shaved zucchini, mint, chilli & feta salad

Jamie Oliver is responsible for showing me that zucchini can be eaten raw. I can’t believe I never realised it before, but I was watching his one of his 30 minute meals episodes and he started shaving raw zucchini into a salad.

Genius!

How had I never figured this out before?

So I combined his raw zucchini idea with another salad he made with grilled zucchini, mint and chilli. Sheer brilliance. So simple and yet friggin’ fresh and delicious.

Jamie, you are amazing. Really.

Shaved Zucchini, Mint, Chilli & Feta Salad

Ingredients:

2 smallish zucchini
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
100g feta, crumbled
Salt & pepper, to taste
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Small mint leaves for garnish

Method:

1.    Using a peeler or a mandolin, shave the zucchini into super thin slices.

2.    Add mint and chilli, then season with salt and pepper.

3.    Dress with lemon juice and olive oil then toss to coat well.

4.    Gently stir through half the feta.

5.    Pile onto serving plate then scatter with remaining feta and top with small mint leaves.

fennel, radish & apple salad

Yesterday was one huge Thanksgiving dinner, cooked by moi.

My sister Shamu and her man, Tombolina, came over and I spent the entire day preparing for the feast.

It was one of those cooking days where everything just fell into place. I cooked recipes simultaneously based on time and need, and managed to balance pie pastry with turkey brining, yam basting with dressing prep, cocktail making with vegetable slicing.

I even managed to completely clean the kitchen before Jonas got home and my guests arrived (Jonas was particularly pleased he dodged that bullet).

To be honest, it was the first time in my life when I managed to be so zen and organised when cooking a huge meal. I was very, very proud of myself.

Gold star please!

A “Spiced Scrumpy” cocktail kicked the evening off, then the menu combined Americana favourites, modern twists and some Thanksgiving classics:

Pear & Scallop Squash Soup
Texan BBQ Turkey Shanks
Sausage & Sage Dressing
Fennel, Apple & Radish Salad
Maple, Bourbon & Sesame Candied Yams
Greens Simmered in Chicken Stock w Onions & Garlic
Chocolate Pecan Pie & Vanilla Ice Cream

Every recipe was new – untried, untested – and every single one was a great success. I was so pleased with the way the food turned out.

Today I’m going to share with you one of the recipes: this autumnal salad of pretty pinkish hues and fresh, tangy flavours.

The original recipe used Jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes), but I was unable to source them in the Sydney spring weather. Nonetheless, the salad added a perfect refreshing balance to some of the other heavier dishes.

Fennel, Radish & Apple Salad

Based on a recipe from The Flexitarian Table by Peter Berley. Serves 4-6 as part of a buffet.

Ingredients:
4 radishes, trimmed
2 gala apples, peeled and cored
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon chopped fennel fronds
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar and lemon juice to make a smooth vinaigrette. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper to taste.

2. With a super sharp peeler or mandolin, shave radishes, apples and fennel into wafer thin slices.

3. Toss vegetables in vinaigrette then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day, to allow the flavours to come together.

4. Just before serving, add in chives and fennel fronds. Taste, then season with salt and pepper as required.

smoked trout & potato salad w horseradish-crème fraîche dressing

Fabio, his gal pal + Jonas and I recently ate at Eathouse Diner and were inspired by their fantastic smoked trout salad. Jonas and I decided we had to replicate it at home and this is what we came up with.

As was the original, this salad was DELICIOUS.

We did make a few changes, for instance they used watercress and we switched our greens to baby spinach. It’s not as crunchy as the watercress, but it works well nonetheless.

This is a perfect summer dinner. You can serve it as your entree (starter) but Jonas and I happily ate it as our main course. It would be wonderful at a picnic too.

Smoked Trout & Potato Salad w Horseradish Crème Fraîche Dressing

Jonas & Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as an starter.

Ingredients:
½ cup (125ml) crème fraîche
3 tablespoons (60ml) lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
3 teaspoons grated horseradish
700g potatoes, boiled then cubed
400g smoked trout, chopped
50g baby spinach
6 radishes, finely sliced

Method:

1. Make the dressing by whisking together the crème fraîche, lemon juice, lemon zest and grated horseradish.

2. In a large bowl add to the potatoes, radishes, chives and parsley enough dressing to suit your tastes and toss gently.

3. When you’re ready to serve, add the spinach and combine well. Top salad with trout.

fisherman's rouille

There’s something romantic about any dish that’s described as a fisherman’s meal, and this is what drew me towards this cuttlefish and potato salad, which I cooked as part of Murdoch Book's 365 Challenge to cook every recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.

Rouille is from the Carmargue area, in the south of France, and gets its name from its colour: rouille = rust.

The seafood was perfectly tender and the honey-sweet saffron was so flavoursome in the garlic-laden mayonnaise. Overall, a wonderful little side dish for a lunch on a warm afternoon.

Fisherman’s Rouille

Recipe from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stéphane Reynaud. Serves 6.

Ingredients:
1kg cuttlefish hoods or octopus, cleaned
3 onions
200ml olive oil
700ml white wine
800g potatoes
3 garlic cloves
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon mustard
150ml sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
1 pinch saffron threads

Method:
1. Cut the cuttlefish into wide strips.
2. Peel and slice the onions.
3. Sauté the onions with a little olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish
4. Add the cuttlefish and moisten with white wine.
5. Cook, covered, over a low heat for 1 hour then uncover to allow the wine to completely evaporate
6. Peel the potatoes, cut them in large cubes cook them for 15 minutes in boiling water.
7. Peel and chop the garlic, combine it with the egg yolk and mustard, add the sunflower oil to make a mayonnaise
8. Season then add the saffron threads.
9. Combine the potatoes and cuttlefish. Dress with the garlic mayonnaise in the dish.
10. No more vampires!


Here's a cute little extract from the book:

Garlic is a great friend of cooking but a great enemy of the mouth. It permeates the body like a colony of ants in a packet of sugar – you breathe it, you sweat it and it clings to your skin.


What can I do, I hear you say, so that the pleasure of the palate doesn’t turn you into a walking garlic clove?


1) Find a special friend who, like you, adores garlic, good conversation, maybe even more . . . it could become a true tale of Marseille, putainnn con!
2) Stop eating it. Unbearable.
3) Remove the digestible sprout inside, eat a coffe bean ro cardamom pod to offset some of the odours.
4) Stop talking for six hours, what’s more, that’ll give us a break!

cherry, oregano & feta salad

Seven Days of Cherries

In the week before Christmas I was very, very kindly given a 5kg box of cherries by Moraitis on behalf of The Cherry Growers of Australia Inc.

In exchange for this extremely generous gift, my task was to demonstrate that cherries, one of my all time favourite fruits, are versatile enough to be used in all kinds of ways in the kitchen. It wasn’t hard and I spent the next three days pitting, preserving, macerating and devouring these wonderful cerise orbs.

Here’s what I came up with:
• Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad
• Cherry Almond Shake
• Pickled Cherries
• Cherry & Vanilla Jam
• Cherry Vinegar
• Cherries in Amaretto Syrup
• Cherry & Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

I will be blogging these recipes every day over the next seven days and I hope you too enjoy the awesome cherry crops while they’re in season.

I stumbled upon this first recipe by accident and am so happy I did. The unique combination of salty-sweet flavours and bright colours are amazing, and I’m pleased this is the recipe that's launching my Seven Days of Cherries.

This salad is wonderful with refreshing bursts from the cherries, earthiness from the oregano, heat and depth from the onions, moreish saltiness from the feta and sweet-acidity from the verjuice.

Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
24 cherries, pitted & halved
3 baby spring onions, quartered lengthways
1 tablespoon cabernet verjuice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
100g crumbled sheep’s milk feta
Fresh oregano leaves, picked over
Freshly milled black pepper

Method:

1. Dress cherries and onion quarters with verjuice, olive oil and black pepper.

2. Mix through oregano leaves.

3. Plate then crumble over the feta before serving.

greg malouf's raw rhubarb salad

First things first. Raw rhubarb is not poisonous.

I’m glad we cleared that up. Now we can move onto the fun stuff.

This salad is wonderful.

I first saw it in an August 2007 issue of delicious Magazine and I have been meaning to make it for the past three years, but as these stories always unfold, something has always gotten in the way.

It was a recipe by Lebanese-Australian Greg Malouf, cooked with Skye Gyngell at her Petersham Nurseries Café (London), and was served as part of an extravagant Middle Eastern banquet that included pigeon b’stilla, lobster tagine and smoky paprika & parsley tartare.

I have never been more jealous of other diners.

Last week, after a nice wander to the Eveleigh farmers markets with Tia Bicky, I impulsively bought some goat cutlets and a huge bunch of ruby red rhubarb.

I rarely ever buy rhubarb. And now there was a lot of it.
Bright, shiny and fresh. And mountains of it.

I was going to have to come up with some nifty ways to cook it, then I remembered the salad and became a woman on a mission.

Luckily, everything else was already in the fridge! What are the chances?
It was meant to be.

The rhubarb, so sour and tangy, provides all the acidity you need for this salad and thus no acidulent is used in the dressing (lemon, vinegar etc). Lemon zest is used, but its contribution is more aromatic than acidic.

I heartily recommend this salad. It tastes healthy and delicious all at once.

Raw Rhubarb & Feta Salad

Recipe by Greg Malouf from delicious Magazine August 2007. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 rhubarb stalks, cleaned well
Handful of small salad leaves (eg mache, baby spinach)
200g sheep’s milk feta
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Sumac, for sprinkling

Method:

1. Slice rhubarb into very thin strips.

2. Toss rhubarb, lemon zest and salad leaves with half the olive oil.

3. Plate salad leaves and then crumble feta on top.

4. Drizzle with remaining olive oil. Dust with sumac.



I served this salad as the first of a three course rhubarb inspired meal:
• Raw Rhubarb & Feta Salad
• Grilled Goat Cutlets w Rhubarb Agrodolce Sauce
• Vanilla, Rhubarb & Strawberry Compote w Chocolate Custard

All the rhubarb was used up and I also made a side of wine braised purple heirloom carrots. Everything tasted wonderful.

ottolenghi's radish & broad bean salad

Ali Beggs texted me last night to say I must be reading her mind.

First she was after a banana cake recipe, and I posted my banana bread on the blog.

Next she was planning dinner at Efendy, and I had posted my glorious Let’s Do Brunch experience.

She was starting to wonder what was going on, so she texted me to double check I wasn’t cooking broad beans too . . .

Well, now that you mention it . . . . .

This happens to be one of the best salads I’ve eaten in a long time and it comes from my favourite cookbook of the moment, Ottolenghi.

The recipes inside this book are so special. The ingredients are (mostly) easy to find and cheap to buy yet the way they’re put together and the flavours that surround them seem fresh and vibrant and unique.

This salad is a perfect example, using common ingredients in a unique combination which (most importantly!) tastes delicious.

Please do try it.

You too Ali Beggs!

Radish & Broad Bean Salad w Green Tahini Sauce

Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
500g shelled broad beans, fresh or frozen

350g small radishes

½ red onion, very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander

30g preserved lemon, finely chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 thick pita breads

Salt and black pepper

200ml Green tahini sauce (see below)

Method:

1. Place the broad beans in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 1–2 minutes, depending on size.

2. Drain through a large colander and rinse in plenty of cold water to refresh them. Remove the beans from their skins by gently squeezing each one with your fingertips.

3. Cut the radishes into 6 wedges each.

4. Mix with the broad beans, onion, coriander, preserved lemon, lemon juice, parsley, olive oil and cumin. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. To serve, pile a mound of salad in one corner of each serving plate, pour the tahini sauce into a small bowl and stand it next to the salad. Serve with pita bread.

Note: you can see from our photos we decided to add some spring peas too.

Green Tahini Sauce

Ingredients:
150ml tahini paste
150ml water
80ml lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon salt

30g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped if making by hand

Method:

1. If using a food processor or a blender, process together all the ingredients except the parsley until creamy and smooth. If it is too thick, add more water. Add the parsley and turn the machine on again for a second or two. Taste for seasoning.

2. If making by hand, thoroughly whisk the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic and salt together. Stir in the chopped parsley, then taste and add more salt if needed.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Chris from Mele Cotte.

moroccan cucumber & mint salad

This fresh, juicy salad is good to munch on for a snack or as an accompaniment to roast lamb or dishes like Libyan spicy fish or Iranian walnut & pomegranate spatchcock.

Moroccan Cucumber & Mint Salad
Recipe by Family Circle. Serves 6.
Ingredients:
5 Lebanese cucumbers
¼ cup finely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon orange flower water
Ground pepper
Method:
1. Finely peel cucumber and slice thinly. Put in a bowl and add mint.
2. Combine lemon, oil, orange flower water and pepper in bowl / jar and whisk / shake until well combined.
3. Pour dressing over cucumber and mint and mix well. Serve immediately after dressing.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Marija from Palachinka.

For more information on the theme ingredient, cucumber, check out my previous post covering its history and health benefits.

gỏi mực bắp chuối (banana blossom & squid salad)

This recipe was part of a big Vietnamese feast I made in 2009.

I cooked up a storm using a beautiful cookbook by a Vietnamese- Australian family who run some very famous restaurants in Sydney.

Their food in the restaurants is fresh and exquisite, the flavours actually dancing on your tongue, and their cookbook truly helps you relive those memories at home.

This recipe is a combination of two separate recipes, but I wanted to combine squid and banana blossom so this was the result: tangy, spicy and fresh.

Gỏi Mực Bắp Chuối (Vietnamese Banana Blossom & Squid Salad)
Combination of two recipes from Secrets of The Red Lantern.
Serves 2 as main or 6 as part of banquet.
Ingredients:
1 calamari tube, sliced into strips
Juice of 2 limes
1 banana blossom
1 small handful Vietnamese mint, roughly chopped
1 small handful coriander, roughly chopped
1 spring onion (scallion), finely sliced
2-3 tablespoons Nước Mắm Chấm (dipping fish sauce)
1 tablespoon roasted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons deep fried shallots
1 birds eye chilli, finely sliced
White vinegar, for soaking
Method:
1. In a small bowl, add the squid strips to the lime and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
2. Fill a bowl with water and add 2-3 tablespoons of cheap white vinegar. This water will prevent the banana blossom from oxidising and turning dark brown.
3. Remove the dark, tough outer leaves of the banana blossom to reveal tender white leaves inside. Quickly slice, then immediately immerse in the acidulated water to prevent oxidisation.
4. Cook the squid over a very hot griddle until tender (2-5 minutes).
5. Combine the squid, banana blossom, Vietnamese mint, coriander, scallion, nước mắm chấm, chilli and roasted peanuts. Toss salad well.
6. Top with deep fried shallots and serve immediately.

The banana blossom is the gorgeous, crimson, tapered bud at the end of a cluster of bananas.

The petals (or bracts) are tightly wrapped and purple-red, concealing rows of frilly male flowers and a pale, tender heart that is eaten as a vegetable. It can be boiled or stewed, often in coconut milk, or it’s served thinly sliced into salads.

The blossom is slightly astringent, like banana peels, so when raw it’s best served thinly sliced and in spicy-sweet-sour sauces, such as this recipe.

The red bracts are so pretty cleaned and used to serve the final dish.

The banana blossom is my Weekend Herb Blogging ingredient, this week hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina. Be sure to visit her blog to read the round-up.

Other recipes from the internet:
Banana Blossom Curry
Banana Blossom Salad w Chicken & Asian Pears
Banana Flower Vadai (patties)
Filipino-Style Banana Blossoms in Coconut Milk
Banana Heart Salad
Banana Blossom Stir Fry
Prawn & Banana Blossom Salad
Spicy Banana Blossoms

mâche w chive & mustard dressing

On recent visits to specialist green grocers, I’ve discovered Sydney is awash with packages from a new company selling fresh, wonderful mâche.

I remember when I was about 12 and my mother started growing mâche. I would happily eat the nutty, sweet leaves.

Looking back on it, I was very lucky I had a mother who grew sorrel and rocket and mâche when all the other kids ate nothing but iceberg lettuce (all that was available in the supermarket in those days).

But after that mâche supply ended, I was without my favourite salad green until 2 months ago when I found Sydney’s new supplier. Now mâche is back on the menu!

Mâche has a gentle, sweet flavour that is easily overpowered with too much acidity. To be honest, the dressing I’ve used below could be considered “too much”, so use your own judgement.

Instead I would probably recommend using a gentle oil (like walnut or hazelnut) and a light acidulant like verjuice.

Mâche w Chive & Mustard Dressing
Anna’s recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
100g mâche rosettes
1 heaped tablespoon wholegrain Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chive paste (or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Method:

1. Carefully wash mâche rosettes, being sure to remove any residual dirt in their layers.

2. In a jar, shake Dijon mustard, chive, olive oil and vinegar until well combined (is emulsified a word or have I been ruined by George W?).

3. Combine mâche and dressing and serve immediately.

Mâche (Valerianella locusta) has many common names like corn salad, lamb’s lettuce, field salad, field lettuce and rapunzel

Mâche grows in pretty rosette clusters so dirt easily gets caught in the folds. Make sure you clean it well to remove any hidden grit.

Mâche grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia and often pops up in unused fields. It was once a green foraged by peasants but by the reign of France’s Sun King (Louis XIV 1643-1715) it was part of the royal garden.

Full of vitamin C, B6, B9, E, and omega-3 fatty acids, mâche is a very healthy green.

The Weekend Herb Blogging host for this week is Chriesi from Almond Corner. Be sure to check out the round-up.

Other blogger recipes:
Algerian Clementine, Onion & Mâche Salad - Mediterranean Creole
Goat Cheese & Mâche Risotto - La Vie
Lamb's Lettuce & Chicken Soup - Chocolate & Zucchini
Mâche & Jicama Salad - sophistimom
Mâche Green Smoothies - She Simmers
Mâche w Orange Cumin Dressing - Kitchen Parade
Mâche, Raspberry & Viola Salad - Lekker, Lekker, Lekkerste
Vegan BLT - Healthy. Happy. Life.

From the M&M archives:
2008 - Drumstick Masala
2007 - Poire & Prosecco (cocktail)
2006 - Lentil Potage


References:
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/articles/anti-stress-anti-fatigue-and-full-of-vitamins/
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fmache.html
http://www.noblefoodsfarm.com/GreensGuide/mache.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_salad
http://www.foodreference.com/html/flambslettuce.html
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/knowhow/glossary/lambs-lettuce/

palm hearts w parsley

One of my favourite indulgences is a can of palm hearts, sliced lengthways then sprinkled with vinegar, some olive oil, fresh parsley and a little salt and pepper. It’s just divine.

The perfect snack, despite how expensive one little can of palm hearts can be in Sydney (almost $6 dollars)!

I wonder how fresh palm hearts taste, and whether I’d like them as much.

As we raced through the Louisiana bayou on an airboat, our guide pointed out the fanned palm plants that produce these gorgeous creamy cores. Unfortunately I didn’t see the fresh product for sale in the restaurants or markets. Shame.

I have already blogged about palm hearts before, so I refer you to this previous post for the facts on this ingredient, but I did think it was worth bringing up again and reintroducing to the Weekend Herb Blogging community.


This is not a very complicated recipe, in fact it’s not really a recipe so much as throwing together some ingredients. It really doesn’t deserve to be written out step by step, but I will because I’m obsessive compulsive.

Palm Hearts w Parsley

Anna’s recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:Canned palm hearts
White wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Drain can of palm hearts.

2. Cut lengthwise and arrange on plate.

3. Drizzle with olive oil, vinegar and sprinkle over parsley.

4. Season with freshly milled salt and pepper.

This week our hostes is the lovely Anh from Food Lover's Journey in Sydney. Check out her recap!

And here's some other palm heart recipes from the blogosphere:
Arroz con Palmitos (palm hearts & rice) - Morsels & Musings
Blood Orange & Hearts of Palm Salad - Slashfoods
Green Bean Salad Recipe w Hearts of Palm - Kalyn's Kitchen
Grilled Hearts of Palm - Desert Candy
Heart of Palm Amuse Bouche - The Skinny Gourmet
Heart of Palm & Chard Dip - Delementals
Heart of Palm Empadinhas - Technicolor Kitchen
Heart of Palm Quiche - Technicolor Kitchen
Heart of Palm Remoulade Salad - Kahakai Kitchen
Mango, Radish & Heart of Palm Salad - Kalyn's Kitchen

From the M&M archives
2008 - rose apples in Thailand
2007 - Gochujang Salmon w Chilli & Ginger Bok Choy
2006 - Sahlep (Turkish orchid milk)

egyptian tomato salad

 
This is a really good, tangy salad. The onion can be grated into a fine pulp that coats the tomatoes beautifully.

It's perfect for a summer afternoon with a piece of crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Egyptian Tomato Salad

Nigella Lawson's recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:5 medium-sized vine tomatoes (approx. 750g altogether)
1 shallot, peeled
1 clove of garlic, peeled
3–4 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Handful freshly chopped coriander
Good squeeze of lemon juice
Maldon salt
Splash of olive oil

Method:

1. Chop the shallot and garlic as finely as is humanly possible – or just blitz to a pulp in a processor – and put in a small bowl with the oil, a pinch of salt and a grinding of pepper.

2. Leave to steep while you blanche the tomatoes: that’s to say, put them in a large bowl then pour boiling water over them so that they are hotly submerged. Leave for 5 minutes then tip into a colander and run under cold water.

3. Using a sharp knife, peel off the skins then cut these fuzzy spheres into slices, as thick or as thin as you like.

4. Arrange the tomatoes in a dish and pour over the dressing, using your fingers to mix well. I find it easier to use one bowl for steeping purposes and another one, later, for serving. You can let the tomatoes sit like this for a good couple of hours while the flavours will deepen wonderfully.

5. When you’re ready to eat, either leave the dressed tomatoes in the bowl or decant to a new one but turn them to coat, squeeze over some lemon juice, sprinkle with Maldon salt and a tablespoon or so of freshly chopped coriander and splash with olive oil.

6. Serve at room temperature.

Note: even if you're too lazy to peel the tomatoes (these photos clearly implicate me), the salad is still very good.

persimmon fruit salad

This recipe, using Fuyu persimmons, is a delicious breakfast or a wonderful autumn afternoon dessert.

Persimmon Fruit SaladBased on an idea by David Lebovitz. Serves 2.Ingredients:1 pear, sliced
1 persimmon, sliced
3 dates, quartered
8 prunes, pitted
½ cup vanilla yoghurt
Method:
1. Arrange in a bowl.
2. Top with yoghurt.
3. Eat!

How simple is that?! And the best thing is that it tastes sooooo good.

feta, sumac & herb salad

I’m back.

I took a bit of time off from blogging. I just wasn’t motivated enough.

I was still cooking up a storm in the kitchen, but I didn’t have the enthusiasm and drive to sit down and write about it.

I sinc received a few concerned emails, and this inspired me that people really are out there reading and I should keep on keeping on.

And so I’m back, with a salad that could equally suit the weather in the cooling southern hemisphere and the warming northern one.

The salad has a slightly Middle Eastern feeling to it and is great even for breakfast with a boiled egg, some freshly sliced tomato and a little hummus and labneh.

Feta, Sumac & Herb Salad
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as side.
Ingredients:200g feta, crumbled coarsely
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
4 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
2 tablespoons finely sliced white scallions
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sumac
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil, to drizzle

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix.
2. Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve immediately.

Although I use the term “scallions” on my blog, in my daily life I call those immature onion stalks “shallots”.

I can imagine a few puzzled faces from my blogging friends around the world, wondering if scallions are shallots, then what are shallots?

Yes, yet another confusing mix-up in the English language.

In Australia, there are shallots (increasingly called scallions), there are eschallots (increasing called shallots) and there are spring onions (sometimes called green onions).

Confused yet? I am!

But today I am focusing on scallions, as part of Weekend Herb Blogging.

I love scallions. You can use the whole onion from the white, fiery bulbs to the fresh, green tips. They work well in European, Asian and Middle Eastern cooking and are mild enough to eat raw.

Scallions can come from a wide variety of the Allium genus, wherever there is an under-developed bulb.

The most common species of scallions is Allium fistulosum, often called the Welsh onion.

Shallot and scallion both evolved from the Ancient Greek word “askolonion” which seemed to refer the Philistine town of Ascalon, now Israel’s Ashkelon. This was probably where the Greek’s sourced their scallions, although they were traded from further east.

According to Wikipedia, scallions have many names around the world, many translating into common threads: green, spring, new, small, leafy and young.

Our Weekend Herb Blogging host this week is Cinzia from Cindystar, who currently sports a gorgeous recipe for sciroppo di sambuco (elderflower cordial) on her blog. For those that don’t speak Italian, it’s worth trawling through the silly attempts of Babelfish for the results.


Other interesting scallion recipes include:Claypot Flounder w Ginger & Scallions - No Recipes
Corn, Scallion & Potato Frittata - Serious Eats
Ginger Scallion Chicken - Rasa Malaysia
Honey Scallion Sliders - Not Eating Out in New York
Kale & Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes w Scallions - 101 Cookbooks
Pajeon (Korean scallion pancake) - David Lebovitz
Savoury Cheese & Scallion Scones - Farmgirl Fare
Scallion Bread - Habeas Brûlée
Scallion Mushroom Soup - hey, that tastes good!
Scallion Spread - Beyond Salmon
Sesame Scallion Dumplings - Hugging the Coast
Sweet Potato, Scallion & Sage Risotto - The Lunchbox Bunch
Sweet Scallion Tofu - Book of Yum

Morsels from the Archive:
2008 - Soop Naw Mai (Thai bamboo shoot salad)
2007 - the food of Frankfurt
2006 - Htapodi Stifado (Greek octopus in red wine)

References & onion photo sources
http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/onion-shallot/growing-shallots.php
http://www.maysiesfarm.org/csa/soto/
http://www.harvestwizard.com/2008/05/spring_onions_green_onions_and.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallion

warm roasted vegetable salad

Families come in all shapes and sizes.

Until I was 7 I grew up with a mother, a father and two brothers. Then my parents divorced and I suddenly had two extra sisters, a step father and an extra mum and two wonderful extra grandparents.

Not to mention my stepsisters' mother and her new husband and his kids. And my mother's two close female friends their children. Whoa!

You get the picture. It's a mega tribe that was not without its fights and frictions but now that we're all adults the bad egg was weeded out and the true, loving family members remain.

I'm reflective of all of this because one of my closest friends just had a baby. She had planned, so hopefully, to have a home birth but her son showed his first streak of parental rebellion. He refused to come out and too late grew too big for my friend’s tiny frame and she ended up having to have a caesarean.

I felt bad for her because she's wanted that home birth so much, but then I also felt so happy for her that she was able to make all the right choices throughout her 9 months that led to a beautiful, healthy boy - at 9.1 pounds no less (4.1kg)!!!

She is only my second friend to have a child so it's all very new (and frightening!) to me. It makes me think about my own family and when Jonas and I will decide to have kids.

To be honest, I'd rather someone just hand me a 2yr old and say "it's yours!" because babies and pregnancy do not interest me in the slightest. But I highly doubt some tired mother would hand over her toddler in the supermarket and let me keep it, so it looks like I'll just have to grow my own.

I am so jealous of men’s roles in the baby-making process. As a woman I feel utterly ripped off.

Somehow, this little whinge leads into the February Monthly Mingle theme of "healthy family dinners". The host is Michelle from What’s Cooking Blog.

Although most people think “kids” when they think “family” not everyone has kids and so my contribution to this healthy family dinner theme is a recipe for my own little family of two: Jonas and me.

Since he is a vegetarian, my recipe contains no meat. And since it’s winter in the northern hemisphere, where most of my blogging pals and readers reside, I decided to go with a recipe we cooked last winter.

Enjoy!

Warm Roasted Vegetable Salad

Jonas’ very own recipe. Makes ½ cup.
Ingredients:
250g cherry tomatoes
6 potatoes, chopped into chunks
¼ butternut pumpkin, chopped into chunks
1 parsnip, chopped into chunks
150g baby spinach
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon sumac
Olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C.

2. In a baking tray, toss root vegetables with olive oil and crushed garlic.

3. Bake for 20 minutes. Then add another baking tray holding cherry tomatoes tossed with sumac and olive oil.

4. Bake for another 20 minutes until tomatoes are soft and starting to wrinkle and burst.

5. Check the root vegetables and remove when they are tender.

6. Drain the excess olive oil from the tomatoes and vegetables to use in sauce.

7. Toss the warm vegetables with the baby spinach and herb and mustard sauce (recipe below). Serve warm.

Note: cheese in this salad would taste very good too.

Herb & Mustard Sauce
Jonas’ very own recipe. Makes ½ cup.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons olive oil (use oil from roasting vegetables)
Freshly milled salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
1. In a food processor or blender, combine the herbs, mustard and vinegar until pureed. Add salt and pepper.

2. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil until it emulsifies with the sauce. Taste to ensure acidity is balanced and adjust as needed.

Note: Use as much of the olive you can salvage from the roasted tomatoes and vegetables but ensure at least 5 tablespoons are added to the sauce.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes salad roasted vegetables vegetable salad winter recipes vegetarian recipes sauce recipes salad recipes roasted vegetable recipes vegetable recipes