Reminding you of a refreshing Tomato & Egg Salad

 

This is about as simple as a salad can get.  Mine was a bit rustic – I'm sure you could do better.

 

Ingredients:

Tomatoes

Hard boiled eggs

Parsley

Vinaigrette – lemon juice, oil, salt & pepper

 

Method:

Choose a nice plate.

The idea is to layer up your tomato and egg slices starting with the tomato until you end with a small egg round in the middle.

 

You need to skin your tomatoes – I just put mine into boiling water for about 20 seconds – I cut a little cross at the top of the tomato first.

 

My slices weren't very refined – I tried to get them thin by using a serrated bread knife.

 

Once you have your layers just sprinkle chopped parsley over and drizzle a vinaigrette dressing on.

Pasta Salad

 
 

I had a hankering for a salad – not as a side dish but as the main element for lunch. So here it is.

 

Ingredients:

 

Elbow pasta

Smoked salmon

Eggs

Crispy shallots

Red onion

Baby zucchini

½ red capsicum (bell pepper)

 

Dressing – capers, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and fish sauce.

 

Method:

 

I had cooked extra eggs at breakfast time so they just had to be shelled (always a chore) and quartered.

 

I cooked the pasta for about 8 minutes – I wanted it to be just done and not soggy.  As with all pasta I cooked it in salty water (like the Mediterranean don't they say?)

 

So while the pasta was cooking a flaked the salmon, sliced a bit of red onion and the zucchini (a darling little baby one) and the bell pepper.

 

Mix all that up together and pour over the dressing and there you have it.  I use little jars to shake dressings together.

 

It was simple in flavour but very welcome.

Avocado & Pineapple Salad

 

 

The combination of avocado and pineapple worked so much better than I expected.  You could use canned pineapple.

 

Ingredients:

 

Ripe pineapple

Avocado

Lemon Juice

Mayo

Cream

Ground Ginger

Cayenne Pepper

Paprika

 

Method:

 

Cut off the top of the pineapple.  Hollow it out with a sharp knife and try to cut into chunks.  My pineapple was a bit small to be able to do this easily.

 

Drain your pieces of pineapple – don't waste the juice – drink it!

 

Cube your avocado and squeeze lemon juice on it so it doesn't discolour.  I have now taken to digging the pip out with a spoon rather than stabbing it with a knife – I read that people doing that injured themselves all the time.

 

Add your avocado to the pineapple and stir in enough mayonnaise loosened with a little cream to have a nice consistency.  Stir through the spices.  I used only 2 teaspoons of ginger, a pinch of cayenne and ½ teaspoon of paprika.  It's not meant to end up spicy just smoothly melded together.

 

I then put the mixture back into the pineapple – which looked fine for pictures but was really unnecessary – and I couldn't fit it all in anyway.

Watermelon & Chèvre Salad

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Cherry Tomatoes

Watermelon

Chèvre (good French goat's cheese)

Basil/Parsley

Lemon Juice

Extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp black vinegar (could use balsamic)

Black pepper

 

Method:

 

This was simple.  My watermelon had lots of seeds so removing those was the fiddliest bit.  Cut up your watermelon into bite sized chunks, removing as many seeds as you can.

 

Add some halved cherry tomatoes – mine were orange

 

Crumble your cheese on top.

 

Sprinkle with chopped fresh green herbs.

 

Liberal grindings of black pepper.

 

Make up a little dressing with your oil, vinegar and lemon juice and squirt it over your salad – and that's it!

 

Easy and so, so refreshing.

Chicken, Corn & Pomegranate Salad

 
 

 

This colourful but simple Chicken, Corn & Pomegranate salad was a success.  Not many ingredients but nice contrasts of textures.

 

Ingredients:

 

Chicken thighs (no skin or bones)

Pomegranate seeds

Corn cob

Basil (fresh)

Coconut milk

Chicken stock cube

Bay Leaf

Salt & pepper

Red wine vinegar

 

Method:

 

Poach the chicken in a mixture of coconut milk and chicken stock (the cube plus water).  Season with salt and pepper and chuck in a bay leaf.

 

Let it cool after it is tender and cut the chicken up into salad sized chunks.

 

Steam your corn cob – I have a microwave steamer that works well.  Boiling for 15 minutes would be fine too – no salt though.

 

Cut the kernels off the cob.  Combine with the poached chicken, basil and pomegranate seeds.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  When the salad is pretty cool, drizzle a little red wine vinegar over it.

 

The whole thing took about 20 minutes – most of that time being the time to poach the chicken.  If you had leftover chicken this salad would be even quicker.

Egg & Onion Salad

 

 

Ingredients:

3 Hard-boiled eggs

½ onion

Basil – lightly dried

Chilli powder – 1/8 tsp

Pepper

Salt

2 tblsp mustard oil

 

Method:

While your eggs are boiling, slice the onion as thinly as you can – not very in my case.

 

Put into a container along with the basil, chili powder, salt and pepper.

 

I had to make my own mustard oil by crushing some yellow mustard seeds in a pestle and then mixing them with canola oil and putting it on the heat for say 10 minutes.  I then poured the oil into a jar stopping just before the seeds so the oil was clear.

 

Pour the mustard oil over the onion etc.

 

Peel your eggs and quarter each one.  Put into a serving dish and put the onion and oil mixture on top. I did this while the eggs were still a bit warm

 

Serve chilled as a side dish.