Tag: Salad

Categories
Recipes Sides

Feta & Black Olive Quinoa Salad

Now it’s summer, I’ve been eating more and more salad bowls for lunch, so reckoned it was about time to feature one here on A Different Kitchen.

This one throws together some of my favourite tastes, including feta, black olive and rocket leaves, in a tahini dressing. The quinoa boosts the protein intake and fills you up without being heavy on the carbs. Good as a lunch bowl, but also suitable to serve as a side alongside a mains.

Servings

Enough here for a couple of servings.

Timings

12 – 15 mins. That’s how long it takes to boil and cool the quinoa, during which time you can be getting ready the rest of the salad and the dressing.

You Will Need:

  • 70g quinoa
  • about 70g feta cheese, cut into cubes
  • about 12 – 15 pitted black olives from a jar, cut in half
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 5 – 6 slices of cucumber, diced
  • 1 scallion, cut into rings
  • a handful of rocket leaves

Check out this link for my tahini dressing.

Method

  1. Place the quinoa in a saucepan with boiling water. Reduce and simmer for 12 – 15 mins.
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, prep the other ingredients and place in a bowl. Make up the tahini dressing.
  3. Drain the quinoa when cooked, and cool in a sieve under cold running water. Shake dry and add to the salad ingredients, stirring in to mix. Coat with the dressing and serve.

Customise It!

I used a packet mix of black, white and red quinoa just because it helps the dish look more interesting, but plain quinoa will work just as well. Feel free to sprinkle a few sesame seeds over the bowl before eating.

Here’s a track that’s been popping up recently on the playlists Spotify auto-generates for me, based on my other listening – clever that, especially when the track turns out to be one I find I like. Here’s Moby with Bodyrock.

Categories
Recipes Sides

Tahini Dressing

The garden is now chock-full of sun-warmed tomatoes on the vine and cucumbers that seem to grow bigger by the day – see my photos below.

There’s enough to provide sides to meals for a little while to come, so I’ve been looking out ideas for tasty dressings to vary things up a little.

I’m a big fan of tahini – the spread that is made from ground roasted sesame seeds. In fact, tahini on a slice of wholemeal toast is one of my favourite snacks. Its taste is reminiscent of peanut butter, but without the sugar. It is said to have a number of health benefits in a diet, being a good source of fibre, protein and healthy fats.

I’ve used it in a stir fry sauce before, and wanted to incorporate it in a salad dressing. Following some research, I settled on a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. A tablespoon of tahini is added to core ingredients of olive oil, runny honey and cider vinegar. Shake it up in a jar till it’s rich and creamy, then drizzle over your salad, with a sprinkling of sesame seeds to top it off.

Servings

This should be enough to go with a couple of week night meals for 2 – keep the screw top jar in the fridge and use as you wish.

Timings

10 mins to prepare.

You Will Need

  • a clean screw top jar or container
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 4 tsp cider (or white wine) vinegar
  • 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • a couple of twists of sea salt and ground black pepper
  • half a clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
  • sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients (other than the sesame seeds) in the screw top jar and shake well to combine. Pour over your choice of salad and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
  2. Er, that’s it.

Customise it!

Add more black pepper if you wish. A squidge of lemon juice might be nice. If the consistency is too thick, just add a few more drops of olive oil. Why stop at salad – drizzle it on a baked potato, or use as a dip for fries.

Here’s a song I heard on the radio this week, which I hadn’t heard in a long time. The band who recorded it are now in their 45th year, no less, with a hectic tour schedule this summer. I very much liked UB40 in their early years, and went to see them live in their home town of Birmingham. I remember the thudding bass and drums of their reggae beat, and that they did extended dub versions of some of their tracks. I do feel they lost their edge a little when they started doing cover versions of older songs, though it clearly brought them commercial success.

This is one track from those early years – One in Ten.

Categories
Recipes Sides

Scallion, Celeriac and Cucumber Slaw

Slaws are very useful dishes this time of year. They’re quick to throw together, and can be made well in advance of mealtime. They can be left to rest in the fridge, their flavours infusing while you take it easy enjoying the sun with an aperitif. Using fresh ingredients means minimal processing and little, if any, cooking.

I like experimenting with different combinations of raw ingredients. This is one I made recently, that delivers a good tasty crunch with sticks of celeriac, chopped scallions (or spring onions, from the garden) and roasted wholemeal croutons. The mayo and white wine vinegar dressing is spiced up with a little Dijon mustard and fresh dill. This is complemented with fine silky slivers of cucumber that bring some cool respite on the tongue.

Fancy giving it a go?

Servings

Served as a side salad alongside a main (such as a quiche) and other side salads, this will be enough for 4 adults.

Timings

10 – 15 mins to prepare.

You Will Need

  • half a cucumber
  • 1tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 scallions
  • 200g celeriac
  • 100g slices of wholemeal bread
  • a handful of fresh dill
  • some olive or rapeseed oil
  • 2 good tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • seasalt and ground black pepper

Method

  1. Cut the cucumber lengthwise into cylinder shapes about 10 – 12 cm long, and then cut each into quarters lengthwise. Scrape out and discard the soft, squishy middle. Then, using a veg peeler, shave each piece of cucumber into long, thin ribbons. Place into a serving bowl.
  2. Next, cut the rough, outer edges from the celeriac and discard. Cut the remaining flesh into matchstick size pieces about 3cm long. Add to the cucumber.
  3. Cut the scallions into pieces the same length as the celeriac sticks, and add to the bowl.
  4. Add the wine vinegar and chopped dill, giving it all a good stir to coat the salad ingredients.
  5. Mix the mayo and mustard and add to the bowl. Add a few twists of salt and pepper. Give it another good stir to combine, and then place in the fridge till mealtime.
  6. Finally, cut the slices of bread into cubes, drizzle with oil and roast, spread out on a tray for 5 mins at 180C. Allow to cool.
  7. Just before serving, take the salad from the fridge and arrange the wholemeal croutons on top. Then serve.

Customise it!

Try to keep to the 3 core ingredients but, beyond this, feel free to experiment e.g. cider vinegar if you prefer, or different fresh herbs to replace the dill. Melt parmesan over the croutons while roasting, or add garlic to the dressing. The possibilities are nearly endless!

Next track for the ADK Playlist is a very catchy tune that’s been playing this week in the ADK Kitchen. It will get your toes tapping as you chop those scallions and celeriac sticks. This is The Wiseguys with Ooh La La.

Categories
Recipes Sides

Beetroot, Feta and Walnut Salad with Bulgar and Quinoa

This deliciously tasty side salad combines beetroot with feta cheese and chopped toasted walnuts, along with a mix of bulgar wheat and quinoa. The beetroot naturally colours the feta and gives the whole dish a pinkish hue.

Servings

Serving this as a side to a main should be sufficient for 2 – 4 people.

You Will Need

  • 60g mix of bulgar wheat and quinoa
  • 240ml water
  • one cooked beetroot
  • 100g feta cheese
  • 50g walnuts

Method

  1. Put the bulgar/quinoa mix in a saucepan with the water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and leave for about 25 mins. Turn off, drain and rinse in a sieve under cold running water.
  2. Dice the beetroot and the feta.
  3. Toast the walnuts in the oven at 180C for 5 – 10 mins, then roughly chop in the food processor with blade fixed.
  4. Combine the ingredients in a bowl and give them a swirl with a fork, fluffing up the bulgar/quinoa as you go. The juice from the beetroot should naturally infuse the salad with a pink glow.

Customise it!

You can omit the nuts if they’re not your thing. Replace with something green and small, like chopped fresh spring onions. You could also swap the bulgar/quinoa with couscous or even rice, if that’s what you prefer (or have in the cupboard!)