Nutty Super-food Salad

It is so much easier to eat healthily in the Summer I find. I actually crave salad, whereas in the Winter I crave stodge. Occasionally I pick up lunch on my way home from work, before I pick up the kids. Unfortunately, in my line of work, your job is to cook other people lunch, not cook or eat your own! Marks and Spencer is probably best for ready-made salads. Although I know that Waitrose also do quite and extensive range. Most of the ones I have tried, may sound nice, but are usually disgusting. They always seem to try just a bit too hard, chucking in any combination of trendy ingredients – black quinoa seeds, Camargue red rice, cranberries, amaranth leaf, black barley -  and the dressings are always really nasty – too much Japanese rice vinegar and Yuzu!. 

The other day I bought a selection of two different salads, both which unannounced contained seaweed!  Surely if you are going to add seaweed to your salad, you would mention it in the name, not just hidden in a long list of ingredients which are far too small to read with human eyes. Well my eyes anyway. I couldn’t work out what this slimy, sort "off-fishy" taste was in my salad. Narrowed it down to the Wakame which was eventually mentioned in the list of 30 ingredients, now that I had been forced to put my reading glasses on. I even like seaweed, on say nori rolls, where it is meant to be, but this was disgusting and both pots of salad ended up in the bin. 

However, I am pleased to say, after much trial and error, I finally found a ready-made salad that I really liked. Marks and Spencer Nutty Superfood Salad. Featuring green beans, peas, broccoli, carrots, black-eyed beans and quinoa plus peanuts, almonds and pistachios, it is absolutely packed with delicious ingredients. It comes two ways, either on its own or served alongside a dollop of cannellini bean hummus and with a soy and ginger dressing. 

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but it is super easy. Make up a large batch and dress it as required. What is so fab about making it yourself, is you don’t have to skimp on your favourite expensive ingredients, which inevitably the supermarkets always do!

Nutty Super-food Salad

To serve 4

2 Broccoli florets, shredded

1 Handful of peas

100g French beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large carrot, finely chopped

100g spelt (wheatberries, barley or farro) you can buy ready cooked

100g soya beans

200g cooked black eye beans (or another type of bean – haricot, cannallini)

50g quinoa (You can buy ready cooked)

1 tsp. poppy seeds

1 handful pumpkin seeds

1 handful peanuts

1 handful pistachios

1 handful almonds

A little freshly chopped coriander

For the dressing, mix together:

2 tbsp. soy

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp sesame

1 tsp honey

Juice ½ lime

½ tsp. chilli paste

Put three pans of water on to boil. In the first add the quinoa. Cook 12-15 minutes until all the quinoa has gone squiggly. Drain well. In the second add the farro, cook for 20-30 minutes until tender. Drain well. In the third pan, add a pinch of salt and then the green beans. When cooked, add the shredded broccoli, bring back to the boil and add the peas and soya beans. Bring back to the boil and drain. Drain well.

Combine the salad ingredients.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and drizzle over each portion or alternatively, toss through the entire lot in a large bowl.

Some Asian Influenced Vegetables

We have just had that fantastic mackerel again for dinner but Hugh, the other half, said that he wanted something a bit more substantial than cucumber salad and why did I not make the Char-grilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic, which is always a favourite in our family.  I first made this at Baker and Spice, which unfortunately has now been bought out by Patisserie Valerie and has gone hideously downhill, so don't go there! But it was famously where Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi of Ottolenghi met each other ,so it is no surprise that you can find the recipe in their first book.  It really is one of those recipes that somehow manages to taste so much more than its sum of ingredients.  I wish there was a term for that!  Although I am not one to change a classic recipe, I have often made a little addition to this recipe by adding a little sesame oil and a dash of soy, and for this occasion I thought the oriental flavours would lend themselves to the mackerel.  The adapted recipe is below. 

I also have been on a mission to find other uses for the large tub of beautiful Miso in my fridge, so I was thrilled when I discovered Ingénue no goma-ae.  This is a Japanese recipe for green beans in sesame and Miso dressing and is delicious.  I also have a huge supply of sesame seeds, so this is a great way of using them up too.  Incidentally both white and black Sesame seeds are meant to be wonderfully good for you and have made it onto "TheWorlds Healthiest Foods" website!

Next, a very simple dish of Wok-fried Choi Sum is really delicious. Chop the Choi Sum, flowers and all and fry in a little oil. You can add garlic, ginger or chilli to the pan before hand, if you like. Finish with a drizzle of Tamari. Really lovely with some Soba noodles dressed lightly with sesame oil.

Finally, I did mention earlier that I had once had Aubergine baked with Miso. This actually was at a restaurant in Willesden called Sushi-Say, and was a very long time ago, but I still remember it and have been working hard to recreate it for you.  It is well worth the effort.

Char-grilled Broccoli with Chilli, Sesame, Garlic and Soy.

You can try this with purple sprouting broccoli but it does not grill quite as well.  You can toast the broccoli in a hot pan if you do not have a griddle pan or barbeque.

2 heads of broccoli

Glug of olive oil

4 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced

2 mild red chillies, thinly sliced

Coarse sea salt and black pepper

Soy sauce to finish

Few drops sesame oil

Prepare the broccoli by cutting lengthways through the stalk in wedges.  This is important as when you char-grill the pieces it needs to have the most surface area possible.

Fill a very large saucepan with plenty of salted water and bring it to the boil. Throw in the broccoli and blanch for 3 minutes only. Don't be tempted to cook it any longer! Using a large slotted spoon, quickly transfer the broccoli to a bowl full of ice cold water. Drain in a colander and allow to dry completely. In a mixing bowl, toss the broccoli with 45ml of the olive oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place a ridged griddle pan over a high heat and leave it there for at least 5 minutes, until it is extremely hot or use your barbecue. Depending on the size of your griddle, cook the broccoli in batches. Turn them over so they get char marks all over.

 While grilling the broccoli, place the rest of the oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and chillies. Cook them over a medium heat until the garlic just begins to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the garlic and chilli burn - remember they will keep on cooking even when off the heat. 

Pour the oil, garlic and chilli over the hot broccoli and toss together well. Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Now drizzle with Tamari Soy and Sesame oil to your taste.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Asian Cabbage and Sesame Slaw

I love all sorts of "slaws", especially with barbecued food.  This salad does not look that beautiful but it really tastes great.  I like to use Savoy Cabbage when in season but you can use Pointed Cabbage, White Cabbage or Chinese cabbage.

Ingredients

1 small white cabbage or 1/2 a large one, finely shredded

6 shallots, finely sliced

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Handful of finely chopped coriander

Dressing:

3 tablespoons Tahini (sesame paste)

1 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 teaspoons wasabi paste

2 tablespoon rice vinegar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

1 inch ginger, peeled and grated

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1.5 tablespoons sesame oil

5 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Marinate the shallots in the wine vinegar in advance, ideally for 1-2 hours. Mix together all dressing ingredients except the water - a blender or electric beater is useful - then adds the water to thin. Mix dressing into salad, add the marinated shallots and sprinkle over sesame to garnish.

Ingen no goma-ae

175g / 6 oz green beans

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon caster sugar

2/3 tablespoon Dashi stock

1/2 tablespoon Miso paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Toast the seeds for this recipe. Simply put them in a frying pan without oil then heat while stirring until the seeds have puffed up and you can smell the distinctive aroma of sesame. Sometimes they make a popping sound.  Grind the sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar or in a coffee grinder. Add the sugar, Dashi, Miso paste and soy sauce and mix together well. Boil the beans in a pan of salted water for 5 minutes or until tender. Finely toss the green beans in the sesame dressing and serve.

Aubergines Baked with den Miso

3 medium aubergines

200g shiromiso (white Miso)

4 tablespoons sake (Chinese rice wine is good here if you have no sake)

4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons Mirin

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Start by slicing the aubergines into two lengthways. Cut the surfaces diagonally as far as you dare, without cutting the skin. Brush with Sesame oil and bake for 15 minutes at 170C.  While the aubergine is baking, make the den Miso by combining the Mirin, sugar, sake and Miso.  Stir well to make a thick paste.  Spread this on the cooked aubergines, all over their upper surface, making sure the paste gets into the slashes. Sprinkle with Sesame seeds. Return to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes making sure that they do not burn. You can eat hot or cold.   It is delicious both ways but very rich.