Three of the Best - Salad Days # 9, 10 & 11

Out there in blogland I often hear some of you talk about dishes in your "regular rotation", but I seriously don't have any kind of regular rotation going on in my household.  I sometimes think it might make life a little bit easier if I did, but I just don't.  Truth is, even though I often say things like "this was so great, I'll definitely be making this again" - I usually don't.  I get seduced by some new idea and seldom make the same thing twice.

That said, there is a small selection of salads in my repertoire that I really have made several times because they were that good, and so I thought that it bears reintroducing them to you.

Roasted Eggplant, Mango & Soba Noodle Salad

This is a salad, unsurprisingly, from my food hero - Yotam Ottolenghi - and with mangoes (albeit imported ones) and eggplant being in abundance right now, this is a great time for this salad.  Because we don't grow mangoes in New Zealand, they are one of the few imported items in the fruit and veggie department in which I allow myself to indulge over summer, and I really make a feast of it.  Lush, juicy mangoes alongside smokey, roasted aubergines is not a combination I would have ever thought of, but it really works.

Green Tea Soba Noodles with Soy Roasted Salmon & Broad Bean-Radish Salad

Adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay, this is probably one of my favourite dishes I've posted of all time, and one I really have repeated numerous times.  Try this once, and I'm sure it will become one of your regulars too.  A visually stunning dish, packed with great punch of flavour from the wasabi-ginger dressing, and yet quick and easy to prepare.  This is the perfect maximum impact - minimum effort dish.

Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds

When we had our time over at I Heart Cooking Clubs cooking with Ottolenghi, this was one of my favourite dishes I made.  I know several of my fellow participants, and several of my friends in the Tasting Jerusalem group also loved, so don't just take my word for it - this is a salad you definitely need to have in your "rotation".

This is salad numbers 9, 10, and 11 in my Salad Days, 28 days of salad project.   What's that you ask?  Well,  I've said it here a dozen times or more ... I love salads.  A big bowl, substantial salad is hands down my favourite meal any time of the year.  Such is my love of salad, that I'm challenging myself to come up with a different salad every day for the month of February - that's 28 days of salads - and I plan to share as many of them as I can with you.  I'll also be doing some flashbacks to some of my favourite salads I've shared in the past.

What's more, I'm giving you the opportunity to share some of your favourite salads with me too.  Have a favourite salad you'd like to share?  Simply link up your salad recipe using the linky tool at the bottom of this post.  The linky will be open all month, and you can join in any day or every day, and link as many recipes as you like.  Feel free to grab the Salad Days badge from the sidebar to include in your post if you'd like to.  There's really no rules around linking up, other than please, use your manners and link your post back to this one.  Linking old posts is fine too, just please edit them to include the back link.  Thanks for sharing your favourite salad with us.

Apricot, Date & Pistachio Loaf

So far at I Heart Cooking Clubs we've cooked with some great chefs:  Nigella Lawson, Mark Bitman, Giada de Laurentiis, Jamie Oliver, Tessa Kiros, Rick Bayless, Madhur Jaffrey, Yotam Ottolenghi (my favourite), Donna Hay, and Nigel Slater.  I'm excited now to tell you that a new chef joins the line up this week - we will spend the next six months cooking with Diana Henry.

Raised in Northern Ireland, and now living in London, Diana started cooking when she was just six years old, and has never looked back.  She is not just a passionate and adventurous cook, but also a gifted food writer.  Diana has published eight stunning cookbooks, writes a regular column for The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine and several other magazines, has her own website and appears on UKTV's Market Kitchen.

Diana talks a lot about the sense of connectedness that food and cooking gives her, something I relate to completely.  To welcome Diana this week to the IHCC fold I turned to her Date, Apricot & Walnut Loaf Cake from her latest book, A Change of Appetite.  In this book she turns towards lighter, fresher, healthier dishes (without any compromise in flavour) inspired often by dishes of the Middle East, Scandinavia, and the Far East.  There are some stunning recipes in this book, and I swear I want to make nearly everything.

I can imagine that if I could sit down in my kitchen for an afternoon with Diana, we would find a great deal to talk about.  Of course there would be coffee, and cake (there has to be cake), and this delicious loaf packed full of dried fruit, seeds and nuts would fit the bill perfectly.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe - don't I always?!  In the original recipe, Diana has you soften the fruit in apple juice and cook it down to a puree - I opted for an infusion of apricot tea and date syrup instead - but really you could use any fruit juice or even just water for that matter.  I cut down the amount of sugar just a little, and I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar.  In the original recipe, Diana uses a mixture of regular flour and malted brown flour (which is not available here) - I used all wholemeal flour instead.  Lastly, because thoughts of apricots and dates and date syrup always transport me to the Middle East, I used pistachios instead of walnuts.  Once again, you could really use any kind of nuts that you like.

An important note here - my loaf tin is a tiny bit bigger than that called for in the recipe, so I didn't get the nice big slices that I was hoping for.  It also took quite a bit less cooking than that specified in the recipe.  The recipe offers a cooking time of 1-1/4 hours, but I noticed that mine smelled like it was done after about 45 minutes - a quick check, and I found that it was indeed ready, in fact ever so slightly over-done.  This could have been because of my larger tin size, but my tin was not that much bigger that it would have taken half an hour off the cook time I don't think, so I suggest that you keep a close eye on the time.

This is a deliciously moist and flavourful loaf, so fragrant with spices that your house will smell like Christmas while it's baking.  Like anything of this nature, this is fabulous with a generous smear of butter (although entirely unnecessary), and I found that it kept well for a week.  The only reason it lasted so long around here is that someone else in the house is not fussed on apricots - in most normal households I would expect this to be gone in a few days!

Apricot, Date & Pistachio Loaf Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Diana Henry
from A Change of Appetite
Click here for the free recipe card

1 cup chopped dried dates
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup apricot tea
1 tablespoon date syrup
175g (6 oz) butter
130g (4.5 oz) brown sugar
grated zest of 1x orange
1x large free-range egg
225g (8 oz) wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice
generous grating of fresh nutmeg
1/3 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
generous handful of pumpkin seeds, plus extra for the top
generous handful of sunflower seeds
sprinkling of sesame seeds

Put dates and apricots in a small saucepan with the apricot tea and date syrup.  Set over medium heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until softened to a thick puree - 10 to 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Also melt butter and leave it to cool.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).  Grease a 22cm x 12cm x 6cm (8" x 4-3/4" x 3") loaf tin, and line the base with non-stick baking paper.

Add the cooled butter to the date and apricot mixture, along with the brown sugar, grated orange zest, and the egg.  Mix together well.

Place the flour in a large bowl with the baking powder, mixed spice, nutmeg, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Mix together well, then add the fruit mixture and mix until everything is just combined - don't over-mix.

Tip everything into the prepared baking tin, using a rubber spatula to even out the top.  Sprinkle over the extra pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.  Place tin in the preheated oven, and bake for up to 1-1/4 hours or until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in the tin before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you would like to get to know Diana Henry a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links (who knows, you might even want to join the journey and cook along with us) ...

... or check out A Change of Appetite and Diana's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Lesley at eat, etc ..., Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

I'm also linking this post to Tea Time Treats, hosted by one of my favourite bloggers - the lovely Karen at Lavender and Lovage, and The HedgeCombers.  The theme this month is vegetables, and technically there's no vegetables in this recipe, but I've been wanting to join in here for ages, so I'm taking the creative leap that since this loaf contains pumpkin seeds that's near enough :-)

Farewell Nigel, and a Round-up of My Favourites

If you've been following here for a while then you will most likely know that I am a regular participant and co-host at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where each six months our members elect a new chef with whom we will spend the ensuing six months cooking according to a variety of weekly themes.  You will also know that for the last six months we have been cooking with British cook, Nigel Slater, and this week is time to say our goodbyes.

This is always a bittersweet moment - a little hint of sadness as one journey comes to an end, tinged with the excitement and anticipation of welcoming in a new chef.  You'll find out more about that next week, but for now I wanted to share with you a round-up of my favourite Nigel Slater dishes of the last six months.

Warm Lentil, Leek & Lemon Salad with Prawns & Roasted Tomatoes

This dish was actually inspired by Nigel's "Lentil soup, with lemon, pancetta and mint".  It turned out to be one of those dishes which, in its entirety, was so much greater than the sum of its parts, and was not just every bit as good as I expected it to be, but in actual fact exceeded all my expectations.

Roasted Potato Salad with Black Olive & Roasted Garlic Gremolata

This was a dish which not only drew inspiration from Nigel, but also from my friend Toby at Plate Fodder.  Potatoes are par-boiled, then smashed and oven roasted with rosemary and garlic.  That in itself is a pretty good thing, but then the crispy roasted potatoes are drizzled straight from the oven with a mustardy vinaigrette, and then topped with a gremolata of black olives, rosemary, garlic and lemon zest.  A taste sensation, and the perfect accompaniment to the Sunday night roast chook.

Curried Carrot, Lentil & Roasted Tomato Soup

In many ways carrots are one of my least favourite vegetables, so I'd always been a bit dubious about carrot soup.  This stunning soup, loaded with red lentils, spicy curry powder, fragrant coconut milk and slow roasted tomatoes helped me overcome all my carrot soup fears!

Pumpkin, Date & Chocolate Scones

I turned Nigel's slightly savoury warm pumpkin scones into an ever so slightly sweeter treat with the addition of dates, date syrup and chocolate - just perfect for a leisurely Sunday brunch, or to accompany an afternoon cuppa.

Roasted Pumpkin Laksa

This laksa is perfect for a cold winter evening.  The sweet, soft, nutty pumpkin, silky rice noodles, crispy bok choy and bean sprouts, all bathed in a gorgeously fragrant, coconut-rich broth, makes for a symphony of flavours and textures.

Gnocchi with Chorizo, Gorgonzola & Spinach

This is the ultimate one-pan wonder.  A dish for those occasions when only a big helping of carbs, smothered in cream and cheese, and topped off with a bit of fried sausage, will satisfy, and just enough spinach to assuage the guilt - slightly!

Pumpkin Pangrattato with Merguez Sausage & Black Olives

This was easily my favourite Nigel Slater dish, and in fact one of my favourite dishes I've ever posted.  Chunks of steamed butternut pumpkin, spicy nuggets of merguez sausage, and black olives, are baked under a topping of cheesy, garlicky breadcrumbs.  Seriously, if you only ever try one dish from my blog, this would be a good place to start.

With that, it's time to say "Cheerio" to Nigel, and don't forget to come back next week to see who we'll be welcoming as our next IHCC chef.

If you would like to get to know Nigel Slater a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Tender, Vol. 1 and Nigel's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

Mocha, Date & Meringue Ice Cream

Pot Luck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is always one of my favourite weeks, because it means that we get to cook with any one of our ten IHCC chefs.  For me that usually means the irresistible opportunity to catch up once again with my favourite chef, Yotam Ottolenghi.

This is timely, because this month at Tasting Jerusalem** we are exploring cooking with date syrup, through the lens of Ottolenghi's book Jerusalem.  I've use date syrup a few times before in dishes such as this Butternut Squash & Tahini Spread, which is finished off with a drizzle of date syrup.

Date syrup has a consistency similar to maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup or runny honey, and makes a great substitute anywhere you would use any of those ingredients, but the flavour is so much more, for want of a better word, "exotic" and complex than any of them.  The sticky sweetness of dates, combined with the intense flavour and aroma of rosewater, makes for an ingredient that will transport you to places far flung.

I've also used date syrup in these Pumpkin, Date & Chocolate Scones ...

... but today I wanted to come up with something that was altogether more indulgent and which really played to the exotic nature of this ingredient.

Doing a little research, I found my inspiration in Ottolenghi's recipe for Chocolate, Rose & Walnut Ice Cream.  This seemed like a good starting point, and I thought I could come up with my own version.

To start with, I simplified the whole process by using a combination of coconut cream, condensed milk, and melted dark chocolate, instead of the typical custard base used in the original recipe.  Since I had decided I was going to work date syrup into the recipe, I didn't need rose water, as that flavour is already sufficiently pronounced in the syrup.  I also wanted actual dates in the ice cream, as well as the syrup, so I soaked them in some freshly brewed espresso to soften them, before swirling into the ice cream.  And for that all important crunch, I replaced the walnuts and digestive biscuits Ottolenghi used, with some crumbled meringues.  I love the way they hold their texture, and keep that little bit of "chewiness" even once frozen.  I did think about also including some cacao nibs, but I think it would have been an ingredient too far, and the depth of chocolate flavour here is more than sufficient without it.

Ottolenghi served his ice cream with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top, which seemed a bit unnecessary in the circumstances, and some little cubes of Turkish delight sprinkled over the top.  I think this would have been delightful, but I didn't have any on hand.  He also finished with a little sprinkling of dried rose petals - another delightful touch, which I did have and would have added, but the ice cream was melting and for the life of me I couldn't find them in the cupboard (note to self:  time to give the cupboard a clean out!)

In the end, this ice cream is everything I wanted it to be.  Rich and chocolatey and almost fudgy;  there are delightful little of nuggets of chewy dates and crunchy meringues;  the date and rose flavours really come through without overpowering, and linger long enough on the palate to tantalise the mind with thoughts of far flung places.  I think I should have called this Magic Carpet Ice Cream.

Mocha, Date & Meringue Ice Cream Recipe
Inspired by a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi
Makes about 1 litre
Download the free recipe card here

1/2 cup finely chopped, dried dates
3 tablespoons freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon date syrup
400ml (13.5 fl oz) coconut milk
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
200g dark chocolate, melted (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)
40g (1-1/2 oz) crumbled meringues

Place chopped dates in a small bowl.  Pour over the hot espresso and date syrup.  Stir to combine, and set aside until the dates have softened, and mixture has cooled.

Break chocolate into smallish pieces.  Place in a bowl over a pot of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not actually touching the bowl.  Stir from time to time, until the chocolate is melted and glossy.  Set aside and allow to cool completely, but without re-solidifying.

In another bowl, beat together the coconut milk, condensed milk and melted chocolate, until everything is well combined.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Empty ice cream into a freezer safe container.  Stir in the softened dates and crumbled meringues.  Cover the surface of the ice cream with a piece of non-stick baking paper, and put in the freezer to firm up.

Serve generously whenever you have itchy feet.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better or any one of our other IHCC chefs, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up for Pot Luck week.

** Tasting Jerusalem is a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, liking our Facebook page or joining our Google+ Community and finally checking out all of our groups’ dishes on Pinterest.

I'll also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, and very amusing, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam.

         

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Michelle at Munch Cooking, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

Chocolate, Date & Banana Bread

It's no secret that making ethically responsible choices, as much as possible, about the food that I consume, is a subject which is dear to my heart, and is indeed one of the founding principles of this blog.  As such I regularly use Fair Trade products - they are always exceptionally good quality and Fair Trade principles are consistent with my own food philosophy.  So I was pretty excited a couple of weeks ago then, when a nice big hamper of gorgeous Fair Trade goodies turned up, along with an invitation to bake something delicious and join in this year's "The Big Fair Bake" event.

What you don't see in the photo, is a bunch of Fair Trade bananas, which, by the time they had traveled for a couple of days to get to me, were a bit riper than I like to eat them.  So it seemed inevitable that they would be included in my recipe.  I started thinking banana cake, but to be honest I generally prefer banana bread - it usually keeps well for several days, and makes a great snack or breakfast on the run.  Once I got to thinking about adding in some dates and dark chocolate, I knew this would elevate my regular banana bread to something really special.

Chocolate, Date & Banana Bread Recipe
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 cup coconut oil  
1/2 cup Fair Trade organic cane sugar  
1 teaspoon vanilla extract  
2x eggs  
13/4 cups plain flour  
1 teaspoon baking powder  
1 teaspoon baking soda  
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3x medium-sized All-Good Fair Trade ripe bananas, mashed  
1/3 cup golden syrup
1 cup Trade Aid Medjool dates, finely chopped
80g Fair Trade Whittaker's Dark Ghana chocolate, roughly chopped  

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).

Lightly grease a 23cm x 13cm (9" x 5") loaf tin, and line with baking paper.

In a medium sized bowl mix together coconut oil and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.  Add to the wet ingredients, and mix until just barely combined.

Add the mashed bananas, golden syrup, dates and chocolate, and once again mix until just combined - take care not to over mix.

Spoon mixture into the prepared tin, and bake for 60-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Libby at Ditch The Carbs, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

            

Pumpkin, Date & Chocolate Scones

I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again, I'm not much of a breakfast lover.  Not that I have anything against "breakfast food".  To the contrary, in fact, I can very happily eat breakfast food for dinner.  It's actually eating breakfast first thing in the morning that I struggle with - my body generally feels a bit happier if it's been up and moving about for a few hours before shovelling in a bit of fodder.  Still, much as I would generally prefer to skip breakfast, conventional wisdom seems to be that one shouldn't begin the working day on an empty stomach.  That being the case, I will often start my weekday morning with a smoothie, or this Tropical Fruit Granola, or even this Banana, Lemon & Passionfruit Guilt-Free Ice Cream (which is really just a frozen smoothie).

Despite my breakfast reticence, however, I do love brunch.  Taken a little later in the morning, and consumed at a more leisurely pace, this to me is how every day should begin.  I love, of course, a good feed of bacon and eggs, almost any kind of omelette, and what would brunch be without a classic eggs benedict?  But, to my way of thinking, every good brunch should also include a little sweetness - maybe something like these Peach & Blueberry Pancakes or this Orange Mango French Toast with Honey Roasted Strawberry Compote.

Such thoughts were uppermost in my mind when it came to choosing a dish for our "Let's Do Brunch" theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week.  Leafing through my now much thumbed copy of Nigel Slater's Tender Vol. I, his recipe for a warm pumpkin scone captured my attention.  Nigel's suggestion of serving these with grilled bacon and sharp cheddar cheese would make a great brunch indeed, but as I mentioned I was looking for a little sweetness.  I left out the fresh thyme called for in the original recipe, and my initial thought was to add some prunes to the scones, but I had some fresh dates on hand to be used up, and I figured that some dark chocolate I had lurking in the pantry wouldn't go astray either.

These were quick and simple to make, with a soft, moist centre.  The combination of pumpkin, dates and chocolate strikes just the right balance between sweet and savoury notes, and served with a little drizzle of date syrup (entirely optional, but a nice touch if you have it) or maple syrup, these were the perfect addition to Sunday brunch.  They'd also be great with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee.

Pumpkin, Date & Chocolate Scones Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Nigel Slater
from Tender, Vol. I
Makes 8
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

300g (11 oz) pumpkin, peeled & seeded (I used butternut)
140g (5 oz) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
70g (2-1/2 oz) butter
1x free-range egg, lightly beaten
90ml (3 fl oz) warm milk
handful of fresh or dried dates, roughly chopped
85g (3 oz) dark chocolate (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana), roughly chopped
a little oil or butter
date syrup or maple syrup to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Cut pumpkin into large chunks, and steam until tender.

Meanwhile, mix flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.  Cut butter into small cubes, and with your fingertips rub butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Mash pumpkin and stir in the warm milk and egg.  Mix in the dates and chocolate, then add everything to the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  (Don't be alarmed - the dough is not firm enough to handle like a conventional scone dough - mine was almost more like a thick batter.)

Heat an ovenproof, non-stick fry pan over medium heat.  Melt a little knob of butter in the warmed pan, and add the dough to the pan.  Spread it out and smooth the top.  Turn heat down to low and cook until the underside is firm and browned  - about 5 minutes.

Lightly oil a dinner plate.  Remove pan from the heat and loosen dough from the pan with a palette knife.  Place plate over the top of the pan, then flip everything over so that the scone drops out onto the plate.

Now slide the scone back into the pan, cooked side up. and put the pan into the oven until the other side is cooked and the middle is set - about 5 to 8 minutes.

Turn the scone out onto a wooden board, cut into wedges and serve while still warm.  Drizzle with date or maple syrup if desired.

If you would like to get to know Nigel Slater a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Tender, Vol. 1 and Nigel's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Amanda at Move, Love, Eat, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the delightful Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads, at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollum, and at Cook Your Books hosted by the lovely Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Hearth & Soul hosted by the gorgeous April at 21st Century Housewife.

                   

Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we last week began our journey of cooking with Yotam Ottolenghi, we are all about Loving the Leaf!  There is certainly no shortage of inspiration in any of Ottolenghi's books for turning out dishes of leafy green goodness, but with his latest book Jerusalem: A Cookbook being the most recent addition to my collection that was where I turned first.  With so many great choices here (Raw Artichoke & Herb Salad;  Kohlrabi Salad with Watercress & Mint;  Swiss Chard Fritters;  Swiss Chard with Tahini, Yoghurt & Buttered Pine Nuts;  Split Wheat & Swiss Chard with Pomegranate Molasses;  Watercress & Chickpea Soup with Rose Water & Ras el Hanout), and that was just in the first half of the book, I needed to look no further.   I would happily devour any one of those dishes, but it was this recipe for a salad of baby spinach leaves tossed with dates, almonds, and crispy croutons that really took my fancy.  Spinach is without doubt my favourite leafy green, and any kind of spinach salad is a favourite meal for me on just about any occasion - combine that with sweet, sticky dates, crunchy nuts and croutons, a little bit of lemony tang from a touch of sumac, and a little kick of heat from chilli flakes, and I am in leafy, salady heaven.

This salad delivered on all fronts - texture, taste (just the right amount of that sweet, salty, sour going on), and leafy goodness.  I made a couple of small changes - I subbed in fennel in place of red onion, which I'm not particularly fond of raw in salads, and I replaced pita bread croutons with sourdough, because that's what I had on hand.  I also adjusted quantities to make a delicious lunch for one person.  This certainly won't be the last time that this salad graces my lunch table.

Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Jerusalem:  A Cookbook

Makes a generous meal for one person, or a side for two

Vegetarian

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 a large fennel bulb, very thinly sliced

(a mandolin is ideal for this if you have one)

3x Medjool dates, cut into quarters, lengthwise (stones discarded)

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

knob of butter

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for dressing

thick slice sourdough bread, cut into cubes

small handful raw almonds, very roughly chopped

1 teaspoon sumac

chilli flakes to taste

2x large handfuls baby spinach leaves

juice of 1/2 lemon

flaky sea salt

Put fennel and dates into a small bowl, add the vinegar and a small pinch of salt, toss well and set aside for about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the oil and butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.  Add the bread cubes and almonds to the pan and cook until they are crisp and golden brown - stir regularly.  Remove pan from the heat;  add the sumac, chilli flakes and another small pinch of salt.  Mix well and set aside to cool.

Toss the spinach leaves with toasted bread and almonds.  Add the dates and fennel, lemon juice, a generous drizzle of olive oil and another pinch of salt.  Taste to check seasoning, and when it is balanced to your taste, serve immediately.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Jerusalem and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

           

I will also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, and at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays hosted by my friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen.