Lentil Salad with Basil and Lemon

Its Australia Day, and what is more Australian than lentils….well lots of stuff actually…but as you may be aware, I have been home from a cruise for less than a week, and talk about struggle with being home and getting back into the swing of it all! Can’t even bring myself to go to the shops, and so this was one of those; Must blog, have stuff in the cupboard, fridge that will do, and actually turned out quite delicious. So it is accompanying us to our BBQ and swim in a little while.

I wanted to add quinoa, but fresh out…need to order some from Honest to Goodness, as they stock an Aussie grown variety, that is nutty and delicious and un radiated….

So if you have it, add it…and actually, this lends itself to adding or subtracting just about anything that takes your fancy…Happy Straya day!

NEED:

200g lentils (I used green and red)

1200g water

Zest 1 lemon, finely grated

Juice 1 lemon

60-70g Fini EVOO plus some more as needed

Good pinch Murray River salt

1/4 red onion, diced

3 spring onions/shallots, sliced on the angle

1/2 red capsicum, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

Good handful basil leaves, shredded (any variety, I used Thai as I have a garden abundance at the moment, adding a nice anise flavour)

300g cabbage, red or green, shredded

Other salad greens of choice

pistachios, pepitas, sunflower seeds to taste

DO:

Place lentils into simmering basket and pour water over.

Cook 30 min/100ºC/speed 3. Remove lentils and place into insulated serving bowl with lemon zest, juice, EVOO and salt. Stir and cover to marinate whilst you prepare the rest of the salad.

Prep remaining ingredients as directed and place all in large bowl. Stir through lentils and add more oil or seasoning as needed. Serve warm or cold.

Chicken Mango and Noodle Salad

Perth has been having a mini heatwave…of sorts, and now it is all cloudy and threatening, but I do have the airconditioner in full swing. The first air conditioning day for the season in fact…here we go…summer is on its way!

So for a hot day, a quick and easy salad. Make the dressing. Chop the cabbage, fire up the barbie or the grill and dinner dilemma is solved…to everyones satisfaction I think.

Speaking of Dinner Dilemma’s being solved…VERY SOON…in my store (see tab above), I will have my first little self published project available for sale. Now let me just make a fuss…21 fabulous recipes, all main meals with lots of variety, whether you are carnivore or vegetarian, whether you enjoy Asian or Mexican food, spicy, salads, winter warmers, its a bit of a mixer and hopefully you will find that you have a new friend in the kitchen in this book. It is small enough to carry in your bag;  just call it a prehistoric app…bring it out at the shop to just check on a recipe ingredients and yes, dinner is sorted. It will be that easy…so hope to have a big SOLD OUT sign up really soon!

In the meantime, enjoy this…

NEED:
Dressing;

20g peeled ginger root

1 lemon grass stalk, white part only

1 kaffir lime leaf

1 red chili

2 cloves garlic

30g palm sugar

Pinch sea salt

40g fish sauce

100g lemon or lime juice, fresh

60-80g Fini EVOO

Handful fresh mint leaves

Salad;

One chicken breast fillet between 2 servings

1/2 Chinese cabbage

Few spinach leaves or other salad greens of choice

1-2 avocadoes

1-2 mangoes

1-2 pkts Changs fried noodles

DO:

Place all dressing ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend 10 sec/speed 7. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Place up to 400g of cabbage at a time into the Thermomix bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 4. Remove from bowl and place on serving platter. Repeat with remaining cabbage until all is chopped. Place a few baby spinach leaves or other greens on top.

Meanwhile heat a griddle pan over a high heat on Induction 12. Oil it and then cook each chicken breast, until well charred and marked. Turn heat down to medium heat, (Induction 6), cover and cook until cooked through completely. Rest chicken,  covered in pan with heat turned off.

Chop avocado and mango and toss through the dressing.

Slice chicken on the diagonal and arrange over bed of greens, top with avocado, mango and drizzle with dressing. Garnish with noodles and additional sliced red chilies.

Voila, Summer is Served!

Seeded Quinoa Salad

Okey Dokey, dear reader,

If you haven’t checked in on Cooking with Tenina on Facebook, there has never been a better time than now to join the ever growing band of followers who make my days all the brighter. We are running our first competition, and it is so fun! Click over to here to see some other entries, but briefly the story is as follows;

• You must post any picture with the words ‘I like Cooking with Tenina’ somewhere in the pic, onto the Facebook page. It can be Instagram, Picnik, iPhone or any other way that floats your boat.
• You then share that on your own Facebook wall and ask your friends to go and ‘like’ or comment on your picture on our wall @ Cooking with Tenina.
• The picture with the most ‘likes’ plus comments will win the prize pack which consists of an annual eSubscription to Trends Magazines as well as a very glamorous oven glove….total value of over $60! Not bad for starters…and yes folks, we are just getting started.

Now to the real reason you are here; To LIKE my healthy recipe….not often that I indulge in healthy recipes so frequently, but here I am dishing up another one! I am loving quinoa right now, it is filling, I know it is good for me, plus it is tasty and low carb…I eat it for breakfast, I now eat it for dinner in the form of this salad amongst others. There are many varieties available but this salad calls for white, red and black.Very pretty and so tasty, and did I mention, so low carb…it ticks all the boxes! You can really shake it up with as many options as you like, so it is widely adaptable to all tastes and palates…go ahead, you can quinoa!

NEED:

170g mixed coloured quinoa as desired, soaked in enough water to cover for minumum 30 minutes

Water for steaming

1 Lebanese cucumber, diced

1 red capsicum, diced

4 spring onion/shallots, sliced on the angle

100g dried cranberries

3 sticks celery, sliced

100g mixed toasted seeds, (I used sunflower, sesame, pepitas and linseed)

100g peanuts, roasted

Few Italian parsley leaves

Few handfuls mixed salad greens

Dressing;

1-2 cloves garlic (20g)

60g tamari or soy sauce

80g fresh lemon juice

100g EVOO

DO:

Drain quinoa and place into simmering basket. Fill Thermomix bowl to 1L mark with water and set basket into bowl.

Steam quinoa 15 min/100ºC/speed 2. Remove basket from bowl and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile prepare the rest of the salad by combining all remaining salad ingredients, except salad greens in large bowl.

Make dressing by placing all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blending 20 sec/speed 8.

Pour over prepared salad and add quinoa. Toss gently, arrange on top of bed of salad greens.

Garnish with additional seeds, nuts, spring onions etc.

This is fantastic with BBQed or roasted meat, as part of a buffet, or just as a light lunch with crusty bread. Enjoy….you can almost feel a rousing chorus of Kum Bah Ya coming on as you eat this oh-so-healthy veggie treat! Now go take that picture and get it up on the wall before Wednesday night 5pm WST….(that’s GMT + 8 )…and yes, I’ll mail it anywhere! Go on…channel your inner creative and show me what you can bring to this comp!

Well here I go again…the fruit in the salad routine! Can’t help it, just adds that piquancy that a salad needs. This salad is quick, to the point and totally great to increase or decrease to suit the numbers you are feeding. Add more spinach, avocado, prawns, peanuts, and/or pineapple to suit.

A great summer option, or as in this case, autumn (‘fall’ down under) option…we are still having 35°C (95°F) days here! Frankly I’m looking forward to a good ole rainy day and the chance to cook up a batch of soup or something, but in the meantime, this sort of food reminds me of why I love summer. My pic was compromised somewhat due to the earlier setting of the sun, (damn Thermomix office that holds me till all the good light has gone)! And of course I am off to Melbourne this week, of all weeks, for a food shoot on a work project with a proper stylist and photographer and everything, so this pic hardly sells me does it…oh so much to learn, and so excited to do so…I may never come back!

NEED:

Dressing;

3 cloves garlic

1/2 red onion

50g fish sauce

juice of 3-4 limes (50-60g)

40g EVOO

2 tbsp palm sugar

3 handfuls fresh mint leaves

few sprigs fresh coriander leaves

1 bunch chives thinly sliced

1 *roasted large red chili sliced thinly

Salad;

300g peanuts

500-600g forzen prawn cutlets (use fresh, but alter cooking time significantly!)

1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored and diced

1-2 large avocadoes peeled and diced

200g baby spinach

DO:

Make dressing by placing garlic, onion, fish sauce, lime juice, EVOO, palm sugar, mint and coriander into Thermomix bowl and blending for 15 seconds on speed 6.

Add chives and chilli and stir through for a few seconds on Reverse + speed 3. Set aside. (You can premake the dressing and allow flavours to blend for up to 24 hours prior to use. This dressing would also be excellent on other salads.)

Roast peanuts by placing nuts into 200°C oven and cooking for 10 minutes or until fragrant. Cool slightly.

Prepare prawns by placing into paper lined Combi Steam Oven tray, or Varoma tray and steaming for 15 minutes. (This time refers to frozen prawns, if using fresh you will need significantly less time.)

Gently toss all salad ingredients together with dressing and add a few extra coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

*I roasted my own chillies by simply placing them on top of the naked flame on my Kleenmaid wok burner for around 5-7 minutes. I did need to keep turning them (used one, saved one) until they were fairly evenly charred. Wrapped them in foil after that, until the skins blistered and rubbed off easily. The flavour difference in doing this is significant…and it is so easy and quick to do, I hope you try it.

Roasted Fig and Cacciatore Salad

The name of this salad should be more in keeping with the bounty of family members it involved…but in keeping with my pledge to name posts for what they are…no matter how boring, this is, just as named; Roasted Fig with Spicy Cacciatore Sausage Salad.

Another quickie….I love fruit in salads as regular readers will know! My sister gave me a bucket of figs and after a batch of jam, I still had heaps left over…and as my system can only take so many fresh ones, (if you know what I mean?) and I was leaving for what was then supposed to be Bali and turned out to be Darwin (long story) and ultimately became Phuket…nonetheless, I had figs to use!

This was easy, painless and disappeared in minutes after its arrival at a farewell do for my darling personal web developer nephew and his little family…miss you guys already! So simple it can barely be called a recipe really. AND I must mention my lovely platter that appears in the pic. Recent birthday present from very thoughtful Sister in Law…thanks Imogen!

NEED:

Bucket of fresh figs! (Up to you how many)

Red wine vinegar, Coarse sea salt, EVOO to taste

Large bag salad greens (I used rocket)

1 spicy sausage of choice thinly sliced

Handful Kalamata olives

Excellent soft cheese of choice (Brie, Camembert, soft feta, creamy blue)

DO:

Slice figs in half and arrange on lined baking tray. Be selective as you do so, picking firm fruit. Sprinkle with salt, vinegar and EVOO and roast for approximately 20-25 minutes until fragrant and gooey. Cool on tray.

Arrange rocket or salad greens on large flat platter. Cook sliced sausage in hot fry pan until well browned. Place on top of rocket.

Arrange all other ingredients on top of each other, finishing with the roasted figs and cheese. Drizzle with the collected juices from roasting, adding more red wine vinegar if needed to dress the salad. (There is enough oil from the sausage and roasting juice to not need more oil…unless you want to!)

Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving so the flavours can blend somewhat and the rocket will wilt. Try not to lick the platter in public!

There…back from holiday and blogging! Just barely, but stay tuned for some Thai inspired recipes. The food in Phuket was wondeful and we are all craving it already!

Watercress, Brocollini and Pomegranate Salad

You know me and fruit in salad…I think my kids have even stopped complaining about fruit showing up in a savoury salad because they are either;

A) resigned to the fact,

B) used to it or

C) enjoy it themselves now.

Colleagues are not so good with it, but I am trying to win them over. (When I say ‘them’ I am actually referring to one young lady who knows very well to whom I refer!)

Because I love top ten lists myself, and because I have so many salads showcasing fruit (including a new one just for this post!), an article with them all in one spot, ready for bookmarking seemed like a good idea. I also love the idea of a special salad being a bit more festive. With our hot Christmases in Australia, the old hot dinner on Christmas Day is long gone, and so a special salad recipe or ten can come in handy. Hope you enjoy!

So here goes;

ONE;

This is my new kid on the block.

NEED:

4 small bunches brocollini

generous amount of water cress leaves or other bitter greens of choice

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

1/2 thinly sliced red onion

water for steaming

Dressing;

2 cloves garlic

60g red wine vinegar

60g honey

Sea salt to taste

50g EVOO

DO:

Place enough water in Thermomix bowl to reach the 1L mark. Bring to the boil for 8-10 minutes on Varoma temperature on speed 4.

Place trimmed and washed broccolini into Varoma dish and set  aside. When the water is steaming, set Varoma into position and cook for 7 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 4. Remove immediately and place into ice bath to cool.

Drain bowl and make dressing by placing garlic into Thermomix bowl and mincing for 3 seconds on speed 5. Add remaining dressing ingredients and blend for 10 seconds on speed 6. Pour over sliced red onion and allow dressing to soften onion for 15 minutes.

Arrange greens on salad platter, add broccolini and onion with dressing. Top with Pomegranate jewels and voila. Beautiful and delicious, (and dare I say it? A little fruity)! Season to taste with black pepper and grainy sea salt.

TWO:

I love Thai flavours and a Thai Beef Salad is something I find hard to beat. So although not completely conventional, the fruit (grapefruit) in this just tips it into awesome for me. Of course it is optional, but I dare you, try it and let me know what you think.

THREE:

Originating from my darling sister in law who now lives in the States and whom I miss every day, I make this Broccoli and Grape Salad, just to reminisce sometimes! Tangy dressing, salty bacon, sweet grapes and barely steamed broccoli. Can’t really go wrong!

FOUR:

While not strictly complying to the fruit in the salad criteria, but rather in the dressing, Seafood Eatfood has never failed me. It is a little festive, a few Asian flavours are in there, great the next day as a cold lunch, can be easily increased to feed a crowd, is really so simple and easy…what more could you want at Christmas time?

FIVE:

OK, probably should have been number one…LOVE Fruity Harvest Salad and have even been known to add roasted nectarines when in season. This is a great accompaniment to roasted meats, particularly pork. Seriously, if you want to impress when asked to bring a salad, this should be your choice. Still in my old format (pre Thermomix days) feel free to go ahead and do what you will with Thermomix when you can!

SIX:

Probably Pineapple is one of the best foils for salty, think about all those Hawaiian Pizza days…or channel your inner 60′s dinner party with baked ham and pineapple…this Carribean Salsa salutes those flavours, adds some heat and is also fantastic with ham, or beef, or fish, or pork, or fried chook…anything you feel like really!

SEVEN:

Not quite a waldorf salad, Chicken with Grapes and Walnuts is what a waldorf salad becomes when it grows up! A lovely citrus and cranberry dressing make it perfect for Festive entertaining. Or serve with crusty fresh bread to make a great light lunch for friends.

EIGHT:

Again a bit of a cheat entry, Chicken Salad with Chilli Citrus Dressing is another example of the dressing (with fruit) lifting an ordinary salad above the mundane and into the heavenly. The dressing in fact can be used on any number of salads, kept in the fridge for around 3 weeks and never fails to impress. Great in the party season as well because you can cheat and buy a cooked chicken, simply make the dressing (all of about 1 minute) and with a bag of greens, punnet of tomatoes, you are ready to be the hostess with the mostess in no time.

NINE:

Again I am pretty well cheating with the Traffic Light Salad as well…in that the grapes are merely a suggestion. Fantastic at a BBQ of which I am confident there are no shortages at this time of year, (at least in the Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Last but not least,

TEN:

Number 10 is a johnny come lately; I have enjoyed it twice now, and have yet to photograph it…but try this on for size.

1 bag baby spinach leaves, tossed with thinly sliced red onion.

Drizzle with EVOO (and you know my stance on EVOO I hope.)

Add 1 tin of drained mandarin segments, freshly cracked black pepper, sea salt and some toasted pine nuts. Drizzle with just enough of the drained liquid to moisten and again…voila…faster than a trip to the store…you are eating amazing and delicious Fruit in (Savoury) Salad…again. And one hopes without any complaints from the peanut gallery!

P8...Eight Flavours Pesto Pasta Salad

Now it is the pasta itself that has eight flavours…and if Adriano can call his amazing one flavoured Vanilla Thriller a V8, then I figure I can call this the P8 as I’m guessing the salad has a whole lot more flavours than eight, (given the pasta has its own thing going on). This salad can be made with any pasta, but I could not resist the pretty packet of Orecchiette (little shells) which cost an inordinate amount of money…but it was imported from Italy and it had all natural flavours; tomato, red beetroot, carrot, spinach, basil, turmeric and squid ink….um, guessing the eighth flavour is…pasta?

NEED:

500g small pasta of choice

1 batch pesto (reserve a few basil leaves for garnish)

juice 1 lemon

handful black olives

1 punnet grape tomatoes halved lengthways

1/2 red onion, diced

2 small Lebanese cucumbers sliced diagonally

1 small red capsicum deseeded and diced

DO:

Cook pasta as package directs. (This was a slow cooking pasta due to the ‘realness’ of the product…18 minutes!)

Drain and set aside.

Prepare pesto. Toss through pasta with all ingredients. Garnish with a few basil leaves.

Voila…a few great additions to this to make it a meal instead of a side would be flaked tuna, diced cooked chicken, roasted eggplant or pumpkin, or try adding different herbs and nuts in the pesto for a totally different take. Pasta salad is like Potato Salad; whatever you do, throw flavour at it along with a great dressing and you can’t really go wrong. Erm…unless you’re on a low carb diet!

Warm Lamb Salad with Minted Feta Dressing

I’m officially on holidays. Its great, I didn’t go anywhere, the kids are off hiking/camping and I have the house to myself all day…aaah! But the blog never sleeps, and I still have to eat, (eat well!) so this was a great quickie for a nice warm day. I have mint growing galore, alongside truckloads of salad greens that are all enjoying the spring weather with me! You can start from scratch if you want, or just buy a couple of components already prepared to speed it up even more. This brings a whole new meaning to ‘Fast Food’. Enjoy.

NEED:

Dressing;

1 clove garlic

handful mint leaves

zest and juice 2 lemons

200-230g feta crumbled

EVOO to taste

Salad;

2 red onions quartered

EVOO, brown sugar, red wine vinegar and salt to taste

Garden greens of choice,

red, yellow and green roasted capsicum strips

1 Lebanese cucumber halved and sliced

handful snow peas

2 lamb rump steaks per serving

additional mint leaves to garnish

DO:

Make dressing by placing garlic, mint and lemon zest into Thermomix bowl and milling for 3-4 seconds on speed 8.

Add remaining ingredients and blend for up to 1 minute on speed 4-5 until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Place red onions onto baking paper lined tray and drizzle with EVOO and vinegar and sprinkle with brown sugar and salt. Roast under hot grill until charred and caramelised. Cool slightly.

Divide greens between plates, arrange capsicum strips, grilled onion and cucumber over.

Cook lamb on hot grill pan on Induction 9-10 until cooked to your liking. Rest lamb, wrapped in foil until ready to serve. While pan is still hot, quickly charr the peas. Add to salad plates.

Top with lamb steaks and good spoonful of dressing and garnish with mint leaves. Serve immediately.

Thai Beef Salad

Sorry, its Friday afternoon at the end of a long week, and so I am not only tired, but silly to go along with it! Thai Beef Salad is one of my favorites and lately I have been on a mission to find a nice one in a restaurant that I could rely on to deliver the taste hit that I crave…no luck! So had to come up with my own, here it is. Although we have had  nothing but rain here all week (mid November, what is going on??) I am primed and ready for some hot weather eating. Hope you enjoy this on a leisurely evening…cooking time of approximately 5 minutes…how much more leisurely could you get? Enjoy!

Thai Beef Salad

Marinade NEED:

55g Tamari or soy sauce

55g fish sauce

50g honey

Juice ½ orange

Juice 1 lime

Handful coriander leaves

Handful mint leaves

1 small chilli (deseeded if desired, for more heat leave seeds in)

2 large cloves garlic

3cm piece peeled ginger

Marinade DO:

Place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 8. Drizzle over meat and leave for around 3-4 hours if possible.

Dressing NEED:

Juice 1 lime

25g Tamari or soy sauce

Juice ½ orange

2tbsp sesame oil

20g fish sauce

1 small chilli (deseeded if desired, for more heat leave seeds in)

2 large cloves garlic

3cm piece peeled ginger

Few coriander leaves

Few mint leaves

Dressing DO:

Without washing bowl after making marinade, place all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blend for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside until assembling the salad.

Salad NEED:

100-150g Asian vermicelli noodles

400-500g rump steak cut in strips

2 tbsp olive oil

200g sliced mushrooms

3 diced tomatoes

½ thinly sliced red onion

1 ruby grapefruit peeled and segmented

Few sprigs mint/coriander

Mixed salad greens of choice

Salad DO:

Place vermicelli noodles into insulated bowl and cover with boiling water.

Drain marinade from beef strips and set aside. Place olive oil into flat bottomed wok on Induction max. Stir fry beef strips for around 3-4 minutes only until well caramelised. Toss through marinade in the last minute to cook off.

Meanwhile, assemble the remaining salad ingredients on large platter.

Drain noodles and toss with about half the dressing.

Place dressed noodles on top of the salad, add beef and drizzle with remaining dressing. Serve immediately.

Looking over the last few entries on here I realise what a sweet tooth I am, but hey…I can do the other stuff, so check this out! There were no complaints when this showed up at lunch time on Friday. I re-served it completely cold on Saturday without the oohhs and ahhs, so I suggest you serve it the day of preparation.
This can look rather stunning on a buffet table. Choose a beautiful platter and then play like a food stylist until you are happy! It not only tastes divine, but looks so beautiful with the green of the dressing, pink of the prawns, red salmon, and yellow lemon wedges…so perfect! Oh the poetry of it all!

Spicy Seafood Salad

NEED:

500g Tasmanian salmon fillet, cubed
300g prawns, tails intact
300g white fish fillet of choice, cubed
1.5L boiling water

100g scallops, roe on
½ red onion, thinly sliced
100g fresh baby spinach or salad greens of choice

1 batch Citrus Dressing (see below)

A few herb sprigs reserved from dressing ingredients for garnish
Lemon or Lime wedges to serve

DO:

Place all seafood except scallops into Varoma dish and set aside.

Add water to Thermomix bowl and set Varoma into position. Cook seafood for 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 3.
Stir scallops gently through cooked seafood and set aside. The residual heat of the seafood will cook the scallops perfectly.

Prepare dressing.

Arrange red onion and salad leaves on large platter. Top with warm seafood, dressing and garnish with herbs.

Citrus Dressing Ingredients

Generous handful coriander leaves

50g EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 green chilli, halved

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

75g fish sauce

Zest and juice of 2 oranges

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

4 spring onions roughly chopped

1tbsp rice wine vinegar

Sea salt and raw sugar to taste

DO:

Make dressing by placing all ingredients into Thermomix bowl and blending for 10 seconds on speed 6 until just combined. (Don’t over mix or you will get an emulsion rather than a dressing.)

Serve with Green Rice.