Summer Salad

Here's a quick and tasty summer salad.  I have deliberately not given quantities, as it's more of a throw together to your taste kind of a salad - aren't they all?  It'd be great to hear your summer salads - please leave a comment below. 

Chorizo and Avocado Salad
Crusty bread
Chorizo
Cherry Tomatoes
Avocado
Lettuce

Aioli or Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing

1. Tear or cut up the bread into smaller crouton sized pieces.  Drizzle some oil in a non-stick pan and cook the croutons till they are showing a little colour.  Remove croutons and set aside.
2. Slice the chorizo on the diagonal.  Peel it if necessary too.  Cook the chorizo in the same pan as the croutons.  Don't add anymore oil, there'll be enough in the chorizo.
3. Whilst the chorizo is cooking - slice the cherry tomatoes in half.  Halve the avocado and remove it from the skin in one piece.  This works best by sliding a dessert spoon carefully between the skin and the flesh.  Be gentle!  Once it's out slice it diagonally too. 
4. You can use whatever lettuce you like.  I would suggest a crunchy cos or iceberg, as you want that firmer texture.  So peel your lettuce apart, rinse and pat dry.  Tear into more manageable pieces, if it is large leaves.
5. Once the chorizo is almost finished cooking, throw in the cherry tomatoes.  Allow these to cook till the skins start to blister (a little) and the flesh starts to break down a little.  See the picture to know what I mean.
6. Add a little bit of warm water to the Aioli, to loosen it a bit, so you can drizzle it at the end rather than dolloping it.
7. Time to assemble - place the lettuce, avocado and croutons in a large bowl.  Top with chorizo and tomato, and pan juices (most important!).  Finally drizzle the Aiolo (or Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing) over the top.

Other ideas
Instead of Aioli, use a balsamic reduction (pour half a bottle of balsamic vinegar into a wide pan and let it bubble away till reduced by half, store in a jar till you need it).
Shave same parmesan cheese over the top.
Depending on how spicy your chorizo is - add some dried chilli or chilli flakes.

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I'm Baaaaa-aack!!

Hi, after a bout of the dreaded whooping cough and more than a few weeks of not cooking, I'm back. Thanks to Rose for keeping the home fires burning while I have been crook. I had plans of doing some experimental cooking while I was off work but due to exhaustion I decided against it lol.
For my first dish of my return I decided to make Spicy Chicken with Spoon Salad. As i was looking for something to cook i came across this little dish in Delicious Magazine. Being intrigued with what Spoon Salad is I took the plunge and bought the ingredients.

4 chicken breasts

4 tsp harissa
1/3 cup olive oil
5 vine ripened tomatoes
1 red capsicum - roasted, peeled and chopped
2 small red chillies finely chopped
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1/2 telegraph finely chopped
1 tbs finely chopped mint
1 tbs cherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
couscous, thick greek yoghurt and pita to serve

1. Score chicken breasts 3 times. COmbine 2 teaspoons harissa and 2 tablespoons of oil in a bowl, then brush all over the chicken. I threw my chook in a zip lock bag with the combined harissa and oil and tossed in the bag and then chilled in fridge.
2. Bring saucepan to boil. Cut crosses in the bas of the tomatoes and place in boiling water for 30 secs. Remove from water and place in ice water bath till cool. Peel the tomatoes and halve. Remove the seeds and finely chop. PLace the chopped tomatoes in a bowl with the capsicum, chilli, onion, cucumber, parsley, mint, vinegar and remaining oil. Season well with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Place in sieve set over bowl and allow to drain for 30 minutes to remove excess liquid.
3. Pre heat chargrill pan and cook the chook. Slice the chicken, then serve with spoon salad, cous cous yoghurt and pita.

Enjoy

The herbs have taken over

This week was a hectic week for us at work. NAPLAN had taken over and some of us were more busy than others. So it was a good thing that I was cooking and Rose was sampling (LOL). I decided to go with nice and light this week and it proved very delicious.  This week I decided to do all my shopping at B FRESH and I'm glad I did. I don't mind plugging a good store haha. Rose had given me, via text, my core ingredient: Chinese Five Spice. After a few days of scouring the recipe books and Delicious Magazines I came up with my menu of Warm Salad of Brie and Roast Cherry Tomatoes, and Crispy Chicken on Asian Rice Noodle Salad.

Warm Salad of Brie and Roast Cherry Tomatoes

Punnet of Vine ripened cherry tomatoes
200g mixed salad leaves
1 1/2 cups kalamata olives
1 red onion thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs chopped basil
2 tsp chopped chives
1 tbs chopped flat leafed parsley
          plus extra to serve
8 baguette slices chargrilled and kept warm
400g brie (at room temperature)

Preheat oven at 180 deg. Roast tomatoes for 5-10 minutes until starting to split.
Meanwhile, combine salad leaves, olives, and onion. Whisk together oil, vinegar and mustard, then stir in herbs and season. Toss with salad, tomatoes and parsley leaves. Serve with baguette and brie.

This was a light and delicious starter. The texture contrast with the brie and the baguette was great against the crunch of the salad and the tang of the roasted tomatoes.

Crispy chicken on Asian Rice noodle salad

100g vermicelli noodles
1 red capsicum
2tbs chopped chives
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup chopped thai basil leaves

Dressing
1 1/2 tbs lime juice
1 1/2 tbs fish sauce
3 tsp caster sugar
1cm piece of ginger finely grated
1/2 long red chilli seeded thinly sliced

Crispy Chicken
1 egg
1 cm piece of ginger finely grated
1 garlic clove crushed
110g plain flour
2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 chicken breasts thinly sliced
vegetable oil to shallow fry

To make dressing whisk all ingredients in a small bowl until sugar dissolves.
Place noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water and stand for 5 minutes. Drain, then return to bowl. Add dressing and toss to combine. Add capsicum and herbs and toss to combine.
To make the crispy chicken, whisk egg, ginger and garlic in a large bowl until just combined. Combine flour five spice and S&P in another large bowl. Dip chicken into egg mixture, drain off excess, then toss in the flour mixture.
Fill wok or deep frying pan halfway with oil and shallow fry chicken in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Place noodle salad on serving plates and top with crispy chicken to serve.

This was a very tasty dish, but could have had more kick in the chilli and a bit more dressing in the noodles. I thought the chook was tasty. I do need to work on my portions and my plating up lol.

Next week promises to be delish as Rose's task is to cook something Moroccan. YUM.