Tasty Salads

I am always on the lookout for new things to put into a salad. The combinations of savoury salads is limitless but, once you introcduce dessert salads to your reptiore then a whole world of new salads open up to you.

Below are three recipes for summer salads that are full of flavour and are healthy too!!

Chickpea, chorizo, red pepper, parsley and capers  (serves 4)

1 tin of chick peas

1 red peppers or 1 tin of flame roasted peppers

1 bunch of parsley

100g chorizo sausage

30g mini capers (three teaspoons)

Olive or rape seed oil

 If using the fresh peppers: Slice the chorizo into 1cm pieces and put onto and oven tray with the red pepper. Place into a 200ºC oven for 15 minutes until the chorizo is crisp and golden and the skin of the red pepper blisters.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool.  The pepper’s skin should peel away from the flesh easily. Take out the seeds and core from the pepper.  Discard the skin, seeds and core. Strain the chick peas and rinse under cold water. Dice the red pepper flesh and mix into the chick peas.  Chop the parsley leaves and fold into the chick peas along with the capers. Dress the salad with salt, pepper and the juice and zest of the rest of the lemon.

Spring bean, radish and goat’s cheese salad (serves 4)

Salad

200g green beans

100g frozen peas

100g frozen edamame/soy beans

150g fresh goat’s cheese

100g radishes

2 lemons

Rape seed oil

Bring a large pan of water to the fast boil.  Cut the stalk ends from the green beans and then cut the beans in half. Once the water is boiling, throw in the green beans.  After 2 minutes throw in the peas and soy beans and cook for a further 2 minutes. Strain the beans and refresh in a bowl on cold water. Cut the radishes in half and put into a bowl, add the cooled beans and peas to the bowl and season with the grated lemon zest, the juice of the lemon, salt pepper and rape seed oil. Put the bean salad onto a platter and top with dollops of the goat’s cheese.

Orange, date and walnut salad with fresh mint and orange blossom yogurt.

(serves 4)

This is a Lebanese influenced salad.  The mix of bitter, sweet, acid and creamy is added to by the wonderful aromatics of the orange blossom. This salad can be changed by adding pomegranate or pineapple instead of the orange or pumpkin seeds, pistachio nuts or almonds instead of the walnuts.

2 oranges

9 large dates preferably Medjool

Small bunch of mint

100g walnuts

150ml Greek yogurt

2 tblsp orange blossom honey (or any runny honey)

2 tsp orange blossom water

Put the yogurt into a bowl and grate the zest of one of the oranges into the yogurt. Add two teaspoons of orange blossom water to the bowl and mix well.

Peel the oranges and cut into bite sized pieces. Stone the dates and rip into 1/3s.

To serve:  Place the orange pieces onto a large platter and scatter with the walnuts and date pieces. Dollop teaspoon of the yogurt around the plate then drizzle the whole platter with the honey.  Finish the platter with of fresh mint.