Chicken Satay Salad - a long way from ordinary!

We're currently going through something of a heatwave here in the U.K. - June 2017 - and salads are definitely in. However, because I wanted to try and make salad eating something good as opposed to something yawn-inducing (oh come on, you know it can be!), I've been experimenting with some rather out of the box kinds of salads and this one is by far the best we've tried (so far!).

The original inspiration came from the good old BBC Good Food website, as very often happens.  Their version of the salad can be found here and from that you'll be able to see that I've added a little and taken away a little from the original, but it is still very close.  

Yes, it requires a little bit of work before time with marinating the chicken but I also recommend that you wash your lettuce and put it in an inflated freezer bag in the fridge to crisp up.  Doing this makes all the difference to a crisp, crunchy salad.

When you get down to preparing dinner, it really is just a matter of chopping and building the salad, then spending a moment or two grilling the chicken, slicing, garnishing and hey presto - dinner is on the plate.  It really is as easy as that.

I've divided the recipe up into three sections, to make it easier to see what should be used for what.  I hope that proves helpful.

As for Cook's Tips, the only recommendation I have for you is that you chop up the salad before cooking the chicken.  You can always put the salad back into the fridge while the chicken is cooking, so as to keep everything fresh and crunchy.  Then, once the chicken is done it can rest and cool a little while you quickly plate up the salad items.

I can see that this is going to be a regular fall-back salad for blisteringly hot days.  My menfolk thought it was delicious and professed themselves keen to see it again very soon!

CHICKEN SATAY SALAD   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

For the chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder of your choice (I used a medium)
half a tsp of ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2 tsp runny honey.

For the sauce

1.5 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, it's up to you, but a sugar free version is good)
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
juice of 1 lime
cold water, as required.

For the salad

a selection of salad leaves (I used Romaine and Iceberg lettuces)
a large vine tomato, halved and sliced
cucumber, sliced thickly and halved (two slices/four halves per person)
small seedless green grapes (5-6 per person)
half a red onion, sliced finely
cooked beetroot wedges (four per person)
mustard & cress
fresh parsley, chopped
3 tbsp dry roasted peanuts.

Method :

At least one hour before you are due to begin cooking, marinate the chicken.

Place the soy sauce, curry powder, cumin, garlic and honey into a large bowl and mix well.

Taking each chicken breast, run your knife horizontally through from the thickest end to the thinnest, creating two thin fillets.  Plate the fillets into the marinade and stir well, to ensure every little bit is coated.  Cover with cling film and refrigerate until required.

When it is time to cook, begin by mixing up the satay sauce.  In a medium sized bowl, add the peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice and stir together.  Continue to stir, adding small amounts of cold water, until you have a dropping consistency.  Set aside.

Next, build each salad onto the plate starting with the salad leaves.  Create a small mound of these in the centre of the plate.

Divide the slices of tomato between the three plates, placing the tomato around the outside of the leaves.

Dot the salad leaves with cucumber half slices, then the grapes, then sprinkle the red onion over.

Add the beetroot wedges to the side of the plate.

Sprinkle everything with the mustard & cress.

Next, lay each fillet of chicken onto a foil lined baking sheet and cook under a hot grill (or broiler, if you're in the USA) until just cooked.  Turn the chicken over and cook the other side the same way.  This should only take 6-7 minutes each side.  Check the chicken is cooked through, by cutting into the thickest part and if you can see any sign of pinkness in the juices, put it back under the grill until the pinkness is gone.

Slice the chicken and lay it on top of the salad, while the chicken is still warm.

Drizzle spoonfuls of the satay sauce over the chicken and into the salad - be generous, as the sauce is divine.  

Garnish with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and the dry roasted peanuts.

Settle down somewhere cool - and tuck in!

Printable version

Aubergine and cherry tomato tart

I know!  It's that rare beast, a vegetarian recipe on Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger.

I do try to include the odd vegetarian recipe from time to time, it's just that the carnivore in me often gets the better of it and I wind up throwing in something meaty at the last minute.  I'll try to do better, honest!

Well, this tart definitely qualifies as vegetarian - you could even use vegetarian parmesan cheese, if you so wanted.  If you choose Jus-Rol puff pastry, you'll find it is Vegetarian Society approved and even suitable for vegans!  So I think we can safely say that this is very definitely a recipe that is vegetarian friendly.  Hurrah!

I can't remember where I saw the thing that gave me the inspiration for this tart, except I saw an article somewhere online about char grilling sliced aubergines - and the photograph accompanying it showed lines of aubergine slices laid down slightly overlapping each other and I thought "that looks like they're on a tart".  Oooooh!  That would be good!  What could I put it with?  And that was how it happened.

I came up with the cherry tomato idea before the pesto, in fact.  I knew that cherry tomatoes - particularly the Aramatico type that are available at the moment - would be a lovely counterpoint to the relatively bland but smoky aubergine.  What it needed, though, was something to provide a basic, underlying flavour that the vegetables could ride upon.  Cream cheese seemed too rich, although I liked the cheese idea.

I didn't want anything too squishy, as the aubergine would be doing a good enough job there without any help.  Equally, I didn't want anything too overpowering - like chilli.  I gave some serious consideration to red onion marmalade, but rejected it on account of the sweetness.  I began going through what I had in the fridge - and hit upon the pesto.  That gave the herbiness that would provide good depth to the flavour, with a little bit of cheese influence too.  It was strongly flavoured, but you wouldn't need to use too much so it wouldn't be too squishy and compromise the crispiness of the tart base.  Perfect!  I then hit upon the ruse of adding some grated parmesan to the tart while it was still hot from the oven - and the recipe was born.

It received a mixed reaction from the assembled throng, in that I loved it and consider it to be one of the best tarts I've come up with to date.  Hubby liked it - but was disappointed that, to his taste buds, the pesto overpowered the aubergine.  Son & heir hated it because he finds aubergine too much of a challenge and isn't keen on cooked tomatoes at the best of times.  Hey ho!

I really enjoyed the contrast between the sweet acidity of the cherry tomatoes against the creamy blandness of the aubergine and had no difficulty picking the aubergine flavour out of the whole melange.  I felt that the pesto gave everything a good base flavour that didn't interfere and the parmesan on top added that salty bite that brought the thing alive.  The whole tart was just bursting with umami - that elusive flavour profile that can be so hard to find, but when you do, it's worthwhile hanging onto!  

The textures were great, with the crisp lightness of the pastry, the soft aubergine and crunchy grated parmesan.  I had a piece cold the following day for lunch and it was just as good, hence it is here on the blog for you to try.  I suspect it will get mixed reactions, but you'll know what your family like - so bear that in mind when deciding whether to try it.

I'm not so sure that this one is either teenager or child friendly either, but as I say, you'll know your family's tastes better than I ever will.

I served our tart with a mixed salad including feta cheese and green olives, which made hubby happy and a potato salad made using Cornish crystal new potatoes.  Well, I loved it - and I hope you do, too.


AUBERGINE & CHERRY TOMATO TART   (serves 6)

Ingredients :

2 smallish aubergines (eggplant, to those of you from over the water!)
3 tbsp oil (I used a combination of sunflower and rapeseed)
1 x  320g roll of puff pastry
1 tsp of green pesto
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese.

Method :

1.  Slice both aubergines into small slices (approx 5mm or thereabouts) across the round, rather than along the length.  Keep the slices in piles so as to prevent oxidisation (discolouration, in other words) and brush the top slice of each pile with a little oil, which also prevents oxidisation.

2.  Heat a griddle pan, or failing that a plain old frying pan or even a barbecue, until blisteringly hot and lay as many slices as will fit, oil side down, onto the pan.  Lightly brush the top sides with a little oil, ready to be turned.

3.  Once the underside is either charred or browned (depending on which pan you use), flip them over and repeat on the other side.

4.  Remove to a large plate and lay each slice slightly overlapping the next, around the plate so that they have a chance to cool.

5.  Repeat until all the aubergine slices have been used.

6.  Place the empty pan in a safe place to cool down!  You won't need it again.

7.  Line your baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper, or non-stick tin foil, or just plain use a non-stick baking tray.  Lay the sheet of puff pastry down flat upon it and, with a sharp knife, draw a line - not piercing through the pastry - around the rectangle to define where the crust will be.

8.  Spread the inside of the rectangle with the pesto, making sure to spread it thinly or you won't taste the aubergine.

9.  Place slices of aubergine in an attractive display onto the top of the pesto.  I used three lines of slightly overlapping slices.

10.  Sprinkle the cherry tomato halves over randomly, but making sure they are evenly distributed.

11.  Season well with sea salt and black pepper, then place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/gas 4 for around 25-30 minutes.

12.  As soon as the pastry is golden and risen around the edges, remove the tart from the oven and sprinkle the parmesan over the top so as to allow it both the heat and the time to wilt a little prior to serving. 

Serve warm, not hot, with a mixed salad.

Printable version

Smoky Chicken with warm corn & potato salad

This is one of those "disgustingly good for you" recipes that I was talking to Marcus about in the previous post's comments.

However, not only is it disgustingly good for you, it is quite simply delicious.

The original recipe (from a BBC Good Food Magazine, but you can see it on the website as well) states that per portion, this meal is only 343 calories.  Now add a little extra for the salad leaves that I included to make it a bit more of a main course and less of a lunch and it is still extraordinarily healthy.

It is a funny thing, but up until very recently I really didn't like smoked paprika very much at all.  Then, after a period of not having the "good stuff" and making do with a lesser grade of smoked paprika, we got a tin of the proper thing again - and bingo! I like it.  Weird.

However, for this recipe, it stated that sweet smoked paprika was required.  Well we couldn't find any of that for love nor money around here, so I improvised by using a half a teaspoon of the hot smoked and half a teaspoon of just plain paprika.  It tasted fabulous, so obviously worked fine!

Have I told you, recently, how much I love this griddle pan?

Another area where I made a change to the original recipe was in its use of olive oil.  It stated to use just "olive oil", but I felt that a distinction between plain old olive oil (suitable for frying etc.) and extra virgin olive oil (better for salad dressings, as it has a much better flavour) would be a help.  So I used plain old olive oil for the chicken coating, as it is cheaper and more suited to being used in a hot environment.  The more expensive extra virgin olive oil, I saved for the salad dressing.

The Jersey Royals were just perfect for this salad.  Unfortunately, I had to quarter them in most cases as they were so big.  However, this didn't seem to make any difference and the flavour appeared to be just the same.  I only wish I'd have thought to add a little sprig of mint in the cooking water!

Considering how simple the ingredients and their cooking methods are, this is a quite outstanding dish both for flavour and appearance.  I was extremely pleased by how it looked on the plate - and it certainly made son & heir's eyebrows disappear into his hairline, which I can only think was a good thing.  He ate everything except the salad leaves which took dire threats of no ice cream for dessert to make disappear - but then, we can put that down to his natural resistance to anything green, rather than the flavour!

For anyone looking for an extra-light meal that delivers on just about every front possible, this is definitely a winner.

SMOKY CHICKEN WITH WARM CORN & POTATO SALAD  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

Enough Jersey Royal potatoes for 3 people (I quartered mine, as they were so big)
2 large Corn on the cob
a mint sprig (optional - to go in the cooking water)
a small red onion, thinly sliced
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped finely
half a tsp hot smoked paprika
half a tsp paprika
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, each cut through to make two thin escalopes
small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
salad leaves (I used spinach, watercress & rocket).

Method :

1.  Bring to the boil a saucepan of salted water big enough to hold all the potatoes and corn.

2.  While you wait for the water to boil, in a salad bowl mix together the red onion with the lime juice and the extra virgin olive oil.

3.  In a smaller bowl, mix the plain olive oil with the garlic, paprika and some seasoning.  Add the chicken and stir until each piece of chicken is completely coated in the mixture.

4.  Add the potatoes and corn cobs to the boiling water and cook until both are tender, making sure that the potatoes are cooked all the way through.  Drain well and keep warm.

5.  Heat a griddle pan and griddle each piece of chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side, until cooked through.  You will probably need to do this in batches, to save overcrowding the pan, which will cool it too much and result in your chicken braising instead of griddling.

6.  Once the chicken is done, add the potatoes to the bowl with the onions.  Take the corn cobs and cut the niblets off them by standing each cob on its thick end and running a sharp knife down from top to bottom.  Add the corn to the potatoes.  

7.  Add the chopped coriander to the corn, along with a little seasoning, and stir through gently, so as not to break up the potatoes.

8.  Serve the potato mixture on top of a bed of salad leaves, placing the chicken pieces on top of the lot.

Printable version
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King Prawn Frittata

Isn't it pretty?

There we were, on Monday afternoon, pondering what we could have for Tuesday's "Pizza day".  Son & heir will be happy busily working his way through a pizza, which leaves us room to make and have something that is likely to make his hair stand on end in horror, should he find it on his plate.

We were both trying to think along the lines of "what would be good for Jenny's Anti-inflammatory diet", which rules out the likes of pasta, potatoes and bread.  Some cheese is good, some cheese is bad, likewise for meat.  Beef & fish (especially oily fish) are good, chicken is not so good.

How the thought process goes, is that we focus in on what we "feel like" - what we're hankering towards at the time.  We were both agreed on fish - and I suddenly remembered the King Prawns that we'd used in a risotto recently.

Well, that got hubby's brainbox going and before you could say "Frittata" (or "Fritatatatatatatata", as it has become known), he'd thought up the most delightful recipe.

We mused over the inclusion of chicken along with the prawns (after the style of a Paella), but threw that idea out in the end as being just a bit too confused.

We also pondered on using tomato along with the red pepper, but that got ditched because raw tomato isn't good from an anti-inflammatory point of view - and these tomatoes would be cooked lightly.  However, do experiment with tomato if you feel like it - I'm quite sure some halved or quartered cherry tomatoes would be lovely included in the mix.

We used just ordinary free-range hen's eggs, but if you were wanting to pimp your Frittata for guests, I can recommend using the lovely Burford Brown hen's eggs.  The colour is amazing in these eggs and would look terrific against all the beautiful colours of the Frittata.

Hubby served the Frittata alongside a few of the leftover watercress & spinach leaves, dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette and with some gorgeous mozzarella (a good cheese for the A-I diet) torn over the top.  So simple, yet quite amazingly good for you.

KING PRAWN FRITTATA  (serves 3)

Ingredients :


10 spears of asparagus cut into 1cm lengths
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled & roughly diced
1 red pepper cut into 1cm diamonds
1 rasher streaky bacon sliced very finely
3 large mushrooms, diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
250g King Prawns, bisected lengthways (reserving 6 prawns for garnish)
100g frozen peas, defrosted
4 large or 5 medium eggs
1 tbsp milk
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

a small handful of baby spinach, rocket and watercress.

Method :

1.  In a small pan, blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water for 3 minutes before refreshing in a bowl of iced water.  Set aside.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a large flat bottomed frying pan and gently cook the onion, red pepper and bacon until soft.  Add the mushrooms and cook until tender.  Stir in the smoked paprika and allow to cook out before adding the sliced prawns, asparagus and peas.

3.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and the milk together, with some seasoning.

4.  Turn the heat under the frying pan to maximum, before adding the beaten eggs and sprinkling with the green leaves.  Fry for two or three minutes before placing the frying pan under a hot grill to cook the top of the fritata.

5.  Remove from the grill once the surface of the fritata is golden and bubbling.  Use a small knife to open the centre of the fritata to check that no liquid egg remains.  If so, then return to the grill for 30 seconds or so until soft, but not liquid.

6.  Transfer from the pan onto a chopping board and cut into wedges.

7.  Serve with a mixed green salad with torn mozzarella pieces and a balsamic vinaigrette.

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Peppered Mackerel with Sweetfire® Beetroot Couscous and horseradish cream

On to my next - and just as successful, but in a very different way - beetroot concoction for the "So you think you know beetroot" challenge.

This time, I wanted to use the Sweetfire® baby beetroot.  These adorable little baby beets have been infused with a chilli marinade and are just the most delectable mouthful.

So I began pondering on what would go with the chilli effect of the beetroot, not to mention the beetroot itself.  Here’s how the thought processes went :

Initially, my thoughts travelled down the “one leaf of Little Gem, filled with chopped beetroot with horseradish cream and with some smoked salmon on top” avenue, only to wonder how that could be translated into a full-size main course dinner.

Financially, smoked salmon for dinner was out, so I went sideways and wound up with peppered smoked mackerel.

In order to make it more of a main course, I jettisoned the lettuce leaves and pondered on carbohydrates.  So many forms of carbohydrate – pasta, potato and bread – just didn’t fit.  Then I remembered couscous.

So, I had couscous, with quartered baby beetroot.  Needs something to cool that chilli – aha!  Cucumber, peeled and de-seeded.  Couscous needs strong flavourings, so what about herbs?  What would go with mackerel and beetroot?  Fish always likes dill, so we’ll have some of that.  What about something else, to balance the earthiness?  Parsley, in this connection, would be a bit dull.  Hmmn .. how about mint?  Yes, mint!  Goes well with fish and cucumber and won’t fight with either the dill or the beetroot.  Maybe some red onion, to provide a sweet savouriness and lemon juice for balance.

One problem – I’ve not included the horseradish.  Hmmn, ponder ponder.  Well, I’ve got smoked fish and couscous but nothing particularly juicy or dressing-like.  Horseradish sauce alone is too strong.  How about if I were to let it down with a little Greek yoghurt?  Yes!  Then it would go not only with the fish, but also as a little dressing for the couscous – but not over the couscous, just by the side with some salad leaves.

Done!

In this way, the Peppered Mackerel with Sweetfire® Couscous and horseradish cream, was born.  We ate it for dinner on Tuesday last and it was utterly scrumptious.  It would work with just ordinary beetroot in natural juice too – just add a pinch of chilli flakes!

Hubby reckons he has never had a nicer accompaniment to Smoked Peppered Mackerel and I think he's got a point, there.

Everything was just perfect.  The oiliness of the mackerel was cut through by the chilli and lemon juice.  The flavours were enhanced by the horseradish.  The herbs provided the depth of flavour and the mint danced across your tongue.  If anything, the cucumber and dill took something of a back seat, however, I'm quite sure that without them the cooling elements of the couscous would be compromised and you'd sure notice that they weren't there - even if you didn't notice particularly, that they were!

Now, I've just got to prepare myself for a visit to Tesco or Waitrose in order to source some more Sweetfire® Beetroot and reproduce the recipe.  Get the blinkers out!

PEPPERED MACKEREL WITH SWEETFIRE® BEETROOT COUSCOUS & HORSERADISH CREAM  (serves 2)

Ingredients :

150g couscous

150ml vegetable stock

3 tbsp low fat greek yoghurt (I used 2% Total)

2 tsp horseradish sauce

210g pack Sweetfire® baby beetroot, cut into quarters or small dice

2 inch piece of cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and diced small

20g fresh dill, chopped

20g fresh mint, sliced gently into small pieces

small red onion, finely chopped

1 lemon, juiced

2 tbsp olive oil

250g pack peppered smoked mackerel fillets.

Method :

1.  Put the couscous into a large bowl, pour over the boiling vegetable stock, give a quick stir and cover with cling film.  Set aside for 10 minutes in a cool place, to encourage it to cool.

2.  Mix the horseradish sauce into the greek yoghurt and taste for seasoning.

3.  When the couscous has absorbed all the stock, uncover, give it a good fluff up with a fork and leave to cool.

4.  Once the couscous is cool, add the cucumber, herbs, onion, lemon juice and oil and toss well to ensure everything is mixed through.

5.  As the last thing, and to prevent the beetroot colouring the entire bowl of couscous, add the chopped beetroot and give a quick stir through.

6.  Serve by placing the couscous onto the plate, followed by the flaked smoked peppered mackerel and a dollop of the horseradish cream.  I also served some salad leaves.

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A Beetroot health fact!

Research has shown that beetroot can help reduce blood pressure as well as its associated risks such as heart attacks and strokes. This is because the high content of nitrates in beetroot produce a gas called nitric oxide in the blood which widens blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. A daily dose of 250ml of beetroot juice or 1 to 2 cooked beetroot (approx. 100g) can help dramatically reduce blood pressure and its associated risks.

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