Winter Salads with a Touch of Spring

The weather is all over the place.  One minute it is sunny, the next it is freezing and it is difficult to know what to eat.  The odd glimpse of sunshine puts me the mood for something more Spring-like, like a lovely fresh salad after a winter of stodge. Not Summer salads quite yet but a more substantial Wintery Salad with a hint of Spring. Lots of really healthy but more filling ingredients such as Buckwheat Noodles, pulses or rice fill you up and the first of the seasons Spring vegetables add colour and flavour. 

I have not one but three Winter salads. I think all three are really interesting. he first can be eaten either hot or cold. Two of them use home-made crispy onions. These are really easy to make, really delicious and produce a lovely, delicately flavoured onion oil which can be used in salad dressings.  The last salad is the most amazing as it can be not only be eaten as a salad but just add hot water and you have a soup.

So, first of all, I am using Wheatberrys which are whole wheat kernals similar to Farro, another favourite of mine and are also super good for you, high in fibre and protein but low in fat. They have a delicious nutty flavour and a nice chewy texture. I have been perfecting this salad for some time and I think the combination of New Season's Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Chilli and Crispy Onions is a winner and is delicious hot or cold.

The next is Baby Spinach, Black Rice, Butter Bean, Broad Bean and Pomegranate Salad. This is a salad was probably the invention of Gail Stephens and I used to make everyday at Baker and Spice and I love it. I don't know why but it just works. Black Rice is super good for you too.

My final salad is one I invented for a Riverford Dinner and I was trying to think up new ways with Sweet Mama Squash. I went for a Japanese theme comprising Soba Buckwheat Noodles with a Miso Dressing and finished the whole dish off with lots of crunchy seeds to add texture. I was really happy with my creation but it was too rich and I felt it needed lots more vegetables to balance the dressing so I added some roast cauliflower but some asparagus, beans sprouts or French beans would have been delicious too.  What is so bizarre about this salad is that if you add hot water you have a really lovely soup.

I know this selection of rather peculiar salads may sound like a lot or rather random ingredients thrown together but I honestly do recommend you try all three.



Crispy Fried Onions
You can make up a big batch of these and use them in all sorts of delicious ways.  The onions will keep for a week or two in air tight Tupperware.
Thinly slice a few large onions. Place in a saucepan and add vegetable oil to about half way to the top of the onions. You don't want to use too much oil as the more intense the flavour the better. The onions will cook down a huge amount. Place on a medium heat and cook carefully until they have sunk below the surface of the oil. Turn up the heat and deep fry until golden brown. Be careful not to burn, stirring regularly, especially in the corners where the onions will cook most quickly. Drain immediately and break up any clumps. Scatter onto some kitchen paper and leave to crisp up. Season lightly with salt. When cool pour the oil into a bottle for further use.

Check out my Saffron Basmati Rice with Saffron, Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Fried Onions recipe too.

Baby Spinach, Black Rice, Butter Bean, Broad Bean and Pomegranate Salad
Black Rice (Try Tilda)
Baby Spinach 
Broad Beans (I hate to say it but frozen are great and save you some time.)
Butter Beans, drained (tinned or cook your own)
Crispy Onions and Onion Oil (See above)
1 Pomegranate

Cook the rice according to the instructions.  Unlike white rice, it is quite hard to overcook. In fact, be more careful of under-cooking. It should be chewy, not tough. Remember, like with all rice, to salt the water. Drain well and allow to completely cool. Cook your broad beans and shell unless really sweet and small.  Cut the pomegranate in half and bang each half quite hard with a wooden spoon to release all the seeds. Remove any white pith.

Put your black rice in a large bowl with the broad beans, butter beans and pomegranate. Add some onion oil and season with sea salt and a little black pepper. The salt will bring the whole salad alive. Add some crispy fried onions and the baby spinach leaves.  Mix well and serve.

Wheatberries, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Crispy Fried Onions, Chilli and Garlic

Serves 2
100g Wheatberries (Try Merchant Gourmet) or you can use Freekeh, Farro, Bulgar or Barley
100g Purple Sprouting Broccoli
1 Fresh Red Chilli, very finely sliced
2 cloves Garlic, very finely sliced
Crispy Fried Onions and Onion Oil (see above)

Trim and cook your broccoli in plenty of salted boiling water. Remove and scatter the broccoli onto a tea towel to cool and drain. Add the Wheatberries to the same water and cook for 25 minutes or so until chewy and delicious.  Drain in a colander. Wipe out the saucepan and heat a little onion oil in it.  Add the chilli and garlic and cook until the garlic has turned a beautiful golden brown. Immediately add the drained Wheatberries to stop the garlic cooking further.  Add the broccoli and a handful of crispy fried onions.  Stir well, check seasoning and serve either hot or cold. 

Soba Buckwheat Noodle Salad with Roast Squash and Cauliflower, Mixed Seeds
Soba Buckwheat Noodles (Try Clearspring)
1/2 a Squash or a piece of Pumpkin (Sweet Mama, Butternut, Acorn etc)
1 Cauliflower
Sunflower Oil
Other vegetables you might like to use Asparagus, Beans Sprouts or French Beans
Seeds (Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame, Black Sesame etc)
Dressing
Sweet White Miso or slightly healthier Barley or Brown Rice Miso (Try Clearspring)
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Large knob of Ginger, grated preferably on a Microplaner
Fresh Red Chilli, Very finely chopped
Fresh Lime Juice or Pon Zu

Peel and cut your Pumpkin or Squash into bite-size chunks. Toss with a little Sunflower oil and a little sea salt and roast in a medium hot oven until soft and beginning to caramelise.  Cut the Cauliflower into bite-size florets and do exactly the same as for the Pumpkin. Roast until nicely cooked and beginning to go golden brown. Cook the noodles according to instructions, in plenty of salted boiling water (about 7 minutes) until they no longer taste floury. Drain and refresh immediately in plenty of cold water. Drain well in a colander. Dress with a little sesame oil.  Cook any other vegetables that may need cooking.

Make a dressing with the grated ginger, the Chilli, some Miso, some Soy and the lime juice.  You will not need much as it is very rich. Get a nice balance of sweet (Miso), salty (Soy), spicy (the Chilli) and sour (lime). Mix the dressing through your noodles and vegetables.  Do not over dress or it can be sickly. Finish with plenty of seeds.

If you want to make soup then just add a little boiling water and check seasoning.

Spring Clean

 My cupboards are fit to bursting.  I am forever buying a new sort of noodle, sauce or spice for some dish or another and it is taking its toll on my already incredibly cramped storage space.  To top it off my Dad has just done his annual Passover trip to Golder's Green, when he feels an over-whelming urge to buy a glut of random food products, simply because they are "Kosher for Passover".  Why a bottle of lemonade or a jar of raspberry jam should ever have been in contact with "Chumetz" (anything which may ferment) in the first place, I have no idea, but he returns triumphant from "the North" with his bounty and distributes it - heaps of boxes of Matzos, several different varieties of pickle cucumber and a selection of arbitrary products, upon my Mother and each of his children and their families. 

I know it is a story of poor Jewish boy done good. I know he sees it as a Mitvah (a good deed). I know he misses shopping for his Mum.  She lived on a measly pension and would have really appreciated him schlepping up to Hendon every week and making sure that she had enough to eat, although she probably never said so.  Nothing makes one value "having" like "not having" and as a child, my Farther would have known what is was like to have gone without.  So I try to appriciate this annual offering of strange things, that I have nowhere to put in my tiny house and every year, about this time I go through my cupboards to see what space I can find.  I like to think of it as a Spring clean. This year on the discovery of several packets of Japenese noodles, I felt much akin to religious Jewish families searching their houses from top to bottom for anything containing wheat or yeast and I simply had to use them up before Passover began.

I had made some chicken soup in my pledge to use up all the chicken bones from out weekly roast chicken, which I now freeze until I have an impressive enough collection to make soup.  Every country in the world seems to have it's own version of chicken soup but one involving Soba Noodles could only be Japanese.  I added some vegetables, dried mushrooms, a little ginger, sesame oil,  miso and chilli.  I found a packet of dried seaweed in the cupboard as well.    Really simple, really quick. A really clean, healthy, restorative soup which will give you a Spring clean as well. 

Chicken Soba Noodle Soup
You can use all sorts of green leafy vegetables in this soup including all sorts of Choi, cabbage or spinach. As for the mushrooms, I used black fungus which don't have much taste but have a great texture but you could use Shiitake.  If you do not have a Japenese supermarket near you, such as Atari Ya, then you can buy most products made by Clearspring in the speciality section in a large supermarket.  Finally, if you are vegetarian, 
just omit the chicken stock, add a little more Miso and you will still have a delicious soup.
2 pints rich chicken soup
A large knob of ginger, julienned
A few teaspoons of soy
1/2 packet Soba Japanese buckwheat noodles
2 bok choi, cut into quarters lenghthways
6 oz. dried Asian style mushrooms
Small handful of dried seaweed (Wakame)
1 tablespoon Miso
1 bunch spring onions
1 fresh red chilli, very thinly sliced
1 lime
Sesame Oil
Togarashi

Heat up the chicken soup with the ginger juice to infuse and season with soy and salt to taste. Add the noddles and Bok Choi and simmer for about 5-7 minutes until cooked. Add the mushrooms and seaweed and simmer until re-hydrated (this takes a matter of minutes). Add a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Top with spring onions and chilli. Divide the soup between bowls and add a dash of Togarashi if using.

Phở Good

Vietnamese is the new Thai.  Restaurants such as Pho Cafe and Bahn Mi 11 are popping up everywhere. With their use of lots of fresh vegetables and herbs, the food is somehow even cleaner, fresher and zingyer than Thai.  From the Goi Cuon (Summer Rolls), which are like a salad, rolled up in rice paper to the" Pho", Vietnam's national dish, a delicious broth with flat rice noodles,  flavoured with spices and finished with loads of fresh herbs and chilli, it is all really exciting and vibrant.  


Phở (actually pronounced fuh) is traditionally a beef based broth made with left over bones including leg bones with plenty of marrow, charred onion, charred ginger and spices including cinnamon, star anise, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. The broth takes a few hours to cook and is finally served with lots of accompaniments including flank steak, beansprouts, spring onions, fresh coriander, mint, Thai basil, fresh chillis and finally, a squeeze of lime.  These garnishes are added by the dinner, which is what keeps the whole dish so fresh and lively. The Vietnamese are also fond of adding the famous "Rooster Sauce" (to use it's more polite name), to their Pho, as well as Hoi Sin Sauce which seems a bit of a shame considering the lengths they go to to make their super tasty stock. But what really attracted me to this dish in particular is that it was so good at using up left-over bones.  Roast chicken is a family favourite in our house. A good medium free-range bird is about £5.00 and can still feed my family, with two smallish kids, very generously.  But the thought of getting another meal out of the scraps, always makes me happy.  My mother of course, would have religiously made Chicken Soup with any left-overs and don't get me wrong, nothing can beat it, but sometimes you fancy a change.  


Every culture seems to have a variation on making the most of an expensive luxury, such as meat and in our current situation of economic downturn many of us are looking at ways to make the pennies go further.  With a hint of spring in the air, I am pining for cleaner, fresher flavours but still needing a damn good kick of heat to warm me up, in this somewhat bracing start to March and take my word for it, nothing is more perfect than Pho.

Phở Gà (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)
Makes enough for 4
Broth
1 left over organic free-range chicken carcass plus any bones
1 large onion peeled and cut in quarters
1 large head of garlic, cut in half
Very large knob of fresh ginger, sliced in half lengthwise
roots and stems of 1 bunch of coriander
2 whole star anise
8 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

3 Black cardamon pods
1 teaspoon palm sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
salt (or to taste)

for serving
16 ounces dried phở noodles
4 spring onions, chopped
Large handful of beansprouts
Coriander, freshly chopped

Mint, freshly chopped

Thai Basil, freshly chopped

Fresh Red and Green Chillis

Limes
Sriracha hot chili sauce
Hoisin sauce (optional)


Pick of all the nice bits of meat from your chicken and shred it up. Put into the fridge. Place the onion, garlic and ginger in a roasting tray and put under a full grill, turning often. You want the surface to be partly blackened as it adds a wonderful smoky flavor to the soup without making it bitter.  Just before they are ready, add all your spices and toast lightly.  Place the chicken bones into a large saucepan.  (You can use a slow-cooker set for 8 hours on slow). Add all the other ingredients for the soup around the chicken. Add water until the top of the bones are just covered. Bring to a boil over high heat. When the water comes to a boil turn right down and cook very slowly for 3 hours. Soak the dried pho noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes to rehydrate them. Chop up your condiments and have them ready. When your broth is done, strain it through a fine mesh sieve and skim off any excess fat. Taste the soup, add more fish sauce if necessary and then check for salt. Add more as necessary.

Drain the noodles and add them to the hot soup. Split the noodles between 4 bowls and top with the chicken and then ladle on the hot broth.

Serve this all the accompaniments and everybody just helps themselves.                                         

                                    

   


Tales of Pigling Bland is hosting Fuss Free Flavours' "Frugal Food Fridays" this month.  I thought this was a perfect recipe.


Being so green, I thought it fitting for an entry at Very Good Recipes for a Saint-Patrick's Day Challenge.

Tom Kha Gai and Pad Thai

It is cold and gloomy outside and I really need warming up inside and my spirits lifting. To me, no food in the world does that for me quite like Thai food. The combination of sweet, sour, fragrant and spicy is like nothing else. I have in mind a Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut soup with lemon grass) for lunch and a Pad Thai for dinner. I have at least three Thai shops in my near vicinity and there really are loads scattered all London, so there is no excuse. I popped down to Amaranth in Garratt Lane in EarIsfield, which is a tiny shop but very well stocked. I bought coconut milk, Tamarind paste, thick wide Thai rice noodles, Nam Pla (fish sauce), palm sugar, dried shitake mushrooms, sweet chilli sauce and shrimp paste. All of these ingredients keep
really well so it is well worth the trip. Even the lime leaves and galangal freeze well. 

They also have a lovely array of fresh produce - baskets of limes, bunches of coriander, lovely little baby spring onions which I hadn't seen before, bamboo shoots, lemon grass, shallots, ginger, Pak Choi, Bok Choi and beautiful pea aubergines which are delicious in a green Thai curry. Also look out for sweet basil which tastes really fresh, like a cross between normal basil and mint. It really gives an authentic Thai taste to your food. This Pad Thai recipe really works , is really easy and is so much better than you will find in most Thai restaurants.

Pad Thai

8 oz. Thai rice noodles either thick or medium width
4 oz raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced
6 oz large raw prawns. Please use ONLY Atlantic prawns. It is probably best to avoid any prawns from South-East Asia. If they are frozen, de-frost first and dry well with kitchen paper.

Marinade for chicken
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
1-2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
4 oz crushed or roughly chopped peanuts (not salted)
vegetable oil for stir-frying, and wedges of lime

Pad Thai Sauce
2 tbsp. tamarind paste dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
4 tbsp. fish sauce, + more to taste
1-3 tsp. flaked dried chilli
3 tbsp. palm sugar

Bring a large pot of pot to a boil and remove from heat. Dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. You will be frying the noodles later, so you don't want to over-soften them now. Noodles are ready to be drained when they are soft enough to be eaten, but are still firm and a little crunchy. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Place chicken slices in a small bowl. Pour over the marinade. Stir well and set aside. Make the Pad Thai Sauce by combining the sauce ingredients together in a cup. Stir well to dissolve the tamarind paste and brown sugar. Set aside. This may seem like a lot of sugar, but you need it to balance out the sourness of the tamarind - this balance is what makes Pad Thai taste so amazing.

Warm up a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 tbsp. oil and fry the prawns until golden brown on both sides. Remove and set aside. Add garlic and chilli. Stir-fry until fragrant (30 seconds). Add chicken together with the marinade. Stir-fry until chicken is just cooked. Add a little water if necessary to make sure chicken is cooked. When wok becomes dry, add the noodles, and pour the Pad Thai sauce over. Using tongs, stir-fry the noodles. Use a gentle "lift and turn" method (like tossing a salad) to prevent noodles from breaking. Stir-fry in this way 1-2 minutes. Add the bean sprouts and put the prawns back in. Continue tossing 1 more minute, or until noodles are cooked. Noodles are done to perfection when they are no longer hard or crunchy, but chewy and sticky. 

Taste-test for seasoning, adding more fish sauce until desired flavour is reached (I usually add at least 1 more tbsp. fish sauce). Toss well to incorporate.
Lift noodles onto a serving plate. Top with generous amounts of fresh chopped coriander, spring onion, and chopped nuts. Serve with fresh lime wedges.

(Tom Kha Gai) Thai Soup with Coconut and LemongrassPlease use ONLY Atlantic prawns. It is probably best to avoid any prawns from South-East Asia. If they are frozen, de-frost first and dry well with kitchen paper. 

6 oz raw prawns pealed, de-veined, tails on if possible. 
2 sticks lemongrass
4 kaffir limes leaves (fresh or frozen)
1 large handful fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
1 small handful fresh Thai basil leaves
2 oz dried shiitake mushrooms
3 spring onions, finely sliced
1 thumb-size piece galangal
1-2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped
1 can good-quality coconut milk
1 - 2 limes squeezed
2 tbsp fish sauce ( Nam Pla)

With a hand blender make a paste of the lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal, chillis, the Thai basil and most of the coriander. If necessary add a little water to make a smooth paste.

Heat a wok or frying pan until very hot. Add a little oil and fry the prawns until golden brown. Add the lemongrass and coriander paste and fry for a few minutes. Add the chicken broth and the mushrooms and spring onions and cook for a few minutes. Finally add the coconut milk, the fish sauce and fresh lime juice to taste. Remove from the heat. Try not to cook after you have added the lime and coconut milk as it alters the fresh taste. Look for a balance between spicy, sour, salty, and sweet flavours. Start with salty, adding more fish sauce if not salty or flavourful enough. If too sour, add a little palm sugar, If not spicy enough, add more chilli. Ladle soup into serving bowls. Sprinkle with a little fresh coriander.

If adding noodles, I find it's best to cook them separately and rinse well before adding to the soup, otherwise the soup becomes starchy.