Carrot, Radish and Spinach Salad
You don’t mix this, so simply arrange the ingredients in rows upon a serving platter.
Ingredients for Two Servings
2 medium sized carrots, topped, tailed, peeled and coarsely grated.
4 large radishes, peeled to leave only the white part, grated.
1 bunch spinach, carefully washed, patted dry, stalks and choggy bits removed, then very thinly sliced.
Method
- Arrange the carrots, radishes and spinach in an artistic fashion on a platter.
- Serve separately from a good French dressing of: 3 tbsp lemon juice; 3 tbsp white wine vinegar; 2 tbsp Dijon (or similar) mustard; 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or sunflower oil if you prefer a lighter flavour.
Ingredients for Six Servings:
4 – 6 medium tomatoes, vine or plum for preference.
Half a cucumber, washed but not peeled, and chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
Half a medium red onion, finely chopped
2 400 g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp fresh taragon finely chopped
2 – 3 sprigs of basil finely chopped
3 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
About 15 strands of chives
2 tablespoons hummus (available in jars from most supermarkets and Delis)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Place the chopped or diced vegetables, chickpeas, and herbs in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients to form the dressing.
- Pour the dressing over the veggie mixture, stir, and enjoy!
This is a very versatile salad, so change the herbs if you like others
better or switch the beans to ones you prefer. Lots of similar salads can be whipped up from what’s in your fridge, pantry or store cupboard.
Yogurt and Cucumber (“Tsatsiki”)
Fresh Mint is a great ingredient of many summer salads, dressings and cooked dishes.
Simple, cooling, and healthy, this Greek dish is lovely alongside a fillet of white fish, or with griddled Pitta bread.
Ingredients for Four Servings
One 200g pot of Greek Style Yogurt
Piece of cucumber, about 10 cms (4”) long
About 12 chives, chopped
Hint of garlic (rub a peeled clover around the serving dish or add a pinch or two of powdered garlic when you mix the ingredients)
3 good sprigs of mint, chopped quite finely
Salt and Pepper
Method
1. Wash the cucumber but do not peel.
2. Cut in four length-ways and chop into tiny pieces
3. Put all ingredients into a bowl and gently mix
4. Chill for an hour, then serve.
Greek Salad
This is another dish where you can vary the ingredients. The basic ones are:
Tomatoes (one medium one per person)
Cucumber (around 10 cms / 4” for four persons
Some lettuce heart and/or finely sliced cabbage
One medium onion for 4 servings
Then you may add any of the following:
Feta Cheese
Hard Boiled Egg
Black Olives
Chopped cooked potato
Dressing When I encountered this salad at a taverna some years ago, I asked the chef how he made his dressing. “Olive oil, salt and pepper”, he replied. “No lemon or vinegar?” I asked. “No”, he said, “The tomatoes provide enough acid”. Good idea now and again – and all the better for the taste of the wine you’re having!
Salade Tiède
“Salade Tiède” (more-or-less pronounced “tee-ed”) sounds rather posh when you see it on a restaurant menu. Google “Tiède”, or look it up in a dictionary and you will see it means lukewarm, soft, mild or tepid. Fancy a “Tepid Salad”? Not really. Actually it shows the influence the French have over our cooking – their language often sounds better than ours when describing food. I wonder if smart eateries in France offer the English speciality “Le Lukewarm Salad”?
A Salade Tiède can be very enjoyable. It’s really a mix of some cold and some warm ingredients. There are countless ways to do this, using little pieces of meat, chicken or fish. One frequently found is a salad in which tiny pieces of bread are fried (“Croutons”), added last as a topping. Little pieces of bacon can be used, too. My simple recipe uses both.
Ingredients for four servings as a starter or two as a main course.
2 medium sized ripe tomatoes, skins and seeds removed
Piece of cucumber (4” in length)
2 – 3 salad onions, or one smallish ordinary onion
A chunk of lettuce (or half of Little Gem)
1 cup of cooked and cooled broad beans
Croutons made from one slice of bread
3 rashers of streaky bacon or 75 g of lardons
1 tsp wine vinegar
Half tsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Method
- Cut bacon rashers lengthways in two and then slice each half into little pieces.
- Cut slice of bread into tiny squares (about 36)
- Put a little olive or sunflower oil into frying pan and heat
- Put in the bacon and gently fry, stirring regular until the edges are quite golden and crispy. Remove from pan leaving as much of the fat as possible.
- Now fry the little bread pieces, adding a little more oil if necessary. Stir regularly so that they are brown and crisp all over. Remove and let cool.
- Slice the skinned and seeded tomato into little slivers. Peel and slice the cucumber. Slice the lettuce into slivers. Slice the onions. Put them all into a salad bowl.
- Sprinkle over the sugar and vinegar, add salt and pepper, plus a teaspoon or so of salad oil, and toss. NOTE: this recipe needs only a tiny bit of dressing.
- Distribute the bacon and croutons over the salad and take to the table.
- Mix everything together and serve at once (so your Croutons don’t go soggy!)
Fattoush
Salad with Halloumi Cheese
This is a Middle Eastern variation on Salade Tiède, but using Pitta bread and a few more Mediterranean ingredients. To make more of a meal of it, two or three slices of griddled Halloumi cheese per person added just as you serve is great.
Ingredients (for 4-6 servings)
1 piece of pitta bread
The inside leaves of a lettuce
4-5 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned
1 bunch of spring onions
1 small green or red pepper
4” piece of cucumber
1 tablespoon mint, 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
4 tablespoons salad oil
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 crushed garlic clove
Salt and pepper
Method
1. Toast or oven-bake the bread until it is dry but not too crisp. Cut or break into small pieces or strips – this is the healthier way: otherwise open the pitta and cut into little slivers around 3 cms long and fry until light golden crisp.
2. Shred the lettuce into very fine strips
3. De-seed and slice pepper very, very thinly
4. Trim and finely slice spring onions.
5. Remove skins and chop tomatoes and cucumber.
6. Put all ingredients except the bread into a salad bowl, mix and season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Just before serving, add the bread.
Hommous
Essentially Mediterranean, essentially warm-weather, this makes a good starter, a buffet dish or even light lunch. A positively super-dip you can buy ready-made if you like, but as with so many things, home-made is better, because you can balance the ingredients to your taste. There’s good fibre in hommous, as well as nourishing vegetable protein. I love plenty the garlic and lemon flavours….
Ingredients
1 400 g can or jar of Chick Peas
2 tbsp of Tahini paste
2-3 medium-sized cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon (more if you like)
2 tbsp of sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
Method
1. Drain the liquid from the chick peas and set aside.
- Put the chick peas in your food processor/blender. Add the tahini, garlic cloves, lemon juice and sunflower oil, and blend.
- Season to taste and add as much of the chick pea liquid as you want to produce a creamy, not-too-runny ‘dip’.
- Spoon into a small bowl, drizzle a little olive oil around the edge, sprinkle a little chilli pepper or paprika over the top, add a sprig of flat leaf parsley and serve, shouting “Fad-al!” (which is Arabic for “There you go”.
Dried chick peas need a good soak and a long cook, but if you do use the dried variety remember they never actually get totally soft, no matter how long you cook them. I use canned or bottled, because the liquid greatly helps the flavour of the dish.
As a snack or light meal, serve with a Greek salad and griddled pitta bread with a glass or two of a chilled Sauvignon Blanc.
