This made a nice lunch for two but would be equally good as a little starter for four. I got the idea from a James Martin recipe in James Every Day, but as usual just had to ring in the changes. It was really tasty and extremely light, for something more filling I'd consider adding a slice of toasted ciabbatta.
First you need a red pepper or two, cut in half and place face down on a tray with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Pre-heat the oven on to 200°C and put the peppers in on the top shelf for about 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, finely chop a couple of spring onions, a handful of fresh coriander and half a red chilli and put in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon, a glug of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Once the peppers are cooked, peel off the skin and then very finely dice them. Add them to the other dressing ingredients in the bowl.
Share out some mixed salad leaves between two plates with a few extra coriander leaves mixed in. Take half of the red pepper mixture and mix it in with the leaves using your hands.
Season your scallops with a little salt and pepper. Heat up a dry, non-stick frying pan until really hot and, keeping it on a high heat, lay your scallops in the pan. Count 30-40 seconds and then turn them over and count another 30-40 seconds.
Arrange the scallops on top of the salad and spoon the rest of the red pepper mixture over the top.
This is a pretty classic combo, it's slightly less striking in appearance than usual because I've used chioggia beetroot rather than the normal purple kind, but chioggia is lovely and sweet so it tasted great.
You just need one nice fillet of monkfish to feed two people, plus 2 or 3 beetroots and one pot of soft goat's cheese.
Any leaves will do for the salad base, I had baby gem.
First, boil the beetroot whole for 20 minutes or so, then let it sit on the side to cool slightly before you rub the skin off and cut it into small wedges. Arrange the wedges in a small baking tray and mix with a large drizzle of balsamic vinegar, some olive oil, salt and lots of pepper. Pop into the oven at 180 for a further 15 to 20 minutes.
While the beetroot are in the oven, boil some new potatoes in salted water until cooked through and take the fish fillet out of the fridge to warm up slightly. Arrange the salad leaves on your plates.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Heat up a frying pan with a little olive oil and butter and, when very hot, place the fish in the pan. Don't move it, just let it cook for a few minutes, until the sides start to turn slightly opaque. Flip the fillet over and cook for another one or two minutes, then take off the heat and allow to rest for a second while you plate up the rest.
Lay the slices of beetroot over the lettuce, then arrange peices of buttered potato around the top. Then top with chunks of the monkfish and teaspoons of the goat's cheese. Sprinkle a few extra drops of balsamic vinegar over the top and give the whole thing a nice grinding of pepper.
This is one of those dinners that is made up of very simple ingredients but which, when put together, becomes much more than the sum of its parts. It's just crispy chicken, bacon, garlic croutons, sesame seeds, raspberry dressing and mixed herb and flower salad. It's soooo good though. Yum, yum, yum.
Season some boneless chicken thighs and brush them with oil. Pop them onto a skillet or heavy based frying pan, skin side first to get crispy before turning them over to do the other side. We've got one of those non-stick grilling machines which makes this pretty fast and easy. Once the chicken is cooked, put it to one side to rest, while you cook some thick-cut bacon peices (sometimes called lardons in the shops). When the chicken has had 5 mins or so to rest, slice it up ready to serve.
To make the croutons, take a couple of thick slices of bread, preferably a day or two old, slice off the crusts and cut it into cubes. Arrange on a shallow tray, drizzle with garlic oil and put under the grill until toasted.
For the salad I used raw courgette slices, cooked chioggia beetroot, cherry tomatoes, nasturtium leaves, sorrel, parsley, marjoram, chives, rocket, spinach, looseleaf lettuce and mixed edible flowers.
The dressing is a mix of extra virgin and light olive oils, raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper, whisked until they combined. If you haven't had raspberry vinegar before, give it a go, it's fabulous stuff.
Finally, toast some sesame seeds to be sprinkled on the top. I served all of the items separately, as they looked really appealing like that, but they combine on the plate perfectly.
This is such a simple lunch that there isn't a great deal to write about in terms of cooking, however it was beautiful, tasty and easy to create ethically, so I thought it was still worth posting. These items could all be packed up and taken on a picnic, I think it's nicest eaten in the sun.
Tricolore, in this context, is the famous Italian salad - rather than the French flag! It's just layers of buffalo mozzarella, basil leaves and fresh, ripe tomatoes. Dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Edible flowers have always fascinated and delighted me but I've had to rely solely on being able to find unblemished flowers amongst my garden plants until recently. Now I've found a couple of suppliers who sell them, either with salad leaves or on their own. I've put links to them at the bottom of this post. I used them to garnish a mix of baby gem lettuce, rocket, nasturtium leaves and sorrel for this salad.
Milano salami, in fact any preseved meat, is delicious just as it is. I love it and have been really happy to see how many shops are now selling free range and organic versions. If you are vegetarian mixed olives would very happily take on the salami's role in this meal, as they would provide the same saltiness and fatiness.
Links (Edible Flower Suppliers)
Higgledy Garden
Abel & Cole
Waitrose
Crab is one of my husband's favourite things, so I ordered some beautiful dressed crab from Seafood and Eat It, via Abel & Cole. The thing about this is that it's the easiest meal in the world to prepare - I mean what can you possibly do to improve it? The only thing I wanted with it was a lovely salad and some home made mayonnaise.
The salad's base was a finely sliced baby gem lettuce and cubed cucumber, with lots of things from the garden added in to give it a bit of extra interest. Doing the rounds of the garden I picked up: coriander, mint, garlic chives, ordinary chives, parsley, basil, fennel leaves, thyme, oregano, marjoram and nasturtium leaves. To this chopped greenery I added quartered vine tomatoes, black olives, a finely chopped spring onion and a basic dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, a little white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
This time my mayo was made with rapeseed oil and just the basics of mustard, egg yolk, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Rapeseed oil gives it a lovely nutty flavour and has a great aftertaste.
Follow with a hot cup of herb tea and an episode of doctor who.
This is, I promise, not a boring meal. Salad can sound dull. My husband asked me "what's for dinner" and frankly I wasn't really that hungry and didn't fancy a long stint in the kitchen. I said "how about a salad" and his face fell, as though I had just suggested we eat shredded cardboard.
This one did do the trick though and he ate the lot without any complaints, by which I take it he didn't mind "just salad" for dinner after all!
The base of it is shredded cos lettuce, sliced yellow pepper, quartered tomatoes, cubed cucumber, julienned carrots and black olives.
The things that made it special were:
1) Parmesan shavings.
2) Pan-fried squares of bacon.
3) Croutons, made by cutting slices of bread into cubes and grilling them with a drizzle of garlic oil
Finally, a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice, whisked up with salt and pepper.
It isn't gourmet dining, but it is reasonably healthy, filling and fast as lightning to make.
This is a wonderfully easy and healthful lunch, especially on a warm day when you'd rather be in the garden than the kitchen. Thought it was worth a mention as it is really, really delicious.
Ingredients:
Quartered baby tomatoes
Torn watercress
Cubed cucumber
Torn lettuce
Slices of prosciutto
Black olives
Shavings of parmesan
The dressing is literally just unfiltered olive oil, white wine vinegar, sea salt and pepper, whisked up and poured over the top.
Beautiful!
What do you do with half a pack of mince, the first radish from the garden and a hungry husband? Burgers. Easy-to-make comfort food.
First of all I made the salad, because it's nicer if it has some time to chill before you eat it. I did take the mince out of the fridge though, to give it a chance to come up to room temperature.
Finely slice half a fennel bulb, half a cucumber and a bunch of radishes. Mix them up with chopped mint and parsley, salt and pepper, olive oil and a couple of capfuls of white wine vinegar (or lemon juice). Stash in the fridge while you make the burgers.
Finely slice some purple onion and pop it in a hot frying pan with a light sprinkling of sugar. Don't stir much, just leave them to caramelise. Mix the minced beef with a teaspoon or so each of soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, natural yoghurt and a sprinkling of chilli powder, cumin, salt and pepper, plus a small handful of chopped coriander. Once cooked, cool down the onions a bit and mix them in too. Form into patties and get the frying pan nice and hot.
Put the patties in to cook (hot, hot pan, and don't move them about) and slice your bread. While the bread is toasting, slice up some gherkins and a couple of thin slivers of mature cheddar.
Once it's toasted, put a dollop each of ketchup and mustard on one slice, topped with the cheddar, and some mayo and the gerkin slices on the other.
Portion out the salad and then lay the cooked burger patties on top of the cheese.
Fast. Naughty. Delicious.
