Apple and rocket salad

I'm not a big fan of courgette and so the idea of it raw in a salad has never really appealed. For some reason, however, I decided to give it a try, and was gobsmacked: raw courgette is sweet and creamy, a million miles from the bitter watery cooked version. It makes me wonder why we ever bother to cook it at all. 

Based on this success, I have decided to incorporate it into a variety of salads.Here's one I made today to go with some lasagne and garlic bread.

Enough for 2 as a side salad.

 

Apple and rocket salad ingredients

• 1/2 small bunch rocket
• About 4 leaves little gem lettuce
• I banana shallot, finely chopped
• A 5cm piece cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks
• A 5cm piece courgette, cut into thin matchsticks
• 1 small English apple cut into thin matchsticks
• A small amount of blue cheese (I used Gorgonzola)

 

Apple and rocket salad dressing ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• juice 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon grain mustard

How to make apple and rocket salad

1. Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a small screwtop jar and shake well to combine
2. Rub a cut lemon over the apple as you slice it to prevent it from going brown.
3. Toss the leaves in the dressing.
4. Pile onto a large plate.
5. Sprinkle over the onion, followed by the cucumber, courgette and apple. 
6. Break up the blue cheese into very tiny morsels and scatter these over the salad.

A few toasted walnut pieces would have worked well in this salad too, but I didn't have any.

Beige soup

Cauliflower (beige) soup, at my desk

Despite this soup looking like something served in an old people's home, it is delicious, and well worth making a batch for freezing in individual portions. 

The magic ingredient that makes it so tasty is cheese. To my mind, the fact that there's loads of virtuous cauliflower in it cancels out the evilness of cheese, thus rendering the soup healthy. 

Its also the perfect way of using up any cauliflower you have left after making cauliflower cheese. 

Cauliflower soup ingredients

• 1 medium onion
• 1 stick celery
• 1/2 head cauliflower
• 1/2 litre chicken or vegetable stock 
• 250ml milk
• 100g cheese - I used farmhouse Cheddar but blue cheese is a delicious substitute - you will probably need a little less 
• 2 bay leaves
• A little grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

How to make cauliflower and cheese soup

1. Gently heat about a tablespoon rapeseed oil in a large pan.
   You could use butter if you prefer, but rapeseed oil has a buttery taste and is healthier.

2. Chop the onion and celery very finely and fry for about 7 minutes till soft.

3. Add the stock and bring to the boil.

4.  Reduce the heat and add the cauliflower and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. 

5. Simmer until the cauliflower is just tender - test with a skewer or sharp knife. 

6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little, remove the bay leaves, then liquidize.

7. Return to the pan, add the milk and a little grated nutmeg.

8. Grate in the cheese if using cheddar or crumble in if using blue cheese, and bring to a simmer.

9. Simmer til the cheese has melted into the soup.

 

 

 

Barbeque lamb in buttermilk

I've never used buttermilk before; I bought it for a chocolate Guinness cake recipe I made for a bake-off. We came 4th out of 6.  :(

BBQ lamb in buttermilk ingredients

• 2 lamb steaks, cut into large chunks
• Zest 1 unwaxed lemon
• Juice 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• About 150ml buttermilk (1/2 tub)
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme 
• Black pepper
• Very large pinch salt

How to make BBQ lamb in buttermilk

Mix together all the ingredients and leave to marinade for about 2 hours.

This will produce incredibly tender meat with a wonderful flavour.

Thread the lamb onto skewers and barbequeue, turning regularly till charred on all sides but still pink in the middle.


To go with this I made flatbreads cooked on the grill and a leaf salad dressed only with olive oil and lemon juice. 

I forgot to take a photo.

Roasted vegetable salad

Roasted vegaletable salad with balsamic dressing and yoghurt on the side

A couple of weeks ago salad club was roasted vegetables. This was the list of ingredients:

• Roasted aubergines
• Roasted mixed peppers and onions
• Roasted squash or pumpkin
• Roasted sweet potato
• Roasted potato
• Sundried tomatoes
• Feta cheese
• Pineuts
• Balsamic dressing
• Yoghurt 

For some reason, the person who was allocated squash/pumkin was unable to find any so brought aubergine instead. (Really? Two weeks before Hallowe'en?? Where was he looking? An aubergine shop?) This means we had 2 lots of aubergine, but no squash.

I invited everyone to tell me how they prepared their vegetables but only received four replies. I love the different styles so have copied them verbatim below.

For the sweet potato (as described by Yuki)

Peeled and chopped sweet potato into bite size chunks.
Place in baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Put in oven at 180C and roast for 25mins. 

Paula's comment:  as expected from Yuki, practical, no nonesense, easy to follow instructions. 

For the potatoes (as described by Kate)

1lb of new potatoes
handful of chopped fresh dill
enough olive oil to cover the potatoes
Salt for taste

Paula's comment: I think these were then roasted in the oven, though at what temperature and for how long I don't know. I would also suggest that you simply drizzle olive oil over the potatoes, then toss to coat, rather than submerging them in oil.  

For (one of thee ) aubergines (as described by Amber)

we washed the aubergine, then chopped into cubes, put it in a colander and salted them for 30minutes, then rinsed, then tossed with olive oil, salt, chilli flakes, pepper and  italian mixed herbs. we baked it spread flat on a baking tray and placed in the oven at 180 for around 1 hr, checking and turning occasionally. 

Paula's comment: aw, how cute - love how Amber always says 'we' . Rehan (the other half of the 'we') is welcome at Salad Club any time.

For the balsamic salad dressing (as described by Gina)

Leave a couple minutes earlier so you have time to stop at Tesco
Check email to remember what ingredient assignment is
Locate salad dressing isle at Tesco
Spend a few minutes browsing for the best looking bottle of balsamic
Select and remove from shelf
Continue to check out and pay for your item
Store in fridge until salad club begins
Shake well and serve. 


Paula's comment: Top marks Gina, especially given that you subsequently had to miss Salad Club. Again. 

For the yoghurt side dish

This was my ingredient - it's something my Polish sister-in-law often serves with roast vegetables. 

• About half a large tub (200-250ml) natural or Greek yoghurt
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed in their skins
• A handful chopped parsley
• A handful chopped dill
• A small lug of olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together at least an hour before you want to serve to let the yoghurt take up the flavours.
2. Remove the pieces of garlic before serving.

This was a tasty and filling salad, despite the lack of squash and only half the amount of feta since the other half was mouldy. Cheap too.

Thai chili beef salad

Danielle and Courtney with Thai beef salad

This salad was amazing - I urge you to try it. 

It's very simple to make, only requiring a bit of chopping and steak frying. Even the dressing is effortless. 
 

Thai chilli beef salad ingredients for 12

• Fried steak, cut into thin strips.  
• 3 packs rice noodles
• I cucumber, cut into fine strips
• I yellow or red pepper, cut into thin strips
• I bunch spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 bag cashew nuts, chopped
• I bag ready washed spinach
• Mint and coriander, finely chopped
• Green and red chillies, finely chopped 
• Dressing: 3 parts sweet chilli sauce, 3 parts lime juice to two parts fish sauce

For lunch you only need a little bit of steak, otherwise you'd be stuck in your swivel chair for the rest of the afternoon, unable even to swivel. We used 3 steaks for 12 people. Last night, I used 1 rump steak for 2 of us.