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.

Salmon with Mango, Edamame & Pink Grapefruit Salad

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, our theme is Tropical Delights.  I love food that transports me to the tropics any time, and enjoying the tail end of summer here in New Zealand right now, this was the perfect theme to get excited about.

I've holidayed several times in Bali, and also in Queensland (Australia), and on such occasions nearly the first thing I do as soon as I get off the plane is find a good fruit stall and stock up on papaya, mango and pineapple.  These are pretty much my all time favourite fruits, but as none of them are really grown here in New Zealand, indulging in them is at best a rare treat.  Set me down in a tropical destination, however, and you will find me literally gorging on them every day for the duration of my stay.

As most of you will know, our current guest chef, Donna Hay, is based in Australia where tropical fruit is abundant at this time of year.  Little surprise then that the latest summer issue of Donna Hay magazine is positively groaning with tropically-inspired fare - seriously, I was just about drooling over every single page.  But the dish that really leapt out at me was Donna's Salmon with Papaya Salad & Pink Grapefruit Dressing.  Of course Donna's styling is always stunning, but I found the picture of her crispy skinned salmon, alongside a gorgeous wedge of orange-fleshed papaya, garnished with lotus root chips and Thai basil leaves particularly captivating - the kind of dish I could easily imagine myself eating on a steamy evening, sitting on the terrace of one of my favourite Balinese restaurants.

Of course, I live in Nelson, New Zealand, not some tropical island paradise, so I couldn't find a ripe papaya last week for love nor money.  Ditto Thai basil leaves.  Also lucked out on the lotus root, which they do often stock in the freezer of my local Asian supermarket, but the one day I want some ... nada!

So, what's a girl to do when obsessed with a certain dish and ingredients aren't available?  Improvise of course.  Mango seemed like a good alternative to papaya.  I could use some peppery rocket leaves and mizuna instead of Thai basil and Chinese spinach.  I also decided that since the salad had a pink grapefruit dressing, some grapefruit segments in the salad would be a nice addition, and I also added some edamame to make the salad a little more substantial.  In fact, even without the salmon, the resulting salad would make a delicious, light meal in its own right.

Salmon with Mango, Edamame &
Pink Grapefruit Salad Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay
From Feb/Mar 2014 issue of Donna Hay magazine

2x skin-on, bone out salmon fillets
flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Salad
1x firm mango, ever so slightly under-ripe, peeled and cut into wedges
1x pink grapefruit, peeled & cut into segments (membrane removed)
3/4 cup shelled edamame
2x generous handfuls of peppery leaves such as rocket, cress, mizuna

Dressing:
juice of 1x pink grapefruit
2 tablespoons grated palm sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 cm (3/4 in) piece of ginger, finely grated

Begin by making the dressing.  Place all the dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake vigorously to combine.  Set aside.

Put vegetable oil in a non-stick frypan set over medium heat.  Season salmon with salt and pepper, and once pan is heated, place salmon in the pan skin side down.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, before turning over and cooking for approximately one more minute or until done to your liking.

While salmon is cooking, place all the salad ingredients in a medium bowl and toss gently to combine.

To serve, arrange salad on serving plates, drizzle with the dressing, and top with the salmon.

This was a wonderful dish, full of great flavours and textures, and washed down with an excellent gewurtztraminer loaded with tropical flavours of lychee and papaya, it wasn't hard to close my eyes and imagine myself in some island paradise.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulous tropical delights my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

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

          

Mango Melting Moments - Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap 2012

I'm not much of a baker, as most of you know by now if you've been visiting here for a while.  You won't find that many recipes here for baked goods, though surprisingly (to me at least) the few baking recipes that I have posted are amongst my most popular.  Christmas baking to me usually amounts to nothing more than the ubiquitous Christmas cake, and perhaps a dozen or two Christmas mince pies.  So it intrigues me when I read how some of you spend virtually all of December baking dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies.  Not only can I not imagine actually baking all those cookies, I equally can't imagine where they all go.

Anyhow, on one of my tours around blogland I came across a post about the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap, and thought it might be fun to join in.  After all, what's not to love about sending out a batch or two of cookies to fellow bloggers, and getting cookies back in return.  So, I signed up and Clare at Major Cake's Kitchen Affair (a new to me blog) did too, so a swap was on.

Of course, I spent several weeks deliberating over what to bake, and I confess to more than a little anxiety.  When you're not an experienced baker, the possibility of failure is high and, let's face it who wants to send a batch of failed cookies to a fellow blogger.  I was also hoping to be able to put a bit of a personal touch to whatever I made, but again that would be straying into risky territory for a novice baker.  In the end I decided on an adaptation of this recipe for melting moments.  Melting moments are one of my favourite cookies, and I hoped fervently that Clare might be a lover too.  I put my own spin on it by adding vanilla paste to the cookie dough, and some freeze-dried mango powder to the filling.    The resulting cookies were light, buttery, and flecked with vanilla, and the hint of mango flavour in the filling made a nice twist on the original without being too risky.  In the end I was thrilled to be able to send these to Clare and I hope she enjoys them.

In return, Clare sent me these stunningly festive Christmas Shortbreads.  Every single one of them was individually wrapped, which was a lovely touch.  These shortbreads are deliciously crisp and buttery, with a bit of crunch from the sugar on top, and the red and green sprinkles really say Christmas.  Do go and visit Clare - she has only been blogging for a few months, but her blog is already chock full of delicious sweet treats.  I'm very tempted by her recipe for Homemade Limoncello - looks like a great project for the weekend.

Mango Melting Moments Recipe

Adapted from this recipe at Taste.co.au

200g (7 oz) soft butter

115g (4 oz) flour

45g (1-1/2 oz) icing sugar

50g (1-3/4 oz) custard powder

3/4 teaspoon vanilla paste

For the filling:

60g (2oz) soft butter

2/3 cup icing sugar

Fresh As freeze-dried mango powder to taste

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F).

Place soft butter in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.  Add flour, icing sugar, custard powder and vanilla paste, and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is fully combined.

Roll cookie dough into small balls and place on a parchment lined baking tray about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart.  Use the back of a fork to slightly flatten the balls of doughs and leave the traditional indentations in the tops.

Put into the hot oven and bake until lightly browned and cooked through - about 15 minutes.  You may need to turn the tray halfway through.

Remove from oven.   After a few minutes remove cookies to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

To prepare the filling, beat butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy - an electric mixer is ideal for this job.  Add mango powder to taste - I used close to a tablespoon.

Spread filling over the flat half of one cookie, and sandwich with another.  Repeat until all cookies have been filled.

I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to have participated for the first time in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, and look forward to joining in again next year.  Hopefully a few more Kiwi bloggers will feel inspired to join in next year as well.

This will be a submission to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by the lovely Lydia at Lydia Bakes.

Tropical Fruit Granola

Let me begin by telling you, and this has absolutely nothing to do with granola, that last night we watched When Harry Met Sally - for the umpteenth time I might add, but there was not much else on and it's one of those movies that's always worth another watch, if only for the fake orgasm scene in Katz's Deli.  Anyways, it disturbed me as I was watching to realise that during the course of the 80s and 90s I wore every single one of the hair-dos Sally paraded in the movie - many of them cringe-worthy when I look back.

Such are the things we do over the years as we struggle to develop our personal style - or certainly so it was for me.  Took me I think the best part of 48 years to really get comfortable in my own skin, and to realise what my own style was without trying to make myself look good in someone else's.

Breakfast is like that.  I know all the rhetoric, which is no doubt backed up by plenty of sound nutritional research, about breakfast being the most important meal of the day.  I'm well acquainted with the expression "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper".  And, I've spent many years trying to follow that advice.  But the reality is that I am just not a breakfast person - not even a morning person, in fact.  The truth is that given the choice I prefer not to rise to a vertical position before 10 am at the earliest, and midday is ideal.  Of course, there are jobs to go to and languishing between the sheets till noon is not always an option.  But no matter how early I do get up I generally like a lapse of a couple of hours to pass between the bed and the breakfast table, by which time of course it often is pretty much lunch time.

Then, of course, the dilemna arises of what to eat - lunch or breakfast.  French toast (check out my Chocolate Panettone French Toast Sandwiches and Caramelised French Toast with Raspberry Compote) and pancakes are popular choices, as is this granola.  Work day mornings, I will on rare occasions scarf down a slice of toast and marmalade before racing out the door, but I'm just as likely to skip breakfast, throw a couple of handfuls of this granola into a tub and take it to work with me for lunch.

This granola is a breeze to make, better than anything you will pick up at the supermarket, cheaper and minus the fat too, and it's loaded with nuts and tropical fruit.  I like to use cashews and almonds, along with cranberries, apricots, figs, dates, mango and papaya, but really you can use any combination you like.  Hope you give this a try I know you won't be disappointed.

Tropical Fruit Granola Recipe

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

6 cups rolled oats

1 cup almonds

1 cup cashew nuts

(you can substitute these with 2 cups of any nuts or seeds that you like - pecans, walnuts, macadamias, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds would all be good)

1 cup shredded coconut

(go for long thread or even better flaked coconut - avoid dessicated)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

generous pinch of salt

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 cups dried fruit of your choice

(cranberries, figs, dates, cherries, papaya, apricots, mango, pears, peaches, raisins, sultanas are all good - cut larger fruit into smaller pieces)

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).

Put the rolled oats into a large bowl.  Add the nuts, coconut, cinnamon, ginger and salt.  Pour the honey, agave nectar and maple syrup over the dry ingredients and using your hands mix everything together well.

Spread everything out in a thin layer in a shallow baking tray (you may need to use a couple of trays), and put into the preheated oven.  Bake until golden brown.  This will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how "toasty" you like it, but keep in mind that it will continue cooking after you take it out of the oven, so take care not to over do it.  Give it a bit of a stir every 10 minutes during cooking.

Once toasted to your liking remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Add your dried fruit and mix well, then transfer to an airtight container for storage.

I sometimes also throw in a handful of yoghurt covered raisins at this stage, and would even consider chocolate coated raisins or peanuts acceptable inclusions for an indulgent treat.

I can enjoy this as a wee snack, by the handful, straight out of the jar, or eaten on its own simply moistened with a bit of fruit juice (personally not too fussed on milk).  It is also great with fresh or stewed fruit, and some Greek-style natural yoghurt.  You could even use this to make your favourite granola bars.

I sharing this post with Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blog event created by the very lovely Alessandra Zecchini, and which this month is hosted by After Taste. This is an opportunity for all Kiwi bloggers (whether you are living in New Zealand or overseas), as well as for non-Kiwi bloggers living in New Zealand, to connect and share some of those sweet treats from your kitchen.  So, head on over and share something sweet.

I'm also sharing this at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollum.

Roasted Aubergine, Mango & Soba Noodle Salad

Sad to say that my posts have been a bit thin on the ground over the last week. Oh, I've been cooking plenty, but I have been trying to get used to a new camera and all of my photos so far have been diabolical, rendering any potential posts completely unblogworthy.

Perhaps I should go back a bit. A few months ago my neighbour, Alli of Pease Pudding and The Gourmet Gannet cooking school, organised a photography workshop with Sean Shadbolt for some enthusiastic Auckland bloggers. To a woman, we were all greatly inspired, no-one more so than I to discover that there was a good deal more to my little point and shoot camera than just turning it on and off. Talk about the scales falling from my eyes - all of a sudden a whole new world of possibility (albeit it still a rather confusing one) opened up before me. The terms aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance had previously meant nothing to me, and the notion that these were things that I could manipulate even on my point and shoot was a complete revelation.

Fast forward a little now. You know that I have just recently been overseas for several weeks, and having been smitten by the photography bug I decided, since I would be passing through Singapore on the way home, to invest in my first DSLR camera. So ever since I got back, I have been playing with this new toy - exploring it, and trying to get some understanding of what different settings will achieve. The results have not been flash. Until yesterday - I went out for a few hours with my camera, took a whole lot of photos, rushed home to download them, and actually felt reasonably happy with my results. They weren't fantastic photos, but I did feel as though a penny had dropped somewhere, and I could see and understand the outcome of different things I had done.

Buoyed up by my new-found confidence, I got cooking and photographing and these are the results. Not brilliant photos by any stretch of the imagination - there is such a long way to go. However, I can safely say that since I started my blog, just over two years ago (gosh, I actually just realised my blogoversary slipped by a couple of weeks ago) these are the first photos I have really felt happy with, and certainly the first photos that I haven't had to edit in anyway other than a tiny bit of cropping here or there.

As for the food, waiting for me when I returned from overseas was a nice stack of new cookbooks that I'd ordered before I went away. Amongst them, Plenty from Yottam Ottolenghi which I had been wanting for ages. As I leafed through the book, one of the first recipes that jumped out at me was Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango. I love soba noodles, and was intrigued by the combination of aubergine and mango. Whats more, it may be winter here but I would still rather eat some kind of salad any day of the week, than a stew or a casserole. Of course I don't mind a braised lamb shank or a really good osso bucco on a rare occasion, but in the main I am just not a stewy, casseroley kind of girl.

I loved this dish. Even though this is not a hot dish, the aubergine provides enough "meatiness" and substance to compensate. I love the lightness of soba noodles - there is nothing about them that weighs you down - and they are a great vehicle for carrying flavour. The mango is tangy and refreshing, and did indeed complement the aubergine beautifully. All of this is bathed in a bright, tangy dressing which hits all the right notes of sweetness and sharpness, with a little kick of chilli heat. I ate this as a meal on its own - it would be perfect for a light lunch, or would also be great as a starter to a larger meal. On that subject, a note about the quantities - the original recipe claimed to serve 6. Since I was making this only for myself, I halved the recipe (which in theory should therefore have served 3) and anticipated that I would have some leftover for the next day. As it turned out, I ate the lot! I didn't have anything else though - this was my dinner - and if I had been serving this as an appetiser I think it easily would have delivered 3 portions.

Roasted Aubergine, Mango & Soba Noodle Salad Recipe

Adapted from recipe in Plenty, by Yottam Ottolenghi

Vegetarian

Makes 3 appetisers, 2 light meals or 1 generous main

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Dressing:

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small hot red chilli, finely chopped

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 lime, grated zest & juice

1 medium aubergine, cut into 1cm (1/2 inch) cubes

sunflower oil (or other neutral-flavoured oil)

90g-100g (3 to 4 oz) soba noodles

1/2 large mango, flesh diced

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup coriander (cilantro), chopped

Begin by making the dressing: Put the rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt into a small saucepan, and heat gently for about a minute - just until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat, add the garlic, chilli and sesame oil, and then set aside to cool. Once the dressing has cooled completely add the freshly grated lime zest and juice.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (425 degrees F). Line a shallow baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. Cut the aubergine into cubes, add them to the paper lined baking dish, drizzle with oil, and toss well to coat.

Once the oven is hot, put the tray of aubergines into the oven, and bake until golden brown and cooked through - this will take about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. (Note the original recipe called for the aubergine to be fried, but why stand over a frying pan, when you can let the oven do all the work. I think baking them in the oven also uses less oil, which is not really a big deal to me, but it might be to you.)

Now onto the noodles. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, salt liberally. (Note: My packet of soba noodles stated that salting the water is not necessary, but I do it anyway, and I note that Yottam does too.) Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook until al dente - mine only took 4 minutes, but yours may take a minute or two longer depending on your brand of noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, drain and rinse them well under cold running water. Shake well to remove as much of the water as possible, and then spread them out on a clean tea towel to dry.

Transfer the dry noodles to a large mixing bowl, add the dressing (you will probably only use about half of it), the aubergine, mango, onion, and two-thirds of the coriander. Toss together well.

At this point you can either serve the salad immediately, or allow it to stand for a couple of hours and let all the flavours infuse. If you do allow it to stand, you will probably want to add some of the leftover dressing before you serve it. Pile it up onto a platter, sprinkle over the remaining coriander, and serve.

I hope you'll give this one a try - it's definitely on my repeat list.

I am sharing this post at Presto Pasta Nights which will next week be hosted by Debbi Does Dinner ...

I am also sharing this at Let's Do Brunch hosted by Chaya at My Sweet & Savoury.

Also this post is entered in the July Culinary Smackdown. The challenge this month has been laid down by Eggplant To Go, and the theme ingredient is .... eggplant.