. Gently simmer to poach the chicken for 12–15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan and rest. Turn up the heat on coconut milk and reduce until a few tablespoons remain. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Strain and add the juice of the lime. Taste and adjust seasoning. It should be fragrant, spicy, sour and sweet.

Meanwhile, shave the cucumber and carrots, leaving just the cores, with a peeler. Put in a large bowl with the coconut chips, the red pepper and coriander leaves. When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken.

Slice the shallots as thinly as possible. You can use a mandolin or food processor. Place in a small saucepan and just cover with oil. Over a high heat, stir the shallots frequently until they are golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on kitchen paper. Spread out thinly and allow to cook. Lightly season with salt and fluff up so that the shallots go crispy.

Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds, and Parmesan

When you get to my age and you have been cooking as long as I have, it is really hard to find recipes that are fresh, exciting or different but this simple celery salad is really exciting. I’m not even that keen on fruit or nuts in savoury dishes but the celery, lemon and the chilli really balance out the sweetness. It made a very tasty lunch!

Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds, and Parmesan
Serves 2
½ cup/large handful raw almonds with skins8 celery stalks, thinly sliced on a diagonal, use leaves too
6 dates, pitted, coarsely chopped
Zest of one lemon plus 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chunk of Parmesan, shaved
4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Very small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Toss almonds, celery, celery leaves, lemon zest and dates in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together well. Add a small pinch of chilli flakes and mix through the salad. Serve with shavings of parmesan.Add the chicken to the bowl with the vegetables and then dress with the dressing (you may not need all of it.) Pile onto plates and top with the crispy shallots.

Warm Salad of Avocado, Baby Spinach and Bacon, Poached Egg

Salad Tiede was all the rage about 10 years ago. Literally translated as “warm salad” it is one of those culinary terms which just sound so much more exciting in French than it does in English. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to taste exciting. Super quick and simple it relies on really great ingredients to transform it into something really special, so use the best bacon, avocados and eggs that you can find.

Warm Salad of Avocado, Baby Spinach and Bacon, Poached Egg
Serves 2
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into lardons
2 organic, free-range eggs
Large handful or two of baby spinach leaves
2 ripe avocadoes, cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Splash white wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Put a small pan of water onto boil. Fry the bacon in a little olive oil until really golden and crispy in a heavy bottomed frying pan. Remove the pan from the heat from the heat. Put the spinach leaves into a large bowl with the avocado chunks. Add the red wine vinegar to the pan with the bacon and allow to bubble away. Add a dash of white wine vinegar to the pan of boiling water, turn down the heat and carefully crack in the eggs. Poach until the whites have totally cooked but the yolks are still runny. Remove with a slotted spoon onto some kitchen paper to drain. Stir the mustard into the pan with the bacon. I should have cooled a bit by now. You want the mustard to amalgamate with the bacon fat and the vinegar, not cook. Season and pour the bacon and dressing over the spinach and avocado. Toss well and tip into bowls. Top with the eggs and a good grind of black pepper. Serve straight away.

Spicy Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burgers with Avocado

 

When I was an art student I was. quite predictably some may say, a vegetarian for a few years. I loved cooking huge stir-fries and lentil dishes which were cheap and filling. We had a couple of the first vegetarian cafes in Brighton as well, but I have to admit, my favourite treat was a Spicy Bean Burger from Wimpy. In those days we even had an old fashioned eat-in Wimpy restaurant in Brighton, with waitress service, so you could make quite an outing of it.

I wanted to recreate my own, but I still have a glut of sweet potato so I decided to add them too. I used my adobo sauce from my Spicy Chipotle Maple Roast Sweet Potato and Brussel Sprout Grain Bowls in the mix and also made a Chipotle mayonnaise to go in my burger, balanced out with some cool avocado and I dare say, it was probably a damn sight better than the Wimpy one I so fondly remember.



Spicy Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burgers with Avocado Makes 4
500g / 2 sweet potatoes
350g drained black beans
1 red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp homemade Adobo sauce
1 small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
High quality vegetable oil or coconut oil
4 hamburger buns (optional)
2 avocados
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tsp homemade Adobo sauce
Polenta flour
Optional other fillings – lettuce, tomato etc

Roast the sweet potatoes: Preheat the oven to 200C. Slice the sweet potatoes down the centre lengthwise. Place the sweet potatoes cut side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until they yield to a gentle squeeze, 30 to 40 minutes or longer. Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skin (it should pull off easily).

Meanwhile fry the onion in a little oil until translucent. Add a big tablespoon of Adobo sauce and fry for a minute more. Add the black beans and salt to taste, and mash with a potato masher. Add the chopped coriander and check seasoning. You can now chill the mix or carry straight on, it is up to you. Shape the mix into 4 patties. You can use polenta flour to help if you like.

Pan fry the burgers: (If you chilled the mix, turn on your oven to 180C) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan over medium heat. When it’s hot, place the burgers in the pan, leaving enough room to flip them. Cook for 4-5 minutes until browned on the bottom and flip. If your mix is cold, put the frying pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes or so until hot all the way through. I you did not chill the mix, then just turn the hob heat right down and cook gently for 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile stir the mayonnaise in with the Adobo sauce and serve a big dollop on each burger.

(Toast the buns (optional): Place the buns on a baking sheet, cut sides up, and bake until lightly toasted, about 2 to 3 minutes)
Serve with your favourite fillings – avocado, lettuce, tomato etc

New Year's Resolutions

What are my New Year's resolutions? Write my blog more often. It is already the 17th January and this is my first post of the year. Brilliant start! 

The others were drink less and eat more healthily. I managed to go six days without any alcohol which is probably the longest stretch I have managed since I was last pregnant, 9 years ago. 

As for the healthy eating; I have been scouring the newspapers and magazines for the latest ideas. Deliciously Ella is very last year now but Amelia Freer’s second book Cook. Nourish. Glow. seems to be very “of the minute”.  She is a Nutritional therapist and wants to completely re-educate the way you eat. She explains that we eat too much sugar, dairy, processed food and gluten. To summarise, somewhat briefly, she believes in buying good, seasonal, preferably organic produce and taking a little time to cook them at home. Good news for all my readers because that is exactly what you have been already doing for years. Not exactly rocket science!

But my personal diet message to myself as I get older, is all about re-hydration. There is no doubt as we age everything: our hair and nails and skin gets drier and moisturising from the inside as well as the outside can really help.  We are used to rubbing fatty moisturisers into our skin, but this is constantly at attack from the environment, so it would seem that it might be more effective to put the fats inside you, so that your body can do the job of lubricating you itself. Of course, by this I mean good fats rather than bad fats, namely Omega 3 fats, essential fatty acids. I think we all panic at this word, imagining that we have to consume bucket loads of sardines and mackerel to achieve our daily quota, but whilst fatty fish are clearly good for you, all sorts of vegetables, seeds and nuts are also excellent sources.

Here are a few to try and include in your diet
Flaxseeds
Walnuts
Beef
Brussel Sprouts
Cauliflower
Winter Squash
Broccoli
Kale
Spinach
Green Beans
Parsley

It is not only Omega 3 which provides good fats. Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats are also good. A moderation of saturated fats are also acceptable from whole milk, coconut oil and grass-fed meat but tran-fats should be avoided at all costs in commercially baked goods, packaged snack foods, margarine and commercially prepared fried foods.

To make sure you are getting enough good fats (Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated) stock up on avocados, olives, nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews and walnuts), seeds (sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds), flaxseed and fatty fish.

Luckily I had a couple of Avocados in my Riverford box this week, so I set about making up a new salad. I am particularly pleased with the salad dressing which turned out really creamy and fresh. I just used tarragon, which always goes well with chicken and some basil for added zing. 

I also like chicken cooked in this butterflied method as it cooks in minutes, as it is so thin, and stays really juicy and tender. Finally, of course you can add any other vegetables you have to hand and your salad leaves are up to you too. I used a mixture of rocket, watercress and a few sprigs of mint. So get hydrating!

Grilled Chicken with Almond Dressing, Avocado and Vegetable Salad

Dressing
50g almonds, soaked
A few sprigs of what herbs you fancy – coriander, basil, parsley or
tarragon, leaves picked

100ml extra virgin olive oil
2 x 150g chicken breasts
Zest of a lemon

Dried oregano
Extra virgin olive oil
Mixed salad leaves and maybe a few sprigs of herbs
1 bulb fennel
1 carrot
1 small courgette
1 ripe avocado
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
lemon wedges, to serve

For the dressing drain the almonds, add the olive oil, the herbs, a good pinch of salt and pepper and some water and puree with a hand blender until smooth and creamy. Add more water to get a good consistency and check for seasoning.

Take each chicken breast and cut it through the from one side to the other, stopping just short of the edge. This is difficult to explain so please follow link. Unfold the chicken breast and lay flat. Season with salt and pepper, dried oregano and lemon zest on both sides. Drizzle with olive oil.
Shave the fennel, courgette and carrot with a mandolin. Peel and thinly slice the avocado. Dress the salad and shaved vegetables with a little olive oil and a small pinch of salt. Arrange on plates. Heat a griddle pan of just a large frying pan. Arrange the avocado on the plates with the salad. Grill the chicken on both sides until just cooked. Place on top of the salad. Drizzle with almond dressing and serve with a wedge of lemon.

"Radical Lunch" and "Alpha Supper" for Omega 3

 Recently, I rather rashly decided to give up milk. Apart from suffering a week or two of hideously disappointing coffee at breakfast, I noticed no positive results. Alpro Soya can do many things but it just will never make nice coffee. I have often considered cutting out all sorts of other foods from my diet but recently I decided to concentrate not what you could cut out, rather than what I could put in. I decided to concentrate on an "Omega 3 and High Antioxidant Diet."

We all know about good fats and bad and that Omega 3 is super good for you. It lowers cholesterol  and risk of heart disease, it is an effective anti-inflammatory, is good for Arthritis as well as lowering levels of depression and some say that it is good for Eczema too. Think of it as moisturising your body from the inside.

Trouble is we never seem to get enough of it. The changing way that our food is evolving means that foods that used to contain high levels of Omega 3, no longer do. Cattle and chickens must be grass fed, not bulked up on corn and therefore meat, eggs and dairy which also used to contain high levels, no longer does. The same goes for farmed fish which will not contain the high levels of omega 3 as wild. Wild fish is expensive and often unsustainable. I have however found that Wild Alaskan or Pacific Salmon is often available, sustainable, not too expensive and high in Omega 3 and not only is its diet better but having lived wild, it has had to swim harder and it is therefore so much nicer and less fatty than its farmed cousins. 

I then trawled through a few lists of the highest rating foods in Omega 3 and picked my favourites - berries, wild and brown rice, edamame beans, spinach, walnuts and linseeds (also known as flax seeds), all sorts of beans, butternut squash and green vegetables, such as brussels sprouts, kale, spinach and salad greens.

Foods high in Omega 3 are high in antioxidants which neutralize your free radicals - most berries, avocados, apples and lots of other fruits. Some of the richest vegetables sources include artichokes, broccoli, red  and white cabbage, squashes and sweet potatoes. Small red, black, kidney and pinto beans are also high in antioxidants. Many herbs, including cinnamon, cloves, ginger and oregano and other good sources include nuts, such as walnuts, pistachios, pecans, hazelnuts and almonds, green tea, coffee, red wine (hurrah!), pomegranate, oats and dark chocolate (another hurrah!).

Amazingly, I found that I had already posted, just by chance a few recipes in the past which were packed with key ingredients - Chipotle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli with Guacamole on top, could not be more perfect or how about Baby Spinach, Black Rice, Butter Bean, Broad Bean and Pomegranate Salad.

But I decided to devise a new, simple daily menu to max out on as many of my favourite sources of all this goodness as I could. 

For breakfast I simply added a handful of walnuts and some fresh berries to my Granola Recipe, which I could now enjoy with a proper cup of coffee having thankfully reintroduced the milk. 

For lunch, a "Radical Burritos" and finally for dinner," The Alpha Supper" brimming with Omega 3. And the great thing about this diet is, because you are not actually cutting anything out, you never feel hard done by!

Radical Burritos
Feeds a generous 2
1 small butternut squash, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes 
100 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 knob of fresh ginger
1 fresh red chilli. finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cinnamon
1tbsp. tomato puree
1 red pepper, chopped in 1/2 to 1cms cubesOne can black beans, drained and rinsed

4 tortilla wraps (large or x-large)
1 avocado

handful of baby spinach or lettuce

Fresh coriander

Preheat oven to 180C. Cover the rice with plenty of cold water in a saucepan and a pinch of salt and put on a medium-high heat to cook. It will take about 30-40 minutes and is done when it is tender with no hint of chalkiness. Drain when ready. Meanwhile, toss the squash in olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 30-45 mins until tender and beginning to caramelise.

In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat add a good plug of olive oil and the onion. Cook gently without colour for about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic, the fresh red chilli, the cumin and cinnamon  Fry for a minute or two. Add the tomato paste and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fry a minute more before adding the red pepper and the beans. Add a little water and cook all together for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the cooked rice and check the seasoning. Finally stir in the butternut squash and a good handful of freshly chopped coriander.

Add bean filling to the tortilla with desired a handful of spinach and some freshly sliced avocado.  Wrap and serve. Leftover filling can be reheated the next day.

Alpha Supper

You can easily buy ready made Teriyaki sauce in the shops or make your own. The bought varieties vary massively from the rather healthy Clearspring Organic Teriyaki to much sweeter and stickier varieties such as Waitrose own, which I have to admit to being rather fond of. I like to season the fish with a sprinkle of Togarashi which is a traditional Japanese seven-spice mixture is a blend of red peppers, sansho pepper, roasted orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, seaweed, and ginger. You can find it is a good Japanese or oriental supermarket but if you can't find it, never mind, just use sesame seeds.

Supper for 2

2 pieces of Wild Salmon
50g wild rice
100g frozen edamame (shelled) you can buy soya beans in the freezer section of large supermarkets
3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1-2 tsp sesame seed
Pinch Togarashi (optional)1 bag of leaf spinach (200g or two large handfuls)
1 tbsp. sesame oil
wedge of lime

Place salmon in a bowl and pour over 2 tbsp. Teriyaki and turn to coat. Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to marinate. 


Put the wild rice in a saucepan with plenty of water and a pinch of salt and boil for about 20 minutes until the rice begins to crack open and has a chewy consistency and a nutty flavour. Add the edamame and bring back to the boil. Cook for one or two minutes and drain. Add the last tablespoon of Teriyaki sauce. Preheat the oven to 180C.


Put the salmon in a oven dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds and a pinch of Togarashi is you have some. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until the salmon is firm and just cooked.

Meanwhile, put another large saucepan on the heat. Add the sesame oil and the spinach with a good pinch of salt. Cook until just wilted. Stir with tongs and remove from heat as soon as it is done. Pile the spinach onto two plates. Scatter with the wild rice and soya beans and place the salmon on the top with a wedge of lime on the side.

Fit for Life

Many years ago, probably when I was in my early 20's, I remember testing out yet another fad diet in a desparate attempt to loose weight.  This one involved food combining; only eating certain foods together and at particular times of the day.  I had a book, which was my bible and it was called "Fit for Life".  I cannot remember how long I managed to stick to the diet or whether I managed to loose any weight as a result but I do remember a particular sandwich which I became addicted to.  The dietary requirements of the "Fit for Life" diet, were quite restrictive and complicated, so I seem to remember deciding that, the simplest thing to do was, eat this sandwich morning, noon and night. 

It sounded quite plain, just a combination of brown bread, tomato, avocado and mayonnaise but it was totally delicious.  If you have some really good tomatoes, a little pinch of salt, a perfectly ripe avocado, some really good wholemeal bread and a nice dollop of mayonnaise, really, there is no better sandwich in the world.  Even Hugh, the other half, who is the type of man who wakes you up in the middle of the night and makes you list, in order, your top five favourite sandwiches ever.......even he could not believe how good it was. It makes a fantastic lunch as it helps avoids the "post lunch energy crash" which I seem to have effectively managed to postpone from 2pm to 5pm. 

I imagine as a result of consuming all that bread and mayonnaise, I probably ended up putting weight on all those years ago, but I do still recommend an Avocado and Tomato Sandwich to this day. In fact I think it might even take the number one sandwich slot. 

My Favourite Sandwich - Avocado and Tomato
This recipe is adapted from Fit for Life, by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. They call this “The Properly Combined Sandwich”. 
Serves 1

2 slices wholemeal bread
4 slices of a really ripe tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half
Several slices of a perfect, ripe avocado
A pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mayonnaise

Spread the bread with mayonnaise and pile high with avocado and tomatoes.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

"Awesome!"

I have to say that in our household we are not really cutting edge with the latest technology.  Partly a deficit of money and partly due I guess to our age, we often find ourselves several years behind the latest trend.  I remember taking delivery of my new computer in 2002 which was the size of a small house, and on the advice of a friend I connected to the Internet.  I just used to sit in front of it and wonder what on earth I was meant to do with it. E-mail was alien enough, let alone blogging. I had never even heard of it. Ten years later, I have just about got my head around blogging and everybody else has moved on to Twitter.


So when I tell you that Hugh has a new addiction, you can guarantee it is a bit out of date.  He has discovered Man versus food, probably about  four years later than most people and has been watching it obsessively on Dave on Monday nights, raving about  the fantastic food in America, especially the sandwiches.   Due to our lack of SKY he only discovered the channel Food Network UK a few weeks ago but now that he has, he seems to be able to watch Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives pretty much solidly, every night.  And now my life is a constant barrage of requests for burgers, pulled pork, Texan chicken hash, smoked beef brisket and every sandwich you can imagine - Po' Boys, Ruben's, Clubs, Bahn-mi, Hoagies and Philly Cheese Steaks.  Guy, the presenter says "awesome" in every sentence, about the same amount of times as most English people say "You know what I mean".  First there is a quick run through on how each dish is made.  The ingredients always seems to be the same no matter what it is they are making; salt, sugar, vinegar, ketchup (containing salt, sugar and vinegar) and barbecue sauce (also containing salt, sugar and vinegar) feature heavily.  Then a huge amount of meat, is piled into some receptacle, be it Ciabatta, French bread, a taco, a sub roll, or a tortilla for example and then it is covered in more sauce, usually containing salt, sugar, vinegar, tomato ketchup and barbecue sauce and then Guy attempts to get as much as is humanly possible in his mouth in one go before proclaiming it "awesome!".  


I have to admit, a lot of those sandwiches look great.  I have already given the Rubens a pretty good attempt and I also make a fine Falafel Sandwich.  I have confronted all sorts of wraps from Chicken Shawarma to Chipotle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli Tortilla, but to shut Hugh up, I decided to give my hamburgers a re-assessment, just to make sure that they were as good as they could possibly be.  

First I started with the burger.  I did a bit of research and just as I thought, true burger fans would not settle for anything in their burgers apart from top quality beef and a little seasoning.  Nothing else because the beef should speak for itself!  I used the best I could find - organic, 28 aged Aberdeen Angus beef.  Next the burger bun.  I went for a nice floury bap which I lightly grilled before using.  Ciabatta works well but steer clear of the ready made burger buns as they tend to be a bit lame.  Next, the filling.  I wanted avoid all the usual, commercial sauces. I wanted something fresher and cleaner.  So I opted for a home-made cherry tomato, chilli and avocado salsa with lime and coriander for zing.  I also chose some char-grilled fresh red onion, a little salad and finally a slice of swiss cheese.  Why?  Because those are my favourites.  In my considered opinion, that is what works best for me.  And that is what is so great about cooking a burger at home.  Because you can choose exactly what you like.  So all I needed now was some large guy to turn up and try and eat the whole thing in about three mouthfuls and declare it "awesome!".

Cherry Tomato, Chilli, Avocado and Coriander Salsa  
This is identical to one of my favourite salads.  I just chopped everything a lot smaller and added a little more chilli.

One clove of garlic (very finely chopped)

Two Fresh Red Chilli (very finely chopped)

2 spring onions (finely sliced)
200g cherry tomatoes (quartered)
2 ripe avocados (pealed and chopped into large bite size pieces)
Juice of one or two limes
Bunch of Coriander (very finely chopped)
Glug of Olive Oil
Good pinch salt
Freshly ground pepper

Mix garlic, chilli, lime juice and olive oil together.  Season well.  Stir in rest of ingredients.  Make sure avocado is well coated in lime juice to avoid discolouration.

Down Mexico Way

Unfortunately, as much as I love food writing, so far I haven't managed to make a living out of it.  In fact, I haven't managed to make a single penny. So I have to work to pay the mortgage.  One of my main jobs is working for Riverford Organics who have a huge farm based in Devon.  They operate an Organic Vegetable Box delivery all over England.  My job is to entice new customers, as well as to encourage and keep up motivation for their regular clientele.  What this really comes down to, is that I spend a lot of time cooking vegetables.  Thinking up new ways with carrots, kale and kohlrabi. 

Strangely, one of the most taxing vegetables for me recently, that is always popping up in one veg box or another, is the sweet potato. The reason for this immense challenge, is that it is so very sweet and although I have tried balancing its sugaryness in a manor of ways, I still hadn't managed to conquered the vegetable. 

I made a really nice Indian curry with chickpeas, loads of cardamon and spinach and lots of fresh green chillies.  But I felt that the sweet potato still had a sickliness to it.  I added quite a large amount of Tamarind.  It was really good, but at the end of the day, I couldn't help wishing that it just didn't have the sweet potato in it. This was rather missing the point of the whole exercise. So, I was pretty excited to find a Mexican recipe for Chipotle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli. I have made Black Bean Chilli many times before but without the addition of peppers and sweet potato. I loved the idea of the dramatic combination of black and orange. It made me think of Halloween and sounded like something I like to eat.  It was!  Finally I had conquered the sweet potato.  As you may know I have been on a bit of a wrap mission recently and I have to admit that I have been making quite a lot of Chicken or Steak Fahitas. I am not going to burden you with the recipe when I know that you can get a perfectly good one from "Mad about Mexican", Thomasina Miers.  But this hot and smoky, Chipoltle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli and was even better. Piled into a warm tortilla with lashings of guacamole, a delicious Pico de Gallo (tomato, chilli and coriander salsa) and big dollop of sour cream on top, it was truly delicious. The harder it is to eat, the better it is.  Add lots of grated cheese and this Chilli also makes a great filling for quesadillas. And, if you still have any left, whiz it up and it makes a delicious soup.

I have always found it almost impossible to acquire any Mexican ingredients in London, so I cannot tell you how excited I was to discover Casa Mexico in Bethnal Green.  Unfortunately, I still haven't managed to get down there personally, as it is right across the other side of London for me, and what with the day job, I don't get much time.  But I can't wait to go.  Not only do they have the most fantastic selection of chillis, beans, moles and salsas but they also sell kitchen ware, furniture and art.  Fortunately, they also have an online shop, so I have stocked up on Mexican staples and even finely managed to get hold of some elusive Chipotle Adobado which I kept on finding, listed as an ingredient in recipes and had almost given up any chance of ever finding. 

Right, now what shall I do with that box of Kohlrabi?



Chipotle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large Spanish onion, chopped
4 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
1 to 2 teaspoons crushed Chipotle Chillis
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or handful of fresh oregano
1 bay leaf
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
Small bunch of coriander, finely chopped

Heat oil in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat; add onion and celery. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until tender. Add bell peppers and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes or so. Stir often to avoid burning. Stir in garlic, and cook about 1 minute. Add chilli, the salt, the herbs and spices.  Stir and cook 1 minute. Next add the sweet potato.  Give everything a good mix and add tomatoes and enough water to cover the sweet potato. Simmer, uncovered, about 30 minutes until the sweet potato is cooked. Stir in beans, and continue to cook 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf, and stir in lime juice. Finally add the coriander and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Guacamole

The most important factor to perfect guacamole is using good, ripe avocados. Check for ripeness by gently pressing the outside of the avocado. If there is no give, the avocado is not ripe yet and will not taste good. If there is a little give, the avocado is ripe. If there is a lot of give, the avocado may be past ripe and not good.

2 ripe avocados

2 spring onions (finely sliced)

1 fresh red or green Serrano chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

½ bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped

Juice of 1 fresh lime

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Freshly grated black pepper

Drizzle of Olive Oil

 Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out and put in a mixing bowl. Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add the chopped onion, coriander, lime, salt and pepper and mash some more. Chilli peppers vary individually in their hotness.  Start with a little, add more to taste. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. Refrigerate until ready.

Tomato, Chilli and Coriander Salsa (Pico de Gallo)

One clove of garlic (very finely chopped)

One Fresh Red Serrano Chilli (very finely chopped)
¼ red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
200g cherry tomatoes (quartered)
Juice of one or two limes
Bunch of Coriander (very finely chopped)
Glug of Olive Oil
Good pinch or two of salt
Freshly ground pepper

Mix garlic, chilli, lime juice and olive oil together.  Season well.  Stir in rest of ingredients. 

Some Salads for a Summer's Day

When I was a kid in the 70's, America was a really big influence.  We wore baseball jackets and Converse shoes, my favourite TV show was Starsky and Hutch and American Pizza and Burger restaurants were opening all over London.  The thing I loved the most about these restaurants was the choice.  How your food was cooked, what it came served with and side orders galore.  The options seemed limitless. Salads had not one but five different dressings - Italian, French, Blue Cheese, Ranch or Thousand Island.  I thought this was just the most amazing thing, even though I always chose Thousand Island, which I adored.  The salad was different too.  We were used to a limp lettuce leaf, a piece of cucumber and an unripe tomato but this was something else.  Shredded red and white cabbage, grated carrot and sweetcorn.  I loved it so much that it was one of the first restaurant dishes that I tried to create for myself at home.  The beginning of a long road.

Now I like to think my pallet more sophisticated and I tend to avoid mayonnaise based dressing in search of more subtle combinations. So when choosing a salad to accompany my Ribs last week a chose a Slaw but felt it needed a really clean dressing.  Barbecued Ribs are delicious but can be a bit sickly so I wanted something to cut the richness.  I think this one works really well.



For the Fish Marinated with Chermoula I made a monkfish kebab but you could use tuna or salmon instead.  Just make sure it is a firm fish which will stay on the Skewer.  With it I served a Giant Couscous Salad.  The Couscous being giant, not the salad.  I am quite a fan of Giant Couscous mainly due to the fact that when the children eat it, they seem to manage to get slightly more of it in their mouths than on the floor, which certainly cannot be said about the other variety.  This salad is simplicity itself, as you use the Chermoula again as a dressing and with just a few other ingredients thrown in you have yourself a really tasty salad.

Finally with the Steak and Chimicurri I made one of my favourite, quick salads of Avocado, Tomatoes, Coriander and Lime.  It is such a great combination.  Really fresh and vibrant.  Great on a sunny day.  Not that it was !  Avocados are really fantastic right now.  I don't know if they have a season but they just seem so creamy and tasty at the moment and they are super-good for you too.

I have to admit that they are one of my favourite snacks.  I remove the stone and in the cavity and I squeeze a mixture of half mayonnaise, half tomato ketchup and a squeeze of lemon.  I then mix the dressing up in the pear and eat the whole thing standing up by the fridge.  So much for my sophisticated pallet !  I haven't changed a bit.



Slaw for Ribs

1/2 White Cabbage (shredded)
1/2 Red Cabbage (shredded)
4 large carrots (pealed and grated)
1/2 head of Celery (wash and slice fairly thinly through the whole head)
2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
Juice of 2 Lemons

Mix all the vegetables together in a large bowl.. Mix the ingredients for the dressing and add. The dressing should not drown the salad however you do not want it to be dry. If necessary just make up a little more.



Giant Cous Cous with Chermoula

Giant Couscous
Chermoula
Bunch of Spring Onions (finely sliced)
Some Red, Yellow or Orange Peppers (seeds removed, finely chopped)
A Cucumber (seeds removed, finely chopped)
1 Fresh red Chilli (seeds removed, finely chopped)
A bunch of Coriander (finely chopped)

Cook the Couscous in plenty of salted water until soft and pleasant to eat.  If it is not, then it is not ready.  Drain and refresh with a little cold water.  Drain really well.  Add a generous amount of Chermoula until the Couscous is quite green and tastes pretty punchy.  Now add the vegetables and mix well.

Avocado, Tomato, Coriander, Lime and Chilli

One clove of garlic (very finely chopped)

One Fresh Red Chilli (very finely chopped)
2 spring onions (finely sliced)
200g cherry tomatoes (quartered)
2 ripe avocados (pealed and chopped into large bite size pieces)
Juice of one or two limes
Bunch of Coriander (very finely chopped)
Glug of Olive Oil
Good pinch salt
Freshly ground pepper

Mix garlic, chilli, lime juice and olive oil together.  Season well.  Stir in rest of ingredients.  make sure avocado is well coated in lime juice to avoid discolouration.