Peach, Cinnamon and Ginger Dressing

I don’t usually make oil free salad dressings but this one is wonderful sweet and fragrant, and goes particularly well with peppery rocket leaves.
You could use other fruits instead of peaches. The choices are endless and limited to your imagination. Apples, pears and cherries would work well. Try different varieties of spices, vinegars or sugars to complement your chosen fruit.
Store this dressing in a sterilized glass jar in the fridge. It should keep indefinitely.

Ingredients
2 yellow peaches, unpeeled and coarsely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
15g ginger, sliced into thin coins
100g brown sugar
125ml herb infused red wine vinegar (or just use plain red wine vinegar)

Method
Place all the ingredients including the peach stones into a small saucepan.
Bring very slowly to a simmer and cook for 15-20minutes.
Strain and store in a sterilized jar. Makes about 100ml.

Potato, Borlotti Bean and Red Pepper Salad

Here is another wonderful salad for the summer time. This one though is more substantial than yesterdays, and it contains two carbohydrates that I love- the waxy potato and the ever convenient borlotti bean (tinned of course), The red pepper gives this dish crunch and fragrance, while adding colour to an otherwise boring beige palette.
Serve this with a bloody steak (wagyu please).

Ingredients
400g tin Italian borlotti beans
200g waxy potato
1 red pepper, chopped
60ml extra virgin olive oil
15ml red wine vinegar (I infuse mine with rosemary and thyme)
1 tbsp very finely chopped onion
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Freshly chopped parsley

Method
Drain the beans in a colander and rinse under fresh water. Lay them out on a tea towel to dry.
Chop the potato into bite sized pieces. Steam them until cooked to your liking - I like mine a bit firm.
Allow the potato to cool a little.
Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, onion and seasoning. Pour over the still warm potato, beans and red pepper. I like to use my hands to gently combine, so the potato does not break.
Leave to marinate in the dressing until you are ready to eat.
At the last minute, add the parsley and check again for salt and pepper. Give everything a light mix to evenly distribute the dressing. This salad is best at room temperature. Serves 2-4 people

Harleygate

Oh my god! It was so hot last week, that I could barely think about food. Five days in a row of over 35c of suffocating heat, is getting a bit much for me. My solution to this food dilemma is to prepare salads for dinner. I am not really one to crave grilled vegetables and salads but in summer, the weather gets the better of me.
I am dedicating this salad to my “friend” Harley, thus naming it “Harleygate” Though, feel free to call it by what it really is-

White Zucchini, Walnut and Parmesan Salad.

Ingredients
4 white zucchini (use normal green zucchini, if unavailable)
50g roasted walnuts
About 6 handfuls of mixed salad leaves (rocket, baby spinach etc)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for grilling
2 tsp tarragon vinegar
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Parmesan cheese shavings (please use genuine Parmagiano-Reggiano)

Method
Slice your zucchini into 5mm lengths. You should get four from each zucchini. Place them in a large bowl and toss them with olive oil and salt.

Lay them onto a baking sheet and grill them under a high heat, until golden brown on both sides. Depending on the heat of the grill, they should take 5 to 10 minutes each side. Allow them to cool completely.
Whisk together the extra virgin oil, tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper.

Toss the leaves, zucchini, walnut pieces and tarragon dressing very gently but thoroughly in a large bowl. Check for salt and pepper.

Serve on a huge platter with the Parmesan shavings, sprinkled over the top.

Eat immediately. With bread only, this salad will serve 2.

If you wish to serve this as a first course, there is enough to serve 4

Beans & Artichokes

I hardly ever cook beans from scratch anymore. I find the soaking overnight and simmering for an hour thing a bit tedious, really. Why would you bother when the canned version is good? The following recipe I originally made cooking the beans and artichoke from scratch, only to discover that I had over cooked both. They were way too soft for what I had intended for. Running low on time, I rushed to the supermarket and bought canned substitutes of both ingredients, and surprisingly the result was very good. Normally I would not use canned artichokes, but they work here. Just make sure to purchase a good brand. The artichokes will need a bit of soaking in clean water to remove some of the acidulated brine. And once you add lemon juice to the final dish, you will barely notice any residual acid from their canning liquid. The first batch of beans and artichokes, I turned into a very tasty stew with the addition of duck sausage. Often mistakes in the kitchen can give rise to other ideas and delicious preparations.

Warm Borlotti with Artichokes, Olives and Rocket leaves

Ingredients
I brown onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 1cm pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
400g can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
400g can whole artichokes (plain)
12 black, chilli marinated olives
½ tsp finely chopped rosemary
A squeeze of lemon juice
Fresh black pepper
A large handful of wild rocket

Method
Drain the artichokes of their liquid. Place them in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Leave them like this for as long as you can, to leech out the acidic flavour.
Heat the oil in a wide pan and cook the onion, carrot and garlic over a low heat for 30 minutes, until softened and lightly golden.
Drain the artichokes, and halve them. Add them to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, tossing and warming them lightly.
Add the beans and olives, and warm through for about another 5 minutes. Allow to cool a little.
Finish with pepper, lemon juice and rosemary.
Finally toss with the rocket leaves and serve on a platter.
This dish is fabulous served at any temperature- hot, warm or cold and goes exceptionally well with roast lamb. Serves 4 easily, as a side dish.

Chicken & Prawn Salad

The following salad is an idea I borrowed from the late Elizabeth David. It is a perfect dish to have on balmy evenings with good, crusty bread. The addition of prawns and horseradish take this chicken salad to another dimension. The only ingredients I bothered to measure, are the main ones. That is equal quantities of chicken, prawns, mushrooms and potatoes-200g of each for 2 people. Being the purist that I am (in the kitchen, that is), I prepared all the cooked ingredients myself. I am sure you could do it with shop cooked chicken and deli marinated mushrooms. I wouldn’t by cooked prawns though- that’s a bit scary. And while on the subject of scary things, I would not use commercially prepared mayonnaise either. Make your own if you can. The homemade stuff is worlds away from the sweetened glue that is passed of as mayonnaise. But I will leave that up to you. I do realise most people would not be inclined.

Ingredients
Cooked chicken
Mushrooms, cooked or raw as you prefer
Cooked baby potatoes
Cos lettuce
Cooked prawns
Fresh parsley leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt
Fresh black pepper
Mayonnaise
Horseradish (I used jarred)

Method
Tear the chicken into chunks.
Put them into a bowl with the mushrooms, potatoes, and prawns.
Drizzle over some olive oil and seasoning. Cover and leave.
In the meantime take some mayonnaise (2 heaped tablespoons for 2 people ), and flavour with some horseradish. Thin it out with a bit of water to give it a pouring consistency. Spoon into a small serving dish and reserve.
When you are ready to eat toss the chicken and etcetera with the cos, parsley and lemon juice. If you add too much lemon, just correct it by adding more oil.
Serve on flat plates and drizzle with the horseradish dressing at the table, as you wish.

Asian Greens & Soy Dressing

This is a simple side dish and needs no introduction. I serve it ofteh with anything that is vaguely asian or with a grilled piece of meat. If you are pressed for time leave out the garlic/ginger part.

Ingredients
Asian Greens-as much as you like
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tiny clove of garlic,finely chopped
same amount of peeled ginger,finely chopped
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Chinese rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Method
Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl with a baby whisk. The dressing will taste too salty but will be fine when you combine it with the greens.
Allow the garlic and ginger to infuse the dressing for a few hours.
When you are ready to use strain the dressing through a sieve to catch all the raw garlic and ginger. Discard the garlic and ginger.Steam the greens in a bamboo steamer until cooked to your liking. I find bok choy takes 1 minute and Chinese broccoli 3 minutes.
Pour your dressing over the greens and pile attractively in a serving dish.

Salad & Strawberries for Spring

Borlotti and Prosciutto Salad
I don’t really think todays recipe requires a story. It is fairly straight forward. This is great for warm nights and doesn’t require any thing else on the side. Everything is already there in this salad- bread, vegetable and meat. As always, make sure to use good olive oil, real bread and nice wine vinegar. If the vinegar you have is harsh just add a bit of sugar to make the flavour more interesting. Enjoy!

Ingredients
6 baby onions, whole and unpeeled
1 tin Italian borlotti beans
10 large black olives
150g Italian style bread, crust removed
100g prosciutto, finely sliced
1 handful of rocket leaves
25 ml red wine vinegar
80ml extra virgin olive oil
2 little sprigs of rosemary, very finely chopped
Salt and fresh black pepper

Method
Turn the oven on to 220c.Roast the onions until they are charred and soft. Mine took 45 minutes. Allow them to cool and then peel.
Drain the beans and rinse them in a colander, under a tap. Tip them on to a clean teatowel and allow them to dry. The dressing will adhere better to dry beans, but if you are short on time you skip this part. Just put them in a bowl and proceed.
Whisk together the vinegar, oil, rosemary and seasoning. Set aside to allow the rosemary to permeate.
Now tear the bread into rough little chunks about the same size as the olives.
Put the beans, onions, olives and the bread into a bowl and toss with the dressing. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow the bread to absorb some of the dressing.
When you are ready to eat, add the rocket and prosciutto slices, season and give it a final toss.
Divide between 2 flat plates and eat. Fantastic!

Strawberries with Lemon marscapone cream

We have enjoyed this dessert 2 nights in a row now so, I shall present it here. This is just a variation of strawberries and cream but easier because there is no whipping required.

Ingredients
2 punnets of strawberries, washed and hulled
Sugar to taste
1 lemon
250g marcapone
3 tsp sugar
50ml of thickened cream

Method
Halve your strawberries (or quarter them if they are large). Put them into a bowl with some sugar, toss lightly and cover. Leave them to macerate at room temperature., until the sugar has melted and the juices are released..
In the meantime, remove the zest from the lemon. Use only the yellow part and chop it as finely as you can.
Mix together the marcapone, sugar, cream and zest. Place in the fridge.
When you are ready to eat, spritz the strawberries with a few drops of lemon juice and put into small bowls. Make sure you include the pink juice as well and top with the cream. Heavenly.