Raw Carrot, Cucumber & Tomato Salad

As promised our previous blogpost, here is the recipe for the salad that we served with our Turkey & Cumin Burgers. It is very quick to prepare...just some dicing to do. :) Amanda came up with the idea of a salad with our burgers and this salad is basically the tasty result of what we had in our fridge. I used Spanish paprika and Mexican oregano but if not available you can use normal sweet paprika and regular dried oregano. It is a completely vegan & vegetarian salad and can be served with anything,..as a side dish, as a quick lunch or even as a tasty and refreshing sandwich filler. Also, the small the diced vegetables the better in our opinion. For 2-3 servings you will need...

• 1 carrot, grated
• ½ cucumber, deseeded & diced
• 2 tomatoes, deseeded & diced
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 small gherkins, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• ½ tsp Spanish sweet paprika (use sweet paprika if not available)
• Pinch dried tarragon
• ½ tsp dried dried chives
• Pinch Mexican oregano (use regular oregano if not available)
• Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

How to...

1. In a medium sized bowl mix all the ingredients with a spoon. Transfer the salad into a fine sieve and let it rest on top of the bowl for a couple of minutes. This will get the excess moisture out of the salad. 
2. After a couple of minutes, discard the drained liquid and serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Beer Battered Fish & Chips with a Cherry Tomato Salad

Fish & Chips is the heart of Britain, a dish that is ever so popular in Britain and all the British colonies including Malta. Myself personally am not a big fan of deep fried foods and in fact I have fish and chips maybe once a year and Amanda does not like it all. Having said that I decided to make our own delicious fish and chips. I decided to do this because we bought a whole dogfish from my friend Ash at Penny's Fisheries and got some beer as a Xmas so fish, beer, flour...Eureka! Home-made fish and chips!! The secret to a good crispy, not soaked in oil fish is the temperature of the oil and by using cold beer. I used John Smith's Extra Smooth bitter but any beer will do in my opinion! I use a thermometer to get the perfect oil temperature but if you do not have a thermometer, the easiest, and safest, method is to stick the end of a wooden spoon into the oil. If you see bubbles form around the wood and they start to float up, your oil is hot enough to cook with. It is also important not to overcrowd the frying pan and also make sure the temperature is high again before deep frying the next batch. The following recipe is enough for 4 medium fish fillets. You will need...

For the batter

• 220g self raising flour
• 330ml John Smith's Extra Smooth bitter

For the cherry tomato salad

• A handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half (we used yellow and red ones)
• 2 tablespoons green olives, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon capers, roughly chopped
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon mint sauce
• Salt & pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

• 4 boneless dogfish fillets (you can use other fish like cod, haddock, pollock etc.)
• Extra flour for dusting
• 1 litre vegetable oil

How to...

1. Start by preparing the tomato salad. To do this just combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil to 180°C (see note in bold in the description above).
3. Prepare the fish by dusting the fillets with flour, shake any excess. 
4. Prepare the batter by adding the beer to the flour in a medium sized bowl and whisk gently until you get a thick batter. Dip the fish fillets into the batter and cover in batter completely. 
5. Deep fry into the hot oil for 6-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish) until golden and puffy. Using tongs or a slotted spoon take the fish out of the oil, making sure you drain any excess oil and put on absorbent kitchen paper. Keep in a warm place until you cook the other fish. Always make sure that the oil is back to 180°C as if the oil is not hot enough the fish and batter will absorb a lot of oil. You do not want that.
6. Serve the fish hot with some tomato salad and chips.

Enjoy!!

R&A 

Summery Millet Salad

I made this salad to take with me at work as my lunch and I must say it was wonderful and so tasty. You can also do this with quinoa or couscous if you like. It is super-easy and super-quick to rustle up, cooking the millet grain is the longest cooking time for this recipe (about 20 minutes). This recipe is vegetarian but for a vegan version just omit the eggs. I adore eggs so I did put 2 hard boiled eggs in my salad but feel free to do one instead or none as I said before none. Anyway, do give it a go and if you have not tried millet grain before do try it, it is so good and I love its fluffy texture. You can do this for a light lunch or even as a side for your dinner (maybe a good steak). You can also take it with you to a BBQ. The following amounts are for one portion so double or quadruple the ingredients for a larger serving. For one portion you will need...

• 60g millet grain, washed
• 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1tbsp sliced jalapenos
• 6 green olives
• 2 tsp capers, drained
• 3 sundried tomatoes, chopped (optional)
• ½ teaspoon dried mint
• A couple of fresh basil leaves
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Sweet paprika, to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

How to..

1. Start by cooking the millet by just adding it in plenty of boiling water. Simmer for 20 minutes and drain in a sieve. Whilst still in the sieve rinse the cooked millet grain under a running cold water tap to cool it down. 
2. When cool enough add all the other ingredients, including the salt, pepper, sweet paprika and olive oil to your taste and stir carefully to combine. 
3. This is now ready to serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad - Salade Fraises et Chèvre

Amanda and myself were browsing for ideas for our weekly menu and we wanted a fresh summery salad. After gathering lots of ideas, Amanda came across a vlogger that used strawberries in her salad and we said why not...let's have a go! A summer salad with the most famous summer fruit of them all...the juicy strawberry! To accompany it some creamy and mellow French goat cheese. As dressing nothing too complicated...just some extra virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. We had it as a light supper but it can easily be eaten as a quick lunch as well! Give it a go...it was a combination made in heaven. For 2 salads as suppers you will need...

• 1/2 Iceberg lettuce, washed and chopped roughly or any salad leaves
• 1 French Goat cheese, sliced [about 150g]
• 6-8 large strawberries, sliced
• 1 large ripe avocado, sliced
• Toasted flaked almonds
• Fresh basil leaves
• Extra Virgin Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

How to...

1. Start by toasting the almond flakes in a small dry pan, stir them occasionally to make sure they do not get burnt, about 5 minute. now divide the lettuce between two plates. 
2. Lay the strawberries, goat cheese and avocado on top of the lettuce. 
3. Sprinkle the toasted flaked almonds and put a couple of basil leaves. 
4. Dress with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Bleu d'Auvergne Cheese & Broad Bean Salad

Bleu d'Auvergne is a strong and pungent blue cheese coming form the region of Auvergne in south-central France that was awarded the Appellation d'origine contrôlée by the French government. Although it has a strong and pungent taste, it is less salted than other blue cheese like Roquefort. It is great to use in salads and even snacking. It can be served with grapes or even sweet wine like Riesling. We prepared this salad as a side to go with our baked trout but you can also prepare this salad as a quick and light lunch. We added broad beans as they are in season. As  dressing we just dressed it with extra virgin olive oil and a tiny bit of white wine vinegar (not too much). So for 2-3 people you will need...

• 100g Bleu d’Auvergne, crumbled
• 500g broad beans, shelled
• 75g bag of mixed leaves salad, washed and dried
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts, dry roasted
• 1 pinch of saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, for the dressing
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Place the salad leaves in a bowl. Add the broad beans, cheese, pine nuts & saffron threads and toss to mix.
2. Add the white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and toss slowly again.
3. Serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Nicoise Salad - Salade Niçoise

Salade niçoise comes from southern France and it is one of our favourite salads. The main ingredients that make up this wonderful salad are tuna and anchovies. We always try to find fresh tuna but sometimes here in England is hard to find and when you find it, it can be very expensive. So we use good quality canned tuna fillets. Also it is usually made with niçoise olives, which are small black olives but any small black olives will do if these are not available. As per every salad there is a myriad versions of the actual recipe so it very hard to find out exactly what goes in a proper salade niçoise. Cucumber, preserved artichoke hearts, radishes, new potatoes, raw green peppers, sweet shallots are all different vegetables that are used...depends where you get the recipe from! Hard boiled eggs are a must as well. Our version for a substantial meal for two people is as follows...

For the salad

• About 100g mixed salad leaves
• 2 ripe but firm tomatoes, sliced
• 8 new potatoes, boiled
• 2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
• A handful of black olives
• 100g French fine green beans, cooked
• 2 tuna steaks (about 150g each, grilled to your liking and left to cool down slightly) or 2 cans of tuna chunks
• 8 anchovy fillets

For the dressing

• Red wine vinegar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper

1. This has to be the easiest method ever. Just arrange all the salad ingredients onto the serving plates, leaving the tuna and anchovies for last.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. The amounts are entirely up to you.
3. Dress the tuna and salad leaves.
4. Serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Focaccia with Caprese Salad

This is Amanda's favourite food EVER!! She could eat it all day, every day!! :)) In fact when I prepare a good Focaccia for her, I always get extra hugs & kisses xx :)) It is one of the easiest recipes to do, Focaccia is very filling and tasty and you can serve it or even fill it with loads of different ingredients. You can put olives and press them in or even small rosemary sprigs. Our favourite is do a plain, just scattered with coarse sea salt and then serve it with a nice Caprese salad. I love to split it in half, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and put layers of freshly sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and slices of mozzarella....just writing about it is making my mouth water!!! Enjoy it fresh out of the oven....give this a go and you will not be sorry!! You will need...

For the Focaccia

• 600g Strong white flour ("00")
• 300ml lukewarm water
• Half teaspoon sugar
• 7g instant yeast (1 sachet)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse sea salt, to taste

For the Caprese salad

• 4 large ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 3 mozzarella balls, sliced
• fresh basil leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Blend the yeast in a measuring jug with 300ml lukewarm water, sugar and the olive oil. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes.
2. Pile the flour into a volcano shaped heap on the working surface. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the liquid, start kneading with your hand and adding the yeast mixture until all the liquid has been incorporated.
3. Knead into a smooth dough. 
4. Roll the dough. Do not roll it too thin, leave it about 1cm thick.
5. Place it in a well-oiled, high edged dish, poke it with your finger tips in even places, scatter to taste with the coarse sea salt and cover with cling film and leave to rise for about an hour in warm place.
6. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180°C.
7. After the dough has risen well, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil put into the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes until it is golden in colour.
8. Cut in squares and serve with the Caprese salad.

Enjoy!!! 

R&A