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.

Waffle, Charcoal and Carrot Tops

I know I have been super slack in writing my blog and to make matters worse I have just taken on the task of writing a new weekly blog for Riverford. The idea is to help customers get exciting and easy ideas and recipes each week, to help them use up their veg boxes. Then I thought, since my blog is primarily about growing and cooking vegetables, I might as well share with you a few posts from my Riverford Blog.

I would love to be sharing with you more "Recipes from the Allotment" but so far this year all I have managed to grow is a ridiculous abundance of rhubarb. I have exhausted all rhubarb recipes I can think of in the last month but luckily I have just come up with a new use, which I think I shall never tire off. It is Rhubarb Margarita and I am currently working on the recipe which I will share with you as soon as it is perfected.

In the meantime, here are some exerts from my Riverford blog.

This week I started with a Medium Veg Box (less roots). It is an exciting time of year with so many new veg and fruit coming available every day now. Gorgeous bunched carrots and onions, tender baby spinach, new season’s UK asparagus and crisp little gem lettuces to name but some.

I couldn’t wait to get started with a Grilled Asparagus & Baby Gem Salad with Feta & Mint.  Grilling your veg keeps them lovely and crisp whilst adding a delicious hint of smoke. This is a great salad to make if you are having a BBQ at the weekend, as it is so quick and easy, especially if you already have the BBQ lit. Mint is everywhere at the moment. One of the first signs of summer in my garden is when the mint reappears from nowhere, green and lush. If you don’t have any in your garden, be sure to add some to your Riverford order. Like all my recipes you can easily adapt the ingredients and this super salad would have worked just as well with grilled courgettes or even whole spring onions. It occurred to me that a few delicious broad beans would have been lovely scatted on top as well. If you are looking for a good olive oil for this recipe, I would like to recommend Riverford’s Italian Extra Virgin at £5.95 for 500ml. I like the one from Giancarlo in Puglia best – it has a lovely peppery taste.

Grilled Asparagus & Baby Gem Salad with Feta & Mint

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side
Bunch of Asparagus
One or two Baby Gem Lettuces (depending on size)
100g Feta
½ a Lemon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Few Sprigs of Fresh Mint

Snap any woody ends off your asparagus and drizzle with good olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Trim the very end off the baby gem lettuce and then cut in half lengthways through the root, taking car to keep it in tack. Cut each half into three wedges. Again drizzle with good olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. Heat your griddle or BBQ until smoking. Lay the flat sides of the lettuces on the grill, turning as soon as they have a clear char mark. Do the same with the asparagus making sure they are just cooked through. (It is imperative that your asparagus is very fresh.) Make a dressing with the juice of half a lemon, whisked up with a good pinch of salt and some extra virgin olive oil. Arrange the baby gem and asparagus on a plate and crumble over some feta. Roll up your mint leaves and finely slice to create a chiffonade. Sprinkle over the top and drizzle on your lemon dressing.

Mushrooms and Spinach just go together for some reason, whether it be in a stir-fry, an omelette or a tart but this week I tried out a Mushroom and Spinach Lasagne with a bit of Goat’s Cheese thrown in as well. Serve alongside some of Riverford’s delicious salad leave and you have a meal in no time.

Riverford don’t do a Goat’s Cheese. Maybe they haven’t managed to find a good organic one. I used Helen’s Farm, which although not organic, does a lovely range of Goat’s milk products and they even come in a variety of strengths so there is something to suit to everyone. I chose the mild hard cheese and even managed to sneak it past the kids without a fuss.

Mushroom, Spinach & Goat’s Cheese Lasagne

Serves 2

One Punnet of Mushrooms
One Bag of Baby Spinach
One large clove of garlic
25g Butter
25g Flour
350mls Milk
50g Parmesan
120g Goat’s Cheese
½ box of lasagne sheets
Olive Oil
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Finely slice your mushrooms. Heat a glug of olive oil in a large frying pan and add your mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Fry on a medium heat until golden brown. Meanwhile heat a large saucepan with a lid. Add a very thin layer of oil to the bottom to stop the spinach sticking. Add the bag of spinach and add a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid carefully. The spinach should be just wilted. Tip the spinach into a colander and wipe out the saucepan. Very finely slice the garlic. Add a glug of olive oil to the pan and add the garlic. Fry until just golden brown. Add the spinach carefully as it may spit. Stir well and turn off the heat.

Heat the butter in a small non-stick saucepan. Once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Return to a low heat and stir until sandy. Carefully add the milk and whisk over a medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and add the grated parmesan. Season well to taste with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C
Heat the butter in a small non-stick saucepan. Once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Return to a low heat and stir until sandy. Carefully add the milk and whisk over a medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Remove from the heat and add the grated parmesan. Season well to taste with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. Cut the goat’s cheese into small chunks.

Take a gratin dish about 20cms x 15cms and put a very thin layer of béchamel on the bottom. Top with a layer of lasagne sheets. Break up the sheets if necessary. Top with the spinach and 1/3 of the remaining béchamel and 1/2 the goat’s cheese. Next do another layer of lasagne. Then top with the spinach the rest of the goat’s cheese and the next 1/3 of bechamel. Next the final layer of lasagne and finally the rest of the béchamel. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes or so until golden brown on top and a blunt knife inserts easily all the way through.

 

Roast Sweet Potato Wedges with Sweet Chilli Sauce & Crème Fraiche

I never used to know what to do with Sweet Potatoes and I was always concocting

elaborate curries and chillies to use them up but I had forgotten how delicious simple roast Sweet Potato Wedges were until my son asked me to make them for him instead of potatoes. 

What always amazes me is how good sweet potatoes are for you. You cannot believe that something that tastes so, well .... sweet, could do you any good but they pack a powerful nutritional punch. They have got over 400% of your daily needs for vitamin A in one medium sized sweet potato as well as loads of antioxidents vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, fibre & potassium. They have got more grams of natural sugars than regular potato but more overall nutrients with fewer calories.They are low on the glycemic index scale, and recent research suggests they may reduce episodes of low blood sugar and insulin resistance in people with diabetes. 

I lightly sprinkled them with a little salt and some smoked paprika, drizzled them with a little olive oil and roast them in the oven at 190⁰C for about half an hour until soft in the middle but crispy and golden on the outside. I then served them with a couple of dips - Crème Fraiche (Riverford’s is very good) and the other was some Sweet Chilli Sauce (once again, Riverford do make their own) and it soon became a firm, family favourite.

So that is it for this week. I promise lots more recipes next week. Please feel free to comment and let us know what challenges you are facing you this week. I know I never got round to those lovely bunched onions and carrots but I promise to next week and at least I finally found something to do with tops of the carrots which I always hated throwing away. I discovered that Waffle and Charcoal just love them!

"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.

Plenty

Usually the necessity of having to work for a living is nothing but a distraction for getting on with my blog. Recently however, I have been doing recipe testing and photography for Riverford, for their soon to be launched "Recipe Boxes".This is a new craze sweeping the nation when you receive, delivered to your door, three easy to follow recipes plus all the ingredients to cook your evening meals. 

I have to admit that I wasn't overwhelmed by the idea until I put them to the test. I like to think I am not the sort of girl who is not short on ideas or creativity when putting together a dinner for two, but I cannot tell you how pleasant it is, just sometime to not have to think about it. To know that everything I need is there at home waiting for me, no shopping, no planning and what turned out to be an even greater plus is that even Hugh, the other half, can cook them too. For the first time in years he actually managed to cook dinner on his own, not once but twice in a week. He found the recipe cards easy to follow and what with the unavoidable convenience of having all the ingredients weighed out, to hand, managed to knock up dinner with practically no fuss at all!  And you would not believe how pleased he was with himself.

In the meantime I needed to deal with my latest allotment glut. Due to my failure to sew few and often, to stagger my crops and in my total over enthusiasm to grow anything at all, I now am reaping the excess crops to mirror my initial excess impatience. I failed to thin my crops sufficiently and I am weighed down with Fennel, Chard and Spinach, all ready at the same time.

Lucky for me, guess what recipes I have been testing this week. Being seasonal, the recipes I am testing exactly match what I am harvesting and these two recipes for Indian Spiced Spinach & Chickpeas and Fennel & Chard Gratin could not have been more perfect for using up my surplus vegetables.  Now I can start dealing with the tomatoes!

Indian Spiced Spinach & Chickpeas with Coconut & Coriander Rice
prep & cook 40 mins, 

serves 2
1 onion (150g)
1 garlic clove (5g)
piece of ginger (25g)
fresh coriander (20g)
20g butter
150g long grain white rice
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
salt
oil for frying eg sunflower or vegetable
200g spinach (or change to 150g chard)
1 x 400g tin chickpeas
½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds (2g)
½ teaspoon ground cumin (2g)
½ teaspoon garam masala (2g)
¼ teaspoon chilli powder (1g)
¼ teaspoon turmeric (1g)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (1g)
400g chopped tomatoes
1 lemon (150g)

Put the rice in a sieve and rinse well under the tap. Peel and chop the onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Peel the ginger and finely grate it. Wash the coriander leaves and leave them to dry. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains. Stir the coconut milk so it’s smooth and add to the rice with 150ml water. Season with a good pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, the lower the heat, cover and leave it cook on a bare simmer. Keep an eye on the pan, stirring it every now and then to stop it catching on the bottom. Add a little water or more of the coconut milk if it’s getting too dry. While the rice is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and gently fry without colouring for 6 minutes. While the onion is cooking, rinse the chickpeas well and leave to drain. Wash the spinach and remove any tough stalks. Roughly chop the leaves. Add the garlic, ginger, mustard seeds, cumin, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric and cinnamon to the onion. Fry gently for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and a good pinch of salt to the onion. Bring up to a simmer. After the tomatoes have been simmering for 10 minutes, remove the rice from the heat and leave to steam, still covered. Continue cooking the tomatoes for another 5 minutes. Finely chop the coriander leaves. Uncover the tomatoes and add the drained chickpeas and spinach. Stir together and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed. (It does look like a lot of spinach to start with, but it wilts down). Fluff up the rice with a fork. Squeeze in the juice from ½ the lemon and stir in the chopped coriander leaves. Serve with the chickpeas and spinach.

Fennel & Chard Gratin
prep & cook 45 mins
serves 2
2 fennel bulbs (500g)
olive Oil
salt & pepper
300g chard
2 garlic cloves
100ml white wine
1 whole nutmeg
125ml crème fraîche
fresh thyme
salt & pepper
25g wholemeal breadcrumbs
40g parmesan
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 190C/180C fan assisted/gas mark 5. Put on a large pan of salted water to boil. While the oven is heating up, trim any large spiky tops of the fennel and remove any tough outer leaves. Cut the bulbs into thin wedges, still with the core intact to keep them together. If a few odd bits fall apart, don’t worry. If you have any feathery fronds on your fennel, keep those and add them when you stir in the cream. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan. Add the fennel and cook it very slowly, stirring every now and then. It will take about 20 minutes, until it’s starting to caramelize. Strip the chard leaves from their stalks. Wash both, then chop the stalks very finely. Peel and finely chop or crush the garlic. Once the water is boiling, plunge the chard leaves in and boil for 3 minutes. Get a large bowl of cold water ready. Drain the leaves and plunge into the bowl to refresh, then drain again. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop the leaves. After about 20 minutes or so, when the fennel starts to look a golden brown colour, add the chard stalks and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the wine and use a fine grater to grate a little of the nutmeg into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the cream, chard leaves and the thyme leaves. Season well with salt and pepper. Transfer to the baking/gratin dish. Put the breadcrumbs in a small bowl. Finely grate enough of the lemon zest over the bowl so you have approximately 1 teaspoon in there. Grate in the cheese too. Mix together then scatter over the fennel mixture. Transfer the dish to the oven (ideally keep the sweet potatoes on the same shelf but move them onto a lower shelf if you need to make room – you might just need to cook them a little longer) and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, until the gratin is golden on top.