Category: salad

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Oops, not quite what I meant!

So there you are, a famous chef, Antony Worrall Thompson, writing in a magazine distributed all over the UK. You are talking about salads and you recommend the weed henbane, to be “great in salads”.

All well and good you might think.

Okay let’s just check the definition of henbane.

A coarse and poisonous plant of the nightshade family, with sticky hair leaves and an unpleasant smell.

Sorry.

Poisonous?

Nightshade (as in deadly nightshare)?

Unpleasant smell?

Methinks that Antony Worrall Thompson may have made a mistake!

From the BBC

In a magazine interview about watercress and other wild foods, Mr Worrall Thompson said the weed henbane was “great in salads”.

Healthy & Organic Living magazine’s website has now issued an urgent warning that “henbane is a very toxic plant and should never be eaten”.

The chef had meant to recommend fat hen, which is a wild herb. 

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A nice green salad

 A nice green salad

One of the things I like to have with a meal is a nice and simple green salad.

A few mixed leaves, maybe some tomato. Dressed with olive oil and white wine vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper.

Simple yet delicious and refreshing.

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Chesters

I do wonder why a Mexican themed restaurant is called Chesters?

Regardless of the name, I went there for lunch today and was quite impressed.

I had the house specialty burrito.

A 10″ flour tortilla, crammed with cheese & onion and your choice of filling, served with salsa, sour cream & guacamole, complemented with a Chesters combi salad.

From the choice of fillings I went for the mexican chicken.

I was expecting it to be very spicy, but it wasn’t, it was spiced, but not so spicy to be uncomfortably spicy – as happens in some Mexican chain places I have been to in the past.

The salsa, sour cream and guacamole were nice as they tasted fresh and most certainly did not taste processed or out of a jar.

I thought the side salad was excellent, which was full of interesting salad type things, including shoots, cabbage, potatoes as well as other delicious stuff.

The coffee I had alongside was very nice too.

Overall I did enjoy my meal and thought it was very good value for lunch. My dining colleague enjoyed his risotto.

I would go there again (and more often) alas it is in Worcester and I don’t go there very often!

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Pasta Salad

I do like a nice pasta salad, especially as it can be eaten instead of bread and adds some substance to a salad based meal.

The problem I have with some you can buy is that they are either too salty or too wet! So where possible I try and make my own.

This is a very simple recipe and you can adjust quantities to taste, how much you want, how much you have in the fridge.

Pasta Salad

Cook some pasta.

You can use any pasta, but have been using and prefer De Cecco’s Fusilli.

While the pasta is cooking, in a frying pan add some olive oil and then add onions and red pepper. After that has cooked for a while add some mushrooms.

Ensure that they are cooked through, add some freshly chopped parsley and turn off the heat.

Now you could add the pepper and mushrooms raw, but I prefer to have them cooked.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and then to stop it cooking further and to cool it down rinse well with cold water.

Put the cooked pasta in a bowl, add a splash of olive oil for flavour and to stop it sticking. Note always add oil to cooked and drained pasta to stop it sticking. Adding it the boiling water does not do this as the oil floats on the top of the water.

To the cooked pasta add some mayonnaise and some creme frache.

Then add the cooked mixture.

Stir with a spoon until the rice and cooked mixture is evenly coated. As with a lot of salads though you could serve this straight away, it will improve if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Excellent.

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Avocado Salad

This is a really nice salad, and very quick to put together.

In a frying pan cook off some cubed pancetta, though any smoked bacon will do.

Slice some Romaine lettuce (or use leaves from your favourite).

Cube some avocado.

Place the lettuce in a bowl, add the avocado and drained bacon.

Dress with some white wine vinegar, olive oil and ground black pepper.

Serve.

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Teriyaki chicken wings.

Had a real nice dinner today , lots of different homemade salads, coleslaw, rice salad, cannelli bean salad and teriyaki chicken wings.

teriyaki chicken wings.

These are very simple to cook, marinade some chicken wings in a  teriyaki sauce and roast or grill in the oven for about twenty or thirty minutes.

I served mine with lime and chopped parsley (as I had run out of coriander).

Delicious.


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Kebabs

Tonight we had some really nice kebabs.

Took some cubed pork tenderloin and on wooden skewers interspersed the pork with onion, red pepper and mushrooms. These were grilled for about fiftteen minutes after brushing them with olive oil.

I served them with a nice selection of salads including home made coleslaw.

Very nice.

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Making coleslaw again and other salads.

Easy.

coleslaw

I use cabbage, usually organic pointed cabbage or white cabbage. I shred this, ensuring I cut the core out first.

I then skin an onion, cut it in half and then cut very fine slices, before adding them to the coleslaw mix.

I grate my carrots.

For the dressing, I add a small spoon of wholegrain mustard, a couple of spoons of creme frache, a couple spoons of mayonnaise and a few grinds from my pepper mill.

Using two spoons I mix the lot together.

More black pepper and a splash of olive oil.

Serve.

Done.

I have also made a rice salad, a pasta salad and a green bean salad. Going to serve the salads with some freshly grilled scallops, prawns and langoustine.

Should be nice.

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Rice Salad

I do like a nice rice salad.

rice salad

The problem I have with some you can buy is that they are either too salty or too wet! So where possible I try and make my own.

This is a very simple recipe and you can adjust quantities to taste, how much you want, how much you have in the fridge.

Cook some rice.

I use basmati rice, in the main as it is so simple to cook, and cooks in ten minutes.

While the rice is cooking, in a frying pan add some olive oil and then add pancetta, onions, red pepper and courgettes. After that has cooked for a while add some mushrooms.

Ensure that they are cooked through and turn off the heat.

Now you could add the pepper, mushrooms, even the courgette raw, but I prefer to have them cooked.

Once the rice is cooked, drain and then to stop it cooking further and to cool it down rinse well with cold water.

Put the cooked rice in a bowl, add some mayonnaise and some creme frache.

Then add the cooked mixture.

making rice salad

Stir with a spoon until the rice and cooked mixture is evenly coated. As with a lot of salads though you could serve this straight away, it will improve if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Excellent.

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Cannelli Bean Salad

I was inspired to make this by a cannelli and chorizo salad I found in Morrisons, but decided I wanted to make it myself using fresh(ish) ingredients.

Cannelli Bean Salad

I took one can of cannelli beans, I did think about using dried, but tinned are so much easier (no cooking required). These were washed, drained and put in a bowl.

I added some good olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, cooked pancetta and red pepper, chopped sun dried tomatoes and a good grind of black pepper.

Tasty.