Jamie Oliver's Cucumber Salad - Take Two

Last time I blogged about this salad (March 2010) we ate it so quickly that I didn't get a chance for any pictures. I made it again last night and so here is an updated post! Also, I made a couple of changes to the recipe. The original calls for natural yogurt but I used Créme Fraiche (2 tbsp) and found it was so much better.  40% milk fat will do that I guess! I also omitted the mint per my husband's request. Instead of a fresh chili (which I could not find at my local store today) I used red chili flakes.  The original post is here and will give you all the instructions on how to prepare the salad. Try it - you'll like it!

Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Feta and Zucchini Ribbons

A super summery cold pasta salad like this is perfect for a picnic lunch at the beach.  Easy to throw together in the morning before you head out it's a great little lunch that will satisfy big and small kids.  You can of course make your own variation based on what you have in the fridge. 

I used penne pasta (cooked according to the package and then rinsed under cold water) and tossed with crumbled feta, cherry tomatoes and zucchini ribbons. For the dressing, I used olive oil, some apple cider vinegar, salt & pepper.  Remember, depending on the size of your salad the amount of dressing you need to make will vary. For most vinaigrette dressings, try to keep your oil to vinegar ratio at 3:1. Be adventurous if you like and add in herbs, spices, onions, shallots, lemons or honey or try different types of vinegars (raspberry, balsamic etc.). Whisk to emulsify in a glass or ceramic bowl or shake in a mason jar to incorporate.

Making zucchini ribbons is very easy. Just wash the zucchini and cut off the ends. Next grab your vegetable peeler and start 'shaving' off thin lengthwise strips of zucchini stopping and turning when you see the seeds.

Stacked Caprese Salad

Hands down these are my favourite individual salads to make especially for a group of people if you are trying to be a little fancy but don't have much time! They look so nice on a dining table if plated on a white plate with a drizzle of good quality, rich olive oil.

I picked up some gorgeous vine tomatoes the other day and knew I had to make these for dinner. One thing I find harder to find is fresh mozzarella. Where I live there aren't too many specialty cheese boutiques so I make do with the fresh mozzarella at the grocery store. Still yummy but not quite the same. Keep in mind, this cheese is the soft, round cheese packed in water not the ball of firm mozzarella.


Ingredients & Prep: Serves 4

• 1 ball fresh mozzarella
• 4 vine ripened tomatoes
• bunch of fresh basil
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash and slice the tomatoes into equal sized pieces.  Arrange on salad plates alternating mozzarella and basil. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. Allow guests to add salt if they prefer and offer fresh ground pepper at the table.

Vegetarian Cobb Salad and Easy Homemade Salad Dressing

Is it Spring yet? It was until Tuesday and then it was Winter again - overnight it all changed. Somehow every March I think this year will be different and that little groundhog will be telling the truth for once in his life;) In honour of Spring, blue skies and fresh sunny days, here is a very easy salad and dressing that looks pretty on the table even if outside is grim.

I have to admit our toddler isn't into green things yet so I made extra boiled eggs and she had one of her favourite things for dinner instead - egg salad sandwiches.

Ingredients and Prep - Serves 2 adults as an entree and 4 adults as a starter

• 1 iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 3-4 free-range eggs, hard boiled & crumbled
• 1-2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 large avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• Chives, for garnish

Optional extras:

• chickpeas
• endive
• romaine lettuce
• green onions
• grilled chicken, diced
• bacon, diced

Start by boiling your eggs until hard boiled (10 minutes), then cool under cold water and take off the shells. While the eggs are boiling, wash and prepare all your other ingredients.  Arrange all the ingredients in rows on a serving platter in any pattern you like, sprinkle the chives on top. I made bacon this time for my husband but kept that in a separate bowl.

Bacon for the non-veggies

A variation of the original Cobb Salad Dressing

I don't measure things so the following are close estimates. I made the dressing in a small mason jar.

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon
• 1 tsp. salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 cup full-flavored olive oil

Put all the ingredients in the mason jar, put the lid on tight and shake the daylights out of it.  Give it a taste test and make any changes if needed.  Add the dressing just before serving or let everyone add their own.

Easy homemade dressing

Jamie Oliver's Evolution Cucumber Salad

I admit it - I watched Rachael Ray yesterday. Anyway, it was okay because she wasn't very screachy and it was rather lucky actually because there was Jamie Oliver in all his Britishness speaking about good food and easy recipes. I copied his recipe down with the PVR on slow-mo and made the cucumber salad the other night for dinner (as a side). Since my own notes are quite basic, I will copy the recipe from RR's website and post it here for you. Go here http://www.rachelrayshow.com/food/recipes/jaime-olivers-evolution-cucumber-salad/ for a video and picture of the salad - my salad looked EXACTLY the same! It was a very, very good salad. So easy and honestly, much nicer than cucumber salad sounds. I am trying the Evolution Potato Salad tomorrow.

Jamie Oliver's Evolution Cucumber Salad - Serves 4

Peel 2 cucumbers, using a speed peeler, chop off the ends, and halve them lengthways. Use a teaspoon to gently scoop the seeds out, and discard them. Chop the cucumber into irregular bite-sized chunks and place in a bowl. Seas with a good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well. Pick some leaves off a few sprigs of fresh mint and roughly chop them. Add them to the salad and toss together. Serve the salad simply as it is, or let it evolve…

Add a large tablespoon of natural yogurt to the cucumber salad. Toss until well coated and serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Put a large handful of black olives on a clean surface and press down on them with the palm of your hand to remove the pits. Discard the pits and add the olives to the salad. Toss together well.

Halve 1 fresh red chile lengthways, seed, and finely chop. Scatter over your cucumber salad and serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Super Bowl Menu: Hash Brown Casserole, 7 Layer Salad & Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing

Well, I have only a couple of hours to finish everything up, pack up the husband, baby & dog and head over to my brother-in-law's house for the game. Football isn't really my thing, but my in laws love it so I go for the socializing. But who's kidding who here? It's really because I like the food. As a non meat eater in a carnivorous family, I like to contribute to the menu so that a) I have something to eat and b) I can see how long it takes my Father-in-law to realize that it's not "real" bacon that he's eating!

While I can't say what everyone else is bringing - here are my contributions:

- 7 Layered Salad with homemade Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing
- Veggie burgers (Yves brand)
- Hash brown Casserole with Faux Bacon, Onions & Cheese
- Brownies (from a box - we all cheat sometimes)

Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing

*try using an old mason or pasta sauce jar to make your dressing in...

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup 2% plain yogurt
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp green onion or chives, finely chopped
  
• 2-3 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
  
• 1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
• salt (to taste)
• white pepper (to taste)

Put the liquid ingredients in your jar first, then the remaining ingredients. Stir up or shake madly. Let the flavours infuse for a few hours or overnight.


The 7 Layer Salad

This was supposed to be a vegetarian Cobb salad - you can see it is not. All I can say is that of the 2 stores and 4 avocados I bought, 0/4 could be used. Instead it became a layered salad made from a variety of ingredients.

From the bottom up...

Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, chick peas, green leaf lettuce, boiled egg, green onion.

This will be served with the Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing so that will make it much better.


Hash Brown Casserole with Faux Bacon, Onion and Cheese

I pretty much followed this recipe from Cooking Light but used fake bacon (Yves brand) and I eliminated the green onions. I also used 2% plain yogurt instead of sour cream because I had it leftover from the dressing recipe.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1120354

Fantastic Summer Salad

My Mum was here last week helping me with our new baby and she made this salad one night as a starter. It is my new fave - so delicious. We used tinned artichokes and hearts of palm instead of the fresh artichokes because, really, who has time for artichokes when you have a 5 week old baby?

No idea where the original recipe is from....will post when my Mum tells me where she found it.

ANOTHER TIP - make triple the dressing!!! The original quantity is not enough.

COOL BEANS ARTICHOKE SALAD

Serves 4

10 baby artichokes, peeled and quartered (or use tinned artichokes, like us!)
2 cups diagonally cut asparagus
1/3 cup thinly sliced radishes
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 19-oz. can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
8 large romaine leaves

1. Steam the artichokes for 8 minutes. Add the asparagus and steam about 2 minutes more, or until crisp-tender. Drain and run vegetables under cold water. Let cool.

2. Make dressing: Whisk together garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

3. Combine radishes, onions, and beans in salad bowl with half of dressing and toss well. Gently stir in artichokes and asparagus.

4. To serve, place 2 romaine leaves each on four plates. Divide salad equally among plates and drizzle with remaining dressing.

Warm Lentil Salad - a super speedy vegetarian lunch

I thought I would post here about my latest craving to break up the pasta recipes (stay tuned - 2 more to come).

Lentils. What a delicious little thing a lentil is...full of protein, fibre, wholesome goodness. Find out more about the lovely lentil here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil

Here is a very simple idea that has been both lunch and dinner in the last 24 hours.

Ingredients & Preparation: (no actual recipe was consulted in the making of this meal, just bare cupboard desperation!)

Serves 1 hungry gal

• 1/2 can of quality lentils, drained
• 2-3 handfuls of chopped fresh spinach, or frozen if that's what you have on hand
• 1 tbsp of sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
• 1-2 tbsp feta cheese on top

Warm up the lentils in either the microwave or on the stove. Add in the spinach, cook until it is soft and wilty. Toss in the tomatoes. Serve in a bowl and top with feta.

A delicious, filling vegetarian meal for one (multiply recipe by 2 for 2 people and so on). Serve with greens if you are feeling sporty!

PS - the picture is not of my actual meal (you will not see any sun-dried tomatoes), but it is a pretty good replica from http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/.

Insalata Caprese

I went to our local farmer's market this Saturday since it was such a gorgeous day. I was looking for some tomatoes to make this salad since the ones from the grocery store are never quite right. I found some beautiful beef steak and yellow tomatoes. Typically, this salad is made with plum tomatoes but I wanted to use local produce and these were to good-looking not to buy!

Again, no recipe for this salad but it's very simple to make.

Ingredients & Preparation:
This made enough for 4 people and we had the leftovers at another meal.

• 1 large beef steak tomato, sliced
• 3 small yellow tomatoes, sliced
• fresh mozzarella (Buffalo mozzarella if you can get it), sliced
• fresh basil, chopped
• radicchio, chopped for decoration
• salt & pepper to taste
• fruity olive oil, drizzle

Cut up your tomatoes into slices. The larger tomato slices may need to be cut in half. Cut mozzarella into slices. Arrange the tomatoes and cheese in rows on a nice platter. Sprinkle with basil, salt & pepper. Place radicchio around the edges for decoration (optional and not the traditional way to serve). Drizzle the salad all over with olive oil when ready to eat. I prefer this salad to be prepared and put in the fridge for an hour or so so it can be served cold.

If you are looking for another way to present this salad, a fancier way to serve individual portions is to make a "stacked" version. Stack your tomatoes, mozzarella and basil (full leaves) and drizzle with olive oil. You can also drizzle some balsamic for added je ne sais quoi.

Buon appetito!

Arugula Salad with pomegrante, orange & goat cheese

This salad was not a show-stopper but it was quite good and looked very pretty.

Ingredients & Preparation: (From epicurious, Original from Bon Appétit, November 2002)

Servings: Makes 10 to 12 servings

• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons thawed frozen orange juice concentrate
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 5 oranges
• 14 ounces arugula (about 16 cups)
• 3/4 cup pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries
• 1 5.5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion

Whisk first 5 ingredients in bowl to blend. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Bring to room temperature and re-whisk before using.)

Cut off peel and white pith from oranges. Cut oranges into 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Cut each round into quarters. Transfer orange pieces to large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Toss salad with enough dressing to coat and serve.