Category: salad

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Caesar Salad

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing, it is  of the regular places I stay when in London It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast.

When staying away I don’t usually have salad in the evenings, as partly I want something more substantial and filling, and partly as I probably would have had a s salad for lunch as I generally don’t do sandwiches. However this time I was quite hungry (as I had missed out on lunch) so I went with a pizza and the Caesar salad alongside.

The pizza was excellent, fresh base, freshly cooked in a proper pizza oven. The Caesar salad was described as coming with cos lettuce, pickled anchovies, confit egg yolk, sourdough croutons and Parmesan.

Caesar salad

Well there were some overlarge sourdough croutons, there were anchovies, Parmesan and lettuce. However the described confit egg yolk had been replaced with a halved boiled egg. Didn’t mind that replacement that much.

The salad was delicious and I really enjoyed it, so much so, that I have recreated the dish a few times since at home.

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Steak Salad and a Flat White

When working in our London office, there is quite a choice of places around Fetter Lane for lunch. One of my regular haunts is Coco di Mama, one of a chain of pasta and coffee places across the capital. Their mainstay for lunch is the pasta pot, however they also have a nice selection of salads. On a recent visit to London I went out at lunchtime for some food, it was raining, so I only got as far as Coco di Mama. I picked up a steak salad and a flat white. I hadn’t seen this salad offering before, so was intrigued to try it out.

It was a tasty salad, the steak was nice and tender, and there was a good ratio of protein to salad. I also liked the dressing. Good choice I think.

Oh, I also enjoyed my flat white.

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Steak Bowl from Marrakech Grill

In April last year I went to the Leather Lane Street Food Market in London and had a very nice steak salad bowl from the Marrakech Grill stall.

The salad were excellent, the chips were crisp, and the steak was delicious. I was really impressed with this bowl of food.

Though I have the preference for the Bristol street food markets, you can’t really dismiss the range and choice of food at the Leather Lane Street Food market in London. So on a recent visit to London and buying some lunch I headed off to Leather Lane. I did think about visiting the Mediterranean Grill having had some nice food from there, what I thought was recently, but was in fact back in 2021. However I found it was closed. I walked up Leather Lane and when I saw the Marrakech Grill stall, I remembered the food from my previous visit, so decided to go for it and have a bowl.

There was a bit of a queue, which to me is always a good sign.

This was a very generous bowl of food, with a range of mixed salads, chips, and a good sized portion of steak.

You can choose from a range of salads, I did think about having a bit of everything, but in the end chose a nice variety. It did cool down a little bit by the time I got back to the office, but even so, the salads were delicious. The chips could have been better, but they were nice. The steak was tender and tasty. I really enjoyed the bowl and would have it again.

Interesting the price had gone up, when I last had it, it was six pounds, this time it was nine pounds.

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Steak Salad Bowl

Though I much prefer the Bristol street food scene, you can’t really dismiss the range and choice of food at the Leather Lane Street Food market in London (and the fact that it is open all week (well I know it’s open from Monday to Friday, I couldn’t tell you about the weekend). I have had some great food at the market, but I’ve also had some disappointing meals.

Back in April I was walking up and down the road thinking about what to get to eat, there are a lot of similar stalls along the market, so sometimes it’s not just about choosing what to eat, but when that decision is made, where to go and buy it. I had walked the length of the road when I saw the Marrakech Grill, a stand I hadn’t recalled seeing before.

There wasn’t really a queue, which sometimes is a warning sign, however I watched as people ordered and were served their food. It did look really good.

So, I joined the queue and ordered a Marrakech Steak Salad Bowl, which was just six pounds. This was really good price compared to similar dishes elsewhere in the market.

This was a very generous bowl of food, with a range of mixed salads, chips, and a good sized portion of steak.

I took it back to our office to eat.

The salad were excellent, the chips were crisp, and the steak was delicious. I was really impressed with this bowl of food.

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Time for a salad

salad

I made a salad to go with some grilled lemon chicken and rice.

I used some romaine lettuce heart, butterhead lettuce, and young spinach. I added sliced tomatoes, cucumber, radish. In addition I had some sliced red pointed pepper, red onion, spring onion, grated carrot, and avocado.

I don’t generally dress the salad, allowing people to use their dressing of choice.

In addition I made a simple black bean salad, with black beans, diced red onion, and then dressed with white wine vinegar, garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper.

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Gluten Free Pasta Salad

gluten free pasta salad

This is a dish I make on a regular basis.

Firstly I cook the gluten free pasta according to the instructions on the box.

In a separate pan I cook off the onion, peppers, and mushrooms. I prefer to have cooked onion in the salad, but of course you could just add raw diced onions and pepper. Sometimes I add pancetta to the salad. Once cooked I let it cool. I usually do this by removing it from the pan and placing it on a cold plate.

Separately I dice some cucumber and place this in a bowl.

Once the pasta is cooked I drain and then rinse the pasta in cold water to stop it cooking and cool it down.

I then combine the ingredients and dress the salad with salt, pepper, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

The only downside I have found, is that the gluten free pasta generally doesn’t last, and goes somewhat chewy and tough if you leave it until the next day. I certainly didn’t have this issue when I made pasta salads using wheat based pasta.

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Homemade Salad

Salad

This is the kind of salad I will throw together when cooking a meal for the family.

On a bed of mixed leaves I will add sliced cucumber, sliced pointed red pepper, tomatoes, radishes, sliced spring onion, mini mozzarella balls, and avocado.

A lot depends on what we have in the fridge and what else we’re having with the salad.

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Green Bean Salad

Green Bean Salad

Over the summer we eat a lot of salad, what goes into the salad often depends on what we have in the fridge.

One salad dish I remember from my childhood was tinned green beans with mayonnaise. Though I haven’t’ had that for years, I have been added cooked fresh trimmed green beans to my salads.

I cook them for about six to seven minutes and then let them cool before adding them to the salad. Sometimes I serve them on their own with a vinaigrette dressing.

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Salad, Sausage and Chips

Salad, Sausage and Chips

This was a meal I threw together from what we had in the fridge. We had a couple of   the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages from Lidl. These I cooked and served with a salad and some French fries.

The tomatoes were homegrown. I also used lettuce, cucumber, red pepper,  and pomegranate. I also had some olives and pulses, which I added to the salad.

The French fries were from M&S, these are easy to cook, crispy, and importantly gluten free.

We enjoyed the meal.