I love peas and always have, and will always be excited if I know they are on the menu, and I try and find any excuse to put them in a recipe. I have wanted to make mashed peas on toast for ages, and now I have knocked one up for the blog. It’s a delicious mix of crunchy bread with the delicate pea mash and the flavours of the Parmesan and balsamic vinegar. Bloody delish and great as a canapé or starter or as a snack.
I had a salad similar to this with my friend Amanda this week in a restaurant. We really liked it and thought it was a great idea, but thought the dressing needed a bit more oomph. Roasted fennel is a fantastic ingredient in a salad, it loses its liquoricey flavour and has a delicious delicate flavour and texture. I’ve also added a few extra ingredients to make it more tasty. This recipe has all the right components for our tastes plus there’s the crunchy and creamy thing going on which we love.
Recipe
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
2 fennel bulbs sliced fairly thinly
100g Feta
A lemon cut into wedges
Some baby salad leaves
A sprinkling of Sumac
A handful of pistachios
2 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
3 tablespoons olive oil plus a bit more for roasting the fennel
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses
Salt and pepper to taste
This very colourful coleslaw is made without mayonnaise and with root vegetables, and it is a tribute to Ottolenghi’s slaw recipes. Although nice with Mayo it’s much fresher and healthier without and it tastes just as amazing. You can add other vegetables to it, what ever you have a preference for. It’s also great partnered with my nectarine salad, or any of my rice dishes. Super yum.
Recipe
Serves 2-4.
Ingredients:
1/2 small celeriac, julienned
1/2 small red cabbage, cored and thinly shredded, I use a mandolin
2 carrots thickly grated, I use a julienne peeler
1 beetroot thickly grated
1 lemon, zest and juice
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of vinegar
3 teaspoons of maple syrup
A bunch of parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
This really delicious Lebanese salad is made with toasted pitas and a mix of salad vegetables and herbs and has the most delicious fragrant sweet dressing. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and sour and crunchy and soft combined. You can add radishes, carrots, olives, peppers, shredded red cabbage, feta or what ever you fancy, it’s perfect for using up vegetables in the fridge. It’s a sort of Middle Eastern version of panzanella and its really gorgeous. You can serve it as a starter, or with meat or fish and it’s perfect picnic food and pretty healthy too. I like it as a healthy lunch made with wholemeal pitas and a side order of humus and more pita bread. Over to Ralph…
Ralph here……It tasted amazing! Took me right back to my mum’s Lebanese kitchen.
Serves 2-3
Recipe
Ingredients:
Dressing:
2 teaspoons of sumac, soaked in 2 teaspoons of warm water for 10 minutes
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses
1 clove of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of wine vinegar
1/3 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Salad:
A couple of pita breads, lightly coated in olive oil and roasted in the oven till crispy then broken into smallish pieces
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a cucumber, skinned and diced
Half a red onion finely sliced
1 little Gem or baby romaine lettuce, shredded
A sprig of finely chopped parsley
A sprig of finely chopped mint
I’m a pea-a-holic and nothing thrills me more than peas in a recipe, so I made this salad as a homage to the pea, which incidentally, is one of the highest fibre vegetables.
I eat this on home made bruschetta but if you do eat meat, it’s excellent with Lamb chops or roast chicken.
Serves 4 as a side dish.
Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen petit pois, thawed overnight in fridge (by the way, they don’t need cooking)
1 small bunch of fresh mint finely chopped
1 shredded cos lettuce
Juice and zest of a lemon
2 teaspoons maple syrup
50 ml of olive oil
1 clove of crushed garlic
½ block of crumbled feta cheese
Hola! This is one of my favourite dishes ever.
I make it with a lower ratio of rice to seafood so it’s mostly seafood, which makes it more delicious and healthier. My version is created with all the amazing moorish flavours that are really special as I combined all the best bits from each Spanish recipe I could find and reworked it and it is really simple to make and only needs one pan. My friends think it is the best paella they’ve ever had, partly because the seafood is steamed on the rice for the last ten minutes so it’s tender and not dried out and over cooked. If you are feeding more people just double or triple the quantities, as needed. Just make sure you use a big enough pan.
This genius Italian condiment of parsley, lemon zest and garlic is sprinkled on meat, traditionally Osso Buco, fish and vegetables after they have been cooked. It can turn even bland food into a thing of wonder. You can even scatter it over pasta, with olive oil and Parmesan or chuck it over a salad. Great if you are cutting back on salt too.
Makes half a cup.
Ingredients:
1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley, washed and dried
Zest of 2 lemons
1-2 cloves of garlic
Really delicious coconut cakes that taste fab even though they are dairy free. Ralph thinks they are incredibly delicious, and he knows his cake.
Makes 12.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup light olive oil
2 medium eggs or egg replacer (instructions on box)
2/3 cup of soya milk (I use Bonsoy) or coconut milk
1 cup of caster sugar
2 cups self-raising flour or self-raising gluten free flour
Pinch of salt
Cupcake cases
Icing
1/3 cup desiccated coconut toasted
2 tablespoons lemon juice mixed with 2 tablespoons of water (it might need more)
2 – 3 cups of icing sugar (it depends on the weather)
Coconut chips toasted (optional)
Yes I am obsessed with carrots. Here’s another carrot salad recipe, just in case you are also a carrot person. Fragrant, fresh and delicious, this salad will transport you straight to Marrakesh
Serves 4 as a starter.
Ingredients:
500g carrots, peeled and grated
2 large juicy oranges or 4 clementines
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons of orange flower water
Juice of 1 orange
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
