GET WARM WITH THIS GRILLED VEGETABLE SALAD

Lately I have frequently found my way to Cafe NOP that is located near my workplace. Well, it has been around for years, but I had some unpleasant eating experiences in the past even though I like their Scandinavian cafe atmosphere. Long talk cut short, I avoided it knowingly for a long period, but luckily their cooking has now improved so going there has become a pleasure. The other day I had a grilled vegetable salad, which is new on the menu and totally unforgettable! So I had to make those grilled vegetables myself, because they are perfect for these cold winter evenings. In fact now, while writing this post, I am actually nibbling on the left-overs.. Yummilicious!

for this grilled vegetable salad you will need:

4 carrots

1 yum potato (can substitute with sweet potato)

2 beets

4 shallots

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp honey

black pepper and salt to taste

Prepare the oven to 200C at grill mode. Peel carrots, beets and yum potato and cut them into chunks (1x1 cm). Peel the shallots and cut into sectors. Mix honey with olive oil and pour over the vegetables. Stir. Finally add black pepper and salt. Bake in the over around 20 minutes, Blending couple of times while cooking.

FYI at NOP they serve it with rocket salad.

Enjoy!

AVOCADO SALAD LIKES IT RAW

This is a no-brainer. Again, all ingredience added without any measuring in this salad you will need for this beauty to rise into life:

- lettuce salad, chopped

- (cherry) tomatoes, halved

- radishes, finely sliced

- spring onions, finely sliced

- cucumber, cut into small cubes

- avocado, chopped into chunky pieces

- parsley leaves, chopped

- mint leaves, chopped

Dressing:

- garlic clove, crushed

- lemon juice

- olive oil

Toss all ingredients together and DONE!

HUSHH... IT'S THE COUSCOUS SALAD!

Amazing salad that I have already made several times and it was part of my Middle Eastern dinner. Very easy to make! I added all the ingredients without measuring, but for your convenience here are the quantities from the original recipe published in the BBC Good Food issue from August 2010:

for 2 servings

100 g couscous

25 g butter

50 g black olives, pitted

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp chopped coriander

pinch ground cumin

1 red chilli, finely chopped, seeds in or out as you choose

85 g drained chickpeas from a  can

1 small carrot, grated

Place the couscous in a bowl with the butter. Pour over 100ml boiling water, then cover and leave to steam for about 4 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, then stir in remaining ingredients and season to taste.

Vinaigrette Salad, Another Russian Classic

This is one of those perfectly healthy and deadly delicious example from Russian cuisine that I made following my mother's instructions. I had a huge craving for it all day and since I failed to convince my mother that today was the perfect day to make this salad when I come over for a visit I had no choice than make it myself. It tastes just like I remembered...

Ingredients:

1 beet

2 carrots

3 potatoes

3 small cucumbers

2 marinated cucumbers

1 apple, peel skin

a bit of lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil for dressing

First boil beet, carrots and potatoes in their skin. Beet separately from the others and give it 20-25 minutes. Carrots and potatoes may be boiled together, takes about 15 minutes. Meanwhile grate cucumbers, marinated cucumbers and apple. When beet, carrots and potatoes are done, cool under cold water and peel skin. Then grate as was done with other vegetables. Add fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil and mix everything. And ready it is!

P.S. I think the original recipe also includes head cabbage, but I forgot to add it and to be honest the salad is perfectly fine without it.

Green Salad that will knock your socks off!

Couple of years ago when I was in London we visited Borough Market and found our way to a nearby Spanish Tapas Bar. The place looked rather random, slightly touristic if I may say so, but when they brought the food.. the suspiciousness vanished! One recipe that I have been doing over and over again is this green salad:

Basically what you needs is all sorts of different greens to mix together (the point is to have greens with different strong flavours). For example:

ruccola

peppermint

basil

green salad

green peas (I forgot to add them this time)

Chop everything up in size most enjoyable to you.

As sauce mix in olive oil, some salt, freshly ground black pepper, balsamic vinegar and a dash of sugar.

It's a great side dish to have with meat, you know!

This time I added also strawberries and goat cheese, which took me on a rather enjoyable culinary roadtrip. I can imagine it together with grilled chicken, other meats I'd rather have without the non-green coloured products. ;)

Music tip: St. Germain "Soul Salsa Soul" is too good to be true, yesterday when it started playing I literally had to stop whatever I was doing at that very moment and take a pause for some SALSAAA! But where is the beach weather, hello?

 

Pasta salad with chicken and blue cheese sauce

 

This is my  favourite cold weather comfort salad! I rarely repeat recipes I've made with few exclusions and this is one of them. I got the original recipe from Finnish S-Market seasonal cookbook "Paras keittokirja No. 1" from 2004. If you are into Caesar salad I am sure you will like this as well. I am not into eating pork products, but I am starting to grow a liking for bacon. It can add so much flavour to food that it is addictive.

4 portions

 

2 dl of pasta, make according to instructions (I used farfalle)

300 gr chicken fillet

1 package of bacon, sliced

150 gr of salad mix (be creative! Ruccola or basil would be perfect in addition to regular salad)

1 pear (peeled, cut into smaller strips)

1 dl of almond chips

1-2 tomatoes, cut into medium size pieces

150 gr blue cheese

2 dl of milk

salt and pepper to taste

First make the pasta. Roast the almond chips until brownish. Fry the bacon that has been cut into long strips, remove from the pan on a tissue to get rid of excess oil. Next fry the chicken fillet (add salt pepper to taste).

Meanwhile blend the milk with cheese into sauce.

prepare the salad base, add pears, pasta, tomatoes, bacon, almonds, and chicken that has been cut into small pieces. last but not least pour over the sauce and add pepper if you wish.