Recipe | Fried Polenta Garden Salad

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal/polenta

160ml milk

2 cups water

salt

olive oil

mixed salad leaves 

cherry tomatoes, halved

cucumber

kalamata olives

Dressing

1tbsp aioli 

1tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt

1tsp seeded mustard

juice of 1 lemon

Heat the milk and water over a medium heat in large sauce pan with a generous pinch of salt. Pour the polenta in a constant stream whilst stirring with a whisk. Continue to whisk the polenta for about 10-15 minutes until cooked and is a thick porridge like consistency. 

In a prepared tray, I used a cake tin for lack of anything else, pour in polenta and chill, covered, until set. 

Once set, remove polenta from pan (it should just ease out) and cut into bite-sized cubes. 

Heat olive oil, about a tablespoon, over a medium to high heat in a frypan. Place polenta cubes in the frypan leaving enough space between for your to turn them over. Turn and cook all sides of the cube until crispy like a chip. Once cooked, place km some paper towel to drain some of the oil off them. 

I didn't cook all of mine at once because they're very filling so I left them in the fridge and cooked them later. 

In a jar, shake all of the dressing ingredients together. Pour over tossed salad leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, olives and fried polenta bites. Season with some salt, pepper and more olive oil. 

This is just a super simple use of delicious fried polenta but there are many more. I'm working a nice recipe for cheese based sauce but I'll let you know if I ever get there. 

Enjoy! 

Erin xx

Recipe | Freekeh Greek Salad

Recently, I had freekeh pointed out to me in the health food isle (thank you, Adrienne) and couldn't stop pondering what it was like. To be honest it wasn't the most excited food I've ever tried but grain alternatives are always nice to discover. It has a texture very similar that of a brown rice-quinoa hybrid. As usual, my salad recipes are super easy to interchange with your favourite ingredients. I was aiming for a slightly Greek inspired dish but feel free to make this dish vegetarian or vegan if you like by omitting the fish and cheese. 

Ingredients

1 cup freekeh

4 small tomatoes, diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

400g rocket

1 capsicum, diced

2tbsp olives, halves

400g tin tuna in spring water, broken up into chunks

200g feta cheese, broken up into chunks

1 lime, juiced

sea salt and cracked pepper

Cook the freekeh according the instructions on the packet. Mine involved cooking 1 cup of freekeh in 2 cups of water covered for about 25 minutes, until all of the water had been absorbed. 

Meanwhile, place tomatoes, cucumber, rocket and  capsicum in a large bowl and toss together. Follow with olives, tuna and feta cheese. Toss salad again.

Add cooked freekeh, lime and seasoning. Combine ingredients and serve. 

I actually didn't eat any of this at the time of making it and put it into containers for my weeks lunches. It keeps really well in the fridge for 4-5 days after making. 

Happy eating!

Erin xx

Recipe | Broccoli & Bacon Salad

 Hi lovelies! Now I may not have mentioned it before on the blog, but I am a broccoli nut. I cannot get enough of the stuff and a favourite snack of mine is a whole bowl of steamed broccoli with oyster sauce. I wanted to spruce up my usual snack and turn it into more of a lunch time salad. To be honest you can't really go wrong when bacon and pesto are involved. 

Recipe | Warm Chicken Pesto Salad

Hi lovelies! Sorry it's been awhile in between posts. I've been moving house and have been internetless. I made this salad for dinner a couple of nights back and it was a really tasty, fresh and satisfying feed. Thought I'd post it up because I tend to prefer salads in the warmer weather. 

Sweet Potato, Prosciutto and Quinoa Salad

It's been a while since I brought you all a new recipe, and well this isn't new but it's my own variation on what is quickly becoming a very popular grain. Quinoa (pronounced anyway you feel like it) is one of my favourite things to eat. Never having been a big fan of couscous, simply because it's too easy to make a mess, quinoa has filled that gap in my life. It used to be quite expensive and only available at heath food stores but it has made quite a headway in the market in recent years. You caaaan find it in normal grocery stores now but it is more likely to be cheaper, and probably better, from a health food store. It really depends where you live as to what your supermarkets stock. 

Anyway, here is my most recent salad creation with the delicious quinoa. 

Serves 2-3 people for lunch

Ingredients

2/3cup quinoa

1 1/3 cup water

1 lebanese cucumber, finely diced

1 tomato, finely diced

1 red chilli (as hot or mild as you like), chopped roughly with out without seeds

3 shallots, finely chopped

1/2 sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces and roasted (can be done anytime before)

250g prosciutto, chopped and briefly warmed in a frying pan

Dressing

1/4 cup tahini

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper

water to thin mixture

Mango, Chicken and Chorizo Salad

A while ago, a good friend of mine served me a delicious salad featuring mango, walnuts and avocado. I don't normally fancy fruit with savoury dishes but this was an eye opener. Since then (which, admittedly, was ages ago) I have been aching to try this recipe. 

Serves 5

Ingredients 

1 - 2 large handfuls of rocket
1 - 2 mangoes, diced 

1 bunch of spring onions, chopped

2 chicken breasts

extra virgin olive oil

2 chorizo sausages, finely sliced

1 red and 1 green capsicum, sliced

1 handful of snow peas or snap peas 

1 handful of mint and coriander combined 

Dressing

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

juice of 1 lime

To get it out of the way, and to give it time to cool slightly, grill the chicken nice and slowly. While its cooking you can prepare your other ingredients. Don't forget to keep an eye on it though and turn it over as to prevent it burning. Place the rocket and spring onions in the bowl you want to serve the salad in (or just a large mixing bowl if you're going for individual servings).  When your chicken is ready, take it off the heat and set it aside to cool.

Sauté the chopped chorizo, capsicum and snow peas in a saucepan until all the ingredients are cooked - the vegetables should be beginning to bruise and wilt, and the chorizo slightly golden. While these are cooking you can begin to shred the chicken into bite-size strips and drizzle with olive oil. 

Put the lime juice and sweet chilli sauce in a jar, shut the lid tight, and shake until combined. Feel free to add flavours to taste... I think mine could have done with a bit more sweet chilli. Lightly shred the coriander and mint (not too much though as you don't want to lose too much of their texture)

Toss all the ingredients (leaving out a few sprigs of the herbs) together thoroughly. If serving in a salad bowl, present with the herbs on top, or if serving individually, place a small sprig of each herb on each serving. Season with salt and pepper as you like. 

Just like my truffles from last Sunday, don't underestimate the potential of this salad. It serves about five people as a substantial meal. Its super light and perfect for a hot summer day when you're craving a warm meal thats not going to heat up your house or your body.

Enjoy

Erin xx

PS If you're wondering when I'm going to post an update on my retro DIY pieces from earlier, they are coming. My parents bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas AND my Granny is visiting so she is teaching me some neater and better finishing techniques. 

PPS Just getting in on Jess's 'PS' trend ;)