Wild rice and smoked chicken salad

August 29, 2015August 29, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes, you just know how a dish is supposed to be put together and you nail it the first time. That might have happened this evening – though I can’t rule out the possibility that smoked chicken would make day-old porridge into a culinary delight as well.

Either way, this is a pleasing, colourful dish wish lots of texture and a nice balance of flavours. I’ll definitely be making it again.

Ingredients

1 breast smoked chicken, cut into cubes

180g wild rice

2 small onions/1 large onion, sliced

2 sprigs rosemary

100g walnuts, broken into pieces

80g pomegranate seeds

50g pecorino romano, grated

olive oil

Serves 3

Method

Step 1: rinse rice and cook with about 350ml on a medium to low heat. Bring through the boil, allow it to simmer for 3-5 minutes and turn off. Set aside to let it steam through to completion.

Step 2: in a large frying pan or wok, over a low to medium heat, fry onion, walnuts and rosemary leaves, stripped from their stalks.

Step 3: once the onion is starting to soften, add the chicken and stir for another 3-4 minutes until the chicken is warmed through. Turn off the heat, add the pecorino and pomegranate seeds and stir through. Set aside until the rice is done.

Step 4: Once the rice is done, add it to the rest of the ingredients and stir gently, but thoroughly. You don’t want to break the structure of any of your ingredients.

And there it is: a relatively quick and extremely more-ish dinner.

Hazelnut, fennel and orange salad

March 15, 2015May 5, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

I moved country. It was about time – after all, I’d reached the 2.5 year limit, which is apparently the longest amount of time that I’m able to stay still for. Not that I’d want to suggest I’ve been very adventurous with my move: I find myself but a 50 minute flight from London in the rainy, grey Hague – a place near and dear to my heart.

The good news is that I’m back working in war crimes, which I’m ecstatic about. The bad news is that I had to leave my photographer behind. Bleurgh. I mean, I’ll see him in 5 days so, you know, I’ll be fine. In the meantime, though, I’m trying to figure out how to do food photography, so bear with me folks.

This is a salad I made up a little while ago and, crucially, one that I figured I could make in the sublet I’m renting just now. (Side note: I can’t find the vegetable peeler. Do you think some people just don’t have vegetable peelers?) The salad’s good on its own but I think it’s probably better as a side – with some tasty, blackened lamb or chicken.

Ingredients

big handful of fresh, washed spinach

1 carrot, grated

1 avocado

1/2 fennel bulb, sliced

10 mint leaves, torn

10 basil leaves, torn

20 blanched hazelnuts (approx)

Dressing

zest of 1/2 orange

juice 1/2 lemon

squeeze of honey

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp black pepper

pinch salt

Method

Step 1: Get a big bowl and throw in a big handful of spinach.

Step 2: Dice fennel bulb into hazelnut-sized pieces. Add to the bowl.

Step 3: Halve avocados; scoop out flesh and add to the bowl.

Step 4: Peel carrots; grate or peel into ribbons. I grated because…see above. Add to the bowl, along with mint, basil and hazelnuts.

For the dressing

Step 1: Add all ingredients to a jar and give it a good shake. Go easy on the honey — too sweet and it will taste store bought. Tasty, but store bought. Be generous with the pepper. Spice is nice.

Step 2: Toss the dressing in on top of the salad and mix it all up so it gets a nice, zesty, sweet, nutty flavour all the way through. Done.

Tiffany Salad

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

There’s not a lot to say about this salad, except that it is surprisingly substantial and goes very well with flatbread. Oh, and it’s based on the house salad from Restaurant Tiffany in Prishtina, Kosovo – one of the finest establishments in the world.

Ingredients

1/2 head of lettuce

6-8 radishes

1 carrot

1 leek

1/2 cucumber

80-100g butter beans

80g feta

1-2 beetroots

lemon juice and salt, to dress

Method

Step 1: cut iceberg into chunks and arrange in the bottom of your salad bowl.

Step 2: use a vegetable peeler to create strips of cucumber and carrot.

Step 3: chop leeks, beetroots and radishes, well, as you see fit. Bite size bits seem to work best for salad. Right? I’m less particular about these vegetables, apparently…

Step 4: drain beans or, if using dried beans: soak, rinse and cook for about 30 mins. But be careful – butter beans turn to mush super fast if you overcook them, so some care is needed.

Step 5: arrange each vegetable into a nest of its own on top of the lettuce, and sprinkle the cheese in the middle. This way of serving it allows people to avoid the bits they don’t like. (Not that you would dislike any of these magical ingredients but some people are crazy. See for example people who don’t like Sunday roasts).

Step 6: dress with a pinch of salt and lemon juice. Et voila, you are done! Serve a stronger vinaigrette dressing on the side and consume with plenty of fresh flatbread.

Roast chicken salad

December 13, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

Last night was our office Christmas party. True to form, I drank far more than I intended to – and then left without telling anyone. They don’t call it an Irish exit for nothing. Anyway, as you might imagine, today I had a bad dose of The Fear. And as I ran out the door (late) to meet someone in Brixton this morning, fighting back waves of nausea, smudged makeup still under my eyes, one slice of toast and a cup of ill-advised coffee swilling around in my poor, poisoned stomach, I thought to myself, what the f*ck am I going to do with that roast chicken sitting in my fridge?

Aha. Chicken salad. Which, aside from being truly delicious, also happens to be a solid hangover cure. So, here we go:

Ingredients

Salad

200g roast chicken, torn into strips

50g split red lentils

200ml vegetable stock

1 clove garlic, grated

3 roast peppers, peeled

1 red onion, peeled and sliced

250g cherry tomatoes

200g boiled chickpeas

1 ripe avocado

50g sheep’s cheese

3-4 sprigs of mint leaves, torn

zest of 1/2 orange

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp English mustard

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

pinch salt

juice 1 lemon

Method

Step 1: place chicken in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about an hour and a half, depending on weight. Remove, cover with foil and set to one side to rest. When it’s cool enough to handle, tear into strips and add to your salad bowl.

A note on chicken: I buy free range and/or organic chicken – primarily for ethical reasons but they do actually taste a whole lot better too. You can get a chicken for less than £6 in Sainsbury’s and, given that you can get 4 meals out of it (6 if you use the bones and any scraps for chicken soup), I think that’s pretty good value for money. And I assure you, I am on a budget.

Step 2: cook the lentils in the vegetable stock and garlic on a medium heat for about 15 mins, until the water has boiled off but the lentils still have a teensy bit of a bite to them. Once cooled, add to salad bowl.

Step 3: place peppers on a roasting tray in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 40 mins or so, turning once in the middle. About 20 mins in, add a sliced red onion to the tray. Set tray aside to cool or, if time is of the essence, run peppers under cold water for a minute or two. Peel, cut into strips and add to the salad bowl, along with the red onion.

Step 4: wash tomatoes and add to salad bowl. I had mine whole and raw today because I wanted to give the salad some bit, but I’ve been known to slice or roast them with the peppers. Whatever takes your fancy.

Step 5: next, add the chickpeas. I use pre-boiled, canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained. If you feel like cooking them up yourself, even better.

Step 6: cut open the avocado and scoop out the flesh into the salad bowl.

Step 7: crumble white cheese on top of the salad mix.

Step 8: add zest and torn mint leaves. I don’t own a zester right now so I’m using the parmesan side of the cheese grater which, as far as I’m concerned, works just fine.

Step 9: mix salad dressing ingredients together in a cup, giving it a good stir to make sure none of the dry ingredients clump, and drizzle over the salad ingredients.

Step 10: mix salad by hand and voila, you are done.

Serves 4 (unless hungover, in which case 2)

Tomato and avocado salad

November 2, 2014January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ 2 Comments

For my first post ever, I decided to keep it very simple. Calling this a salad feels a little like I’m cheating because, seriously, let’s just take stock here: there are 5 ingredients (4 if you don’t count the olive oil, not pictured here). But, we’ve been eating it pretty much every Saturday morning for the last couple of months, usually with scrambled eggs and toast. So I must be onto something. Very simple, very tasty, and very satisfying.

Ingredients

7 -10 small vine tomatoes

80g stilton

2 small, ripe avocados

10 basil leaves

Olive oil

Method

Step 1: cut your tomatoes in half and arrange at the bottom of your salad bowl. Today, I had small-ish vine tomatoes, but I quite often use mini Roma tomatoes. The important point is that they need to pack a punch. So, as long as they are flavoursome, it doesn’t matter exactly which type you use.

Step 2: slice open your avocados. Using a teaspoon, remove the pits, scoop out the flesh and place on top of the tomatoes. I use a teaspoon because (a) it’s easier to wedge under the avocado pit than a tablespoon and (b) it makes for smaller scoops of avocado which are easier to eat and more in proportion with the tomatoes I use.

Step 3: tear up your basil leaves, roughly, and scatter over the top of your salad. Sometimes I add a handful or two of spinach leaves to this salad to beef it up a bit. This works well if you’re having it on its own for a light lunch or dinner.

Step 4: crumble your cheese over the top, taking care to break it up into relatively small chunks. The key to this salad is to use a good, strong cheese — either a white sheep’s cheese or a blue cheese, like the stilton I used here. The sharpness of the cheese chimes well with the sweet tang of the tomatoes and the soft blandness of the avocado but it’s strong stuff you’re dealing with and you don’t want it to be overpowering – so, try not to overdo it.

Step 5: drizzle with olive oil if you so desire. Do NOT be tempted to mix it all up. I did this exactly once (I can’t really explain why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time). While it still tasted great, it looked pretty vile. So, you have been warned.

So, there you have it: quick and easy avocado salad. Serve with hot buttered toast and scrambled eggs for a delicious brunch, or eat on its own with some spinach thrown in if you feel like a light lunch or dinner.