Simple ingredients for the blueberry vinaigrette

There's only so many desserts your body can take. After the panacotta and the tart I was looking for something healthy that would rev my body back from slugishness. Scanning the food channel late at night I was watching one of those cooking shows where the father, whose a chef, proceeds to cook a 14 course dinner for his whole family in half an hour. Hmmm...never mind that we never saw any of his assistants during that segment. One of the things he made was a vinaigrette for his salad using blueberries. "Interesting" I thought. I had a whole punnet lying in the fridge waiting for a porridge or a batter for muffins. So I decided to experiment using his technique of mixing the blueberries with some olive oil and vinegar.

Apart from a stained kitchen benchtop (those blueberries are like paint when they're blended) it turned out beautifully. I found some baby spinach leaves that were nearing their hibernation cycle in the refrigerator and I used them as my base salad ingredients. I didn't want to bulk the salad too much. Just a light simple dish full of goodness and antioxidants. The dressing was slightly tart but very tangy as well. Give it a try for something different..


Blueberry Vinaigrette

RECIPE FOR BLUEBERRY VINAIGRETTE

Blueberries. Depending on how thick or thin you want your dressing. More blueberries yields a chunkier dressing. I used about half a punnet which equates to about 100 grams.
Olive oil or grapeseed oil. The recipe I saw used a neutral flavoured oil, which makes sense as you don't want the strong flavours of the extra virgin olive oil dominating. But I only had olive oil and it worked out fine.
Vinegar. Preferably red wine. Oops! I had run out and substituted balsamic. That's fine as well. We're having fun in the kitchen...not signing peace treaties!

*When making vinaigrettes I always follow the 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar rule. So for e.g. for this small spinach salad I used half cup of oil to a few "splashes" of balsamic*


Healthy salad

Tags:recipes Salad Summer

Bread Salad

With the warmer weather finally making an impact here in Sydney, it's only appropriate to be whipping up so many salads. I mean how easy and simple. Following the KISS principle and relying on good quality produce, you really can't fail. I had often heard about the Italian bread salad called Panzanella. While I'm not sure the version I tried was "authentic", the flavours were mesmerising and unforgettable. While I was scanning my local deli the other day, I came across a product I had never seen before. It was called Tanour Mountain bread and the packaging explained it was Afghan in origin. It was very similar to the Greek style pita bread and looked similar to a large cooked pizza base. Not one to shy away from trying new things, I quickly snapped it up and started thinking of ways on how to use it.

With so many ingredients left over from my Thai Beef Salad, namely the cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions, I came up with this recipe. I tore the tanour mountain bread up in small bite size pieces and threw it with the cucumbers, red onions and tomatoes. To "Greek" it up a little I used some dried oregano leaves and made a dressing out of extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. It was really refreshing. The vinaigrette had soaked into the bread, the cucumbers were crisp, the tomatoes were bursting with goodness and the red onion provided that extra sharp "sweetness". A perfect summer meal.

While there is no need to follow an exact recipe, its best to experiment sometimes. I just took the basic principles behind a Panzanella salad and applied them to what I had available. I'm sure this salad would work just as well if I had used a rustic style Italian bread. Maybe the addition of some fresh herbs would work wonderfully. Overall a fantastic result.

Tags:Salad recipes Greek

Fresh Thai Beef Salad

Everyone knows my love for Thai food. While I usually prefer to go out and eat it, I occasionally indulge in a bit Thai cooking at home. The flavours are strong but the key is always balance. The Thai version of Beef salad is an old favourite and the perfect summer dish. It really is a complete meal and quite healthy. Oh yeah! and very easy. Make sure you use a good quality beef steak, preferably eye fillet. Here is my version. Authentic or not.

FOR THE SALAD
2-3 pieces of good quality eye fillet
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
2 lebanese cucumbers deseeded and sliced
half a small red onion thinly sliced
small bunch of coriander leaves
small bunch of mint leaves
handful of dry roasted peanuts
handful of toasted sesame seeds
fried eschallots for garnishing

FOR THE DRESSING
1/4 cup of good extra virgin olive oil
juice of half a lime
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 small red chili finely chopped
a small portion of palm sugar

PUT IT TOGETHER
1. Pre heat your oven to about 180-200 deg C
2. Place the cucumber, tomato, red onion, coriander, mint, peanuts and sesame seeds in a bowl.
3. Sear your steak in a hot pan and sear it a few mins each side.
4. Place the pan (NOT WITH A PLASTIC HANDLE OF COURSE!) into the oven and leave the beef in there for about 10 mins. Whilst that is cooking, whisk up your dressing. Please note, the dressing is "a taste as you go along" thing. It may need more of one ingredient to find the balance. Remember the Thai mantra for cooking. Spicy. sweet, sour and salty. Have fun and experiment.
5. Take the beef out and let it rest for a few mins. Once rested, slice diagonally like they do in restaurants and toss it in with the salad ingredients. Give it a good toss!
6. Present salad with fried eschallots on top for garnish. (fried eschallots ca be readily bought at most Asian grocery stores)


Taste the fresh flavours

Tags:recipes Salad quick

Coleslaw with Prawns

After a hectic eating schedule in Greece which included a lot of rich, yummy foods I needed to get back on track with some lighter eating. Salads are a good way to do this but they don't have to be boring by any means. They can be a decent meal themselves. Just make sure you follow the "fresh is best" principle and you can't go wrong. I was inspired by the many flavours I encountered in Greece and as a good food blogger I came back to experiment. Many of the salad dressings I tasted there were quite basic. But they weren't boring. The simplicity of extra virgin olive oil mixed with lemon juice was just magical on the taste buds.



Drawing inspiration from those fresh flavours I decided to make coleslaw and give it a slight twist. I've never really had a good relationship with coleslaw over the years. As a child, I had to endure eating this dish drowned in really bad mayonnaise. It was devoid of any character or taste. When I set myself the task of making this I wanted it to be fresh and summery. It's very easy to construct. I shredded a small portion of both red and white cabbages. I grated a carrot and thinly sliced some cucumbers on my mandoline. I also thinly sliced some red onions and added some freshly grated green papaya or green mango. The addition of the papaya gave it that extra lift. I just wish I had more to add as it didn't really generate much from a single grating. And finally, I blanched some king green prawns and added them on top to make a complete meal. (I bought my prawns all cleaned and shelled. I love saving time!). The dressing was, you guessed it. A blend of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice with some fresh sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. It was crunchy, slightly sweet, slippery and tangy at the same time. A really nice twist on an old favourite and much better this time around. Enjoy!
Pete

Tags:Salad Seafood