Summery insalata

Yippee! Tomorrow we are heading out to Kent to stay at the Keeper's cottage on the grounds of Leeds Castle, but first, I must conduct my pre-holiday ritual of using up what's left in the fridge. Take out would probably be a more practical option considering that with a toddler in tow I'll have to pack half the flat - but I really hate waste and quite enjoy the challenge of a clear-out dinner. Plus it's nice coming home to a fridge that doesn't smell like bin juice.

I have:

a bunch of carrots

mint

cherry tomatoes

a courgette

buffalo mozzarella (OK, so I cheated a little and bought this earlier in the day)

The plan is to make a souped up insalata caprese, the ingredient that really ties this dish together is the gorgeous buffalo mozzarella with its weird cooked chicken-like texture. Never ever use a knife to cut it! Ripping up a ball of buffalo mozzarella is a strangely satisfying activity that should be enjoyed whenever possible.

The do

Slice the courgette thinly and chop the carrots into bite sized pieces.

Fry the courgette with a little oil and salt in a frying pan until soft and a little charred. While this is happening steam or boil the carrots until they are just done, you don't want them to be too mushy. When everything is done, lay it all together into a big plate and sprinkle a couple of chopped mint leaves on top. Top with a some pinenuts, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes and the buffalo mozzerella, then drizzle a generous amount of good olive oil on top.

Enjoy with some super crunchy ciabatta and a big glass of red wine before you attempt the packing.

Tunes
Butterfly House The Coral

Yu Sheng In Print

Chew's delicious Yu Sheng salad recipe made it into the pages of thelondonpaper this week. I thoroughly recommend it for Chinese New Year festivities, both for fabulous flavour and salad twister party antics.

Acting the goat

I'm shit, I know. For far too long I've left Chew to battle blog empathy on her own in the dandelion leaf wilderness and I haven't got a great excuse beyond failing to multitask. But more on that laters.

First, to regain some semblance of continuity, there's one more thing to say about Paris. True, the socialist city will never win Vegan Friendly Town of the Year award, but there is one vego plate you should be able to ask for, sans menu, in any Parisienne restaurant without anyone spitting with disgust into your souffle. And so to my re-entry into everything Lily & Chew -- a variation on the formidable chevre salad. (It's a lowly place to crawl back from but I've got to start somewhere...)

What you need for a toasty chevre salad
100g wheel of goat's cheese (I cut mine in half to make wheels for two)
Baby spinach leaves
Grainy bread (sliced thickly for toast)
Baby potatoes
A few fresh sage leaves
1 boiled egg for each plate
Dressing (for me - red wine vinegar, olive oil, S&P)

Making it
Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes then drain and toss them in some olive oil, torn sage leaves and sea salt. Roast for 15 minutes (or until the potatoes are golden and the sage crispy). Build the spinach, with wedges of tomato and boiled egg, on plates. Toast one side of bread under a grill then turn over and toast the other side very lightly before placing the chevre wheels on top. Grill until the cheese is melting, golden and a little bubbly (careful not to burn your toast). Scatter the roast potatoes and crispy sage around your salad then top with the chevre toast. Dress it up and dig in.

Tickle me tomato

I was at the market craving salad yesterday when I saw four different colours of tomato lying next to each other. Sunny, modest, prolific, confused fruit that they are, they looked beautiful. I happened to be at the specialist wild mushroom stall at the time, so this vague idea for a salad was hatched.

(A note on the mushrooms: they lend texture as well as taste, so a mix is good. I got oyster, shitaake, some orangey coloured ones and some bluish ones that look like they should do more than just flavour a salad.)

What you need for a self-juicing quattro colore tomato funghi salad (for 2)

6-7 chopped, small, perky, juicy tomatoes; green, orange, yellow and red (the more colours the merrier)
A breakfast sized bowl of fresh, mixed wild mushrooms (sliced)
Fresh basil leaves, chopped (about 6 big ones)
Fresh mint, chopped (same quantity as basil)
A splash of balsamic vinegar
Big squeeze of lemon juice
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
Salt'n'Pepa
Fresh butter



Melt a thin slice of butter in a generous glug of olive oil and throw in your sliced shrooms. Toss them to coat and saute them on med-hi heat.

While the mushies are cooking, throw your chopped tomatoes into a bowl. Their juices form the base for your dressing, so keep as much as you can. Toss through the mint, basil, dash of balsamic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt'n'pepa.

When your mushrooms are golden, leave them to cool for just a minute before tossing them in with the tomato salad and quickly stirring through. You don't want them hot enough to heat the fruit, but their warmth will enhance the sweet, juicy basily goodness of your salad.

If you have a crust of fresh bread to mop up your empty bowl with, all the better.

Salad daze

The Tuesday back at work after Easter weekend was a bit of a struggle for me. For most of the day my brain was still curled up in bed and copious amounts of coffee would not wake it from it's slumber.
When I got home I was faced with a dilemma. I was lazy, starving and didn't want to eat anything bad.

So this is what I did.

Preheat oven on high.
Get some small sweet potatoes (big ones are fine too, but the small ones are softer and fluffier), cut into thick slices leaving the skin on. Place in baking tray and toss in some smoked paprika (for 4 potatoes I used a small teaspoon) and olive oil.



Bake at 150-180 until you can poke a fork in them, then crank it to 200 to char the outsides a little. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.


In a big bowl, throw in your favourite salad leaves, baby tomatoes, chopped avocado, chopped chives, sunflower seeds and some roasted pine nuts. Add the sweet potato whilst still warm. Drizzle with oil and squeeze some lemon over the salad.


This is the smoked paprika in a pretty tin that I used.

Cyprus.

Six months of inane bureaucracy ended last week with a trip to Cyprus to get my visa processed, and for those of you who don't know - I'M LEGAL NOW!

So onto food. Cypriots love their meat - so much so, that they think a vegetarian is someone who eats fish. I decided to remain optimistic and was rewarded with some amazing dishes. I'm going to try and replicate these over the coming weeks and will post them if they are successful.



Mushroom and Halloumi Pita with Salad
The halloumi in Cyprus is excellent. It was so good that I ate my own body weight's worth of the stuff. Grill it or fry it in a pan - it was soft, not too salty and even a little minty.
This is so easy and would be great for a BBQ, just make a big bowl of salad, throw everything else on the grill and let everyone help themselves.

Chop up some flat leaf parsley, mint, cucumber and good tomatoes - drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice to taste.
Slice halloumi.
Pan fry, grill or BBQ halloumi and mushrooms until brown (take care not to overcook the halloumi)
Toast some pita bread and fill it with the above.
* (Cooked or canned beetroot instead of the mushrooms works well too!)

Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Fa Cai! (part 1)

Being 16913km from home means I can't celebrate the New Year in the usual way (hanging out at a relative's house, eating and drinking until my stomach splits, collecting some Ang Pao - red envelopes containing money - and then rolling home.) So I invited 25 of my nearest and dearest friends in London over for a feast so extravagant it put Empress Dowager Cixi's marble boat to shame.



Yu Sang (New Year salad)

For best results, use the mandolin shredding attachment on a food processor. It's fun and it will save you a lot of time.

What you need
1 daikon (chinese white radish), peeled
1 bag of organic carrots, washed
2 cucumbers
1 bag of crunchy noodles (in Australia, Chang's crunchy noodles - in London I think they are called flour noodles)
Fried shallots (available in all good Chinese grocers. I put these on EVERYTHING)
1 jar of japanese ginger (gari), drained - get the bright red ones in thin strips, not the light pink ones you get with sushi
a few big handfuls of roasted peanuts chopped
1 bunch of coriander, chopped
3 lemons or limes or a mixture of both
sesame seeds

for the dressing
equal parts of vegetable oil and asian sesame oil
add sugar to taste, mix with a fork and add more if needed
salt to taste
a few shakes of white pepper
a few shakes of five-spice powder
lemon juice

Run the daikon, carrots and cucumber through the food processor.
Place in separate containers and cover with water until close to serving time.
Drain ginger.



Later on...
Drain and squeeze out excess water from daikon, carrots and cucumber. On a big tray, arrange daikon, carrots, ginger, coriander, peanuts, sesame seeds and cucumber in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
Right before serving time, get the packet of noodles and crush it. This is very satisfying.
Pour the broken noodles and fried shallots over the top.
Pour the dressing over the salad.

Now for the fun bit.
Armed with chopsticks, all your guests have to toss the salad together - the more frenzied the better!
Once the tossing frenzy has died down add a little more lemon or lime and sesame oil.
Derishous!

Serves about 25 people.

Ah Ma's Pink Potato Salad

The lead up to Chinese New Year has got me thinking food, food, FOOD.
And I guess family fits in there somewhere too. This is a dish my grandma used to make, it's an old family recipe - does that give it more credibility? I guess it does.

Cubed potatoes - boiled (desiree or a waxy variety will have a nicer texture and not turn to mush)

1 can of baby beets cut to same size as potatoes

Cucumber (again, cut to same size)

Mayonnaise or Soy mayo (lots)

Chopped spring onions

Egg (optional)

Mix together carefully. And that's it!