Summer Tomato, Basil and Feta Salad

After a slow start our tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. You can not beat home grown tomatoes - they just taste and smell incredible. A tip I have been told  is to not put tomatoes in the fridge as they loose their flavour. I'm not too sure how scientifically based this is but through trial and error this seems to be true.

The best salad I have come across to accentuate the tomato flavour is also one of the easiest and tastiest salads I make. This is the salad that we take 10mins to make, take to everyBBQ and get the most comments about. You can adjust the amounts of ingredients according to the amount of tomatoes you have.

Summer Tomato, Basil and Feta Salad

approximately 1kg of tomatoes - we used a mixture of our own and some fancy heirloom cherry tomatoes from the grocery store

zest of 1 lemon

handful of basil leaves

enough olive oil to coat the tomatoes

salt and pepper

approximately 200g of feta

Chop the tomatoes as chunky or as fine as you would like. Place in your salad bowl. Add the lemon zest. Coat the tomatoes and lemon zest with the olive oil. Mix in salt, pepper and basil. Top with crumbled feta.

Its also the perfect salad for a summer picnic!

Beetroot, carrot and courgette salad with orange and herbs

This is quick, easy and refreshing salad that took no time at all to whip up. Most of the time I enjoy cooking dinner, even when I cook all day at work. Other times I just want to get it over and done with so I can relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. This salad was definitely made so I could relax and enjoy the rest of the evening and it even turned out pretty good!

I was going to shred all these vegetables on my mandolin but it appeared that my mother has borrowed it. Then I was going to use the grater attachment on the food processor but I couldn't find it. I did however find the slicing attachment so I just went with it as I was running out of options and cutting it by hand wasn't one! Anyway you could use any of the above options and it would work perfectly fine.

I better stop going on and tell you the recipe huh? It's as simple as this!

2 beetroot, peeled

1 carrot, peeled

1 courgette, ends trimmed

1 stick of celey

1/2 a small red onion

a small bunch of dill and parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

Dressing

Juice of one orange

1-2 T red wine vinegar

1-2 T Virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Cut the vegetables to fit the chute of your food processor and fire them through. Place in a bowl and add the chopped herbs. Mix up the dressing and add to the vegetables. Season and adjust the vinegar if necessary. If it is too sharp add a bit more olive oil. 

Serves 2.

We served this with some fresh fish and new potatoes.

Spiced Lamb and smokey chilli Lahmacun, Eggplant Zaalouk, Mint and radish salad and Labne

I ate a variation of this dish while in Turkey, well the Lacmacun part anyway. Its basically their version of a pizza and you can get them all over Turkey. They are so delicious hot from the wood fired oven! I want!

To make it more of a meal, I served it with a warm eggplant salad, a refeshing mint and radish salad and some homemade labne

There are a few recipes in this post post but don't let it scare you away. They are either quick and easy or can be done in advance. For the Lahmacun I adapted one of my favourite chefs, Greg Malouf's recipe.I love his food! I used his dough recipe exactly but changed the topping.


Lahmacun dough

1 T dried yeast
3/4 t sugar
40 ml warm water
150g thick natural yoghurt
60ml extra virgin olive oil
310g strong bread flour ( I just used high grade)
1/2 tsp  sea salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside for about 10 mins.
Place the flour, salt, olive oil and yoghurt in a bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add the yeast mixture. On a low speed knead for about 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and shiny.
Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 2 hours until its doubled in size.
After 2 hours knock back the dough and divide into 10 x 55g balls. Roll out to about 14cm rounds and lightly brush with olive oil and spread with the lamb topping.

Chopping all the topping ingredients together.

Spiced lamb and smokey chilli topping

200g minced lamb - not too lean
1 red chilli
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp allspice
1 clove garlic, microplaned
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper


Char the outside of the chilli and put in a bag to steam. Peel off the skin and chop the chilli up.
Place all the ingredients in a chopping board and with a large knife chop everything together to form a fine paste. Season well.

To make the Lahmacun heat your oven to 220 degrees. I used my pizza stone so I heated that up too but you could just use a baking tray.

Roll out your dough and flop the rolled dough onto the hot stone and brush lightly with olive oil and spread over the filling. Bake for about 4-8 minutes depending on how hot your oven is. You want the edges brown and the base cooked.

I cooked all of mine in batches of 3 and then when the time came to serve I flashed them in a hot oven to warm through.


Eggplant Zaalouk

2-3 T olive oil
1 eggplant, diced
2  cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp each of coriander and cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tin of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup water
pinch sugar
1/2 cup of coriander and parsley, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and black pepper

Heat oil in a pan on a high heat, add the eggplant and cook for 5 minutes. Add the spices and cook out. Add the tomatoes, water and sugar and cook until the tomatoes reduce and coat the eggplant. When the eggplant is tender its done. Season and add the herbs and lemon juice.


Mint and Radish salad

1 cup of mint leaves
4-6 radishes, thinly sliced on a mandolin
150g baby spinach
juice of half a lemon
1 T virgin olive oil
flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix all together before serving.


To serve

Labne
Extra red pepper flakes if you like it a bit spicy
Pomegranate molasses to drizzle over the Lahmacun

When eating this I like to pile everything on top of my Lahmacun so every mouthful is delicious and balanced and then fold it over and eat it with my hands. Yum!!

As you can see a wee friend popped into the photo...

Puy lentil, quinoa and haloumi salad with baby carrots and asparagus

On a hot Sunday night this was just what we felt like for dinner. We picked up fresh asparagus and baby carrots from the market so they were super fresh!

The lentils and Qunioa can be cooked in advance and the dressing can be made up to a day a head or earlier if you omit the tomato and add it on the day. The onions can also be done the night before too.

There are only two of us here but if you upped the carrots and asparagus to say 500g each then it would be plenty for four. We had enough for dinner and some for a lunch the next day.


Puy lentil, quinoa and haloumi salad with baby carrots and asparagus

200g Puy lentils
2 cloves garlic
100g quinoa - I used black Quinoa
200g baby carrots
250g asparagus
1 T olive oil
1 tsp each of cumin and coriander seeds
flaky salt and black pepper

1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1 T red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Sumac

1/2 cup hazelnuts - roasted and roughly chopped
200g haloumi, thickly sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup labne or Greek yoghurt

Dressing
1 tomato, deseeded, small diced
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T pomegranate molasses
3 T virgin olive oil
Black pepper
1 tsp flaky salt
2 cloves garlic that you cooked with the lentils, mashed
1/2 tsp sumac


First bring the lentils to boil with the garlic cloves and a couple of bay leaves and simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and briefly rinse. Set aside.

I cooked the Quinoa using the absorption method with the ratio of  one and a half times as much water. You don't want it crunchy so keep adding more water if you need.

Finely slice your onion and place it in a bowl with 1 T red wine vinegar and the sumac and allspice, mix it together and leave while you sort out your other bits.

Mix everything for the dressing together and set aside.

Place the carrots, 1 Tablespoon of oil and the cumin and coriander on a roasting tray and roast for about 6 minutes at 180°. Then add your asparagus and cook for a further 5 minutes.

While the carrots and asparagus are cooking you can start mixing your salad together.  In a bowl add the lentils, Quinoa, marinated onions, parsley and dressing. Season well.

Arrange the lentil salad on a serving platter and pile your roast carrots and asparagus on top.

Next you want to cook you Haloumi as you want it more melty and less squeaky. Heat a non stick pan on a medium heat and heat 1 T of oil. Add your Haloumi slices and turn when caramelised. When cooked place the Haloumi on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle with the roast hazelnuts and dollop on the Labne.

Finish with a squeeze of lemon and serve!

Carrot and Cabbage Tabbouleh

Having a garden has really improved my inventiveness, creativeness and flexibility in the kitchen. When food is ready in the garden it has to be used or all of your hard work ends up in the compost! Today we had cabbage, spring onions and carrots that desperately needed eating...This lead to the following recipe - Carrot and Cabbage Tabbouleh. 

This is a really nice light, fresh salad that is a bit of a combination of tabbouleh and coleslaw. It is healthier than coleslaw as it doesn't have mayonnaise in it. You could leave out the cracked wheat/burghul, olive oil and lemon, and, add a mayonnaise to make an equally yummy, more traditional coleslaw. 

You can use either cracked wheat or burghul. It depends on what you have in the cupboard and what taste you prefer.

I have put quantities in the recipe but I usually just keep adding ingredients until I feel there is a good ratio of them all. The secret is to try and slice everything as finely as possible.

2 cups cracked wheat/burghul

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

3-4 spring onions, finely sliced

1 small/medium cabbage, finely sliced

3-4 carrots, finely sliced

5-6 inner stalks of celery, finely sliced

at least 2 large handfuls of flat leaf parsley, chopped

large handful of mint leaves, chopped

juice of 2 lemons

4 T olive oil

salt and pepper

Place cracked wheat in a mixing bowl. Cover with boiling water. Allow to soak for 30minutes. Once tender, drain as much liquid from the cracked wheat as possible.

Mix all vegetables and herbs with the cracked wheat.

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper together. Pour dressing over salad.

Then all there is to do is enjoy!

Hot smoked salmon, labne, snowpea, avocado and sunflower seed salad

A quick salad I made for lunch today with bits and bobs from the fridge and garden. It just looked so pretty and tasted delicious!


1/2 baby cos, leaves picked
a handful of rocket
1/4 cucumber, diced
8 snowpeas, sliced
1/2 cup labne (strained yoghurt)
2 small avocado, diced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1/3 cup sunflower and parsley pesto
juice of a lime or lemon
a few sprigs of dill
black pepper and a little flaky salt

Layer the baby cos and rocket around the plate you wish to serve it on.
Sprinkle over the diced cucumber, the avocado and snowpeas.
Dollop little teaspoons of the labne and the pesto around the plate so every portion gets some.
Flake over the hot smoked salmon, squeeze over the lime or lemon and sprinkle over the seeds.
A few cracks of black pepper and a bit of flaky salt and you're done!

This fed 3 of us for lunch.