Salad number three of seven, as part of my seven salads in seven days series. This time I was playing around with beetroots (again!), but in a completely different way. This tasty ruby vegetables are completely transformed when roasted along side sticky balsamic vinegar. The sharp beets are balanced by the juicy chickpeas, and when you think thats not enough there is a sweet crunch from the honey glazed toasted walnuts. YUM! How could you resists this delicious recipe for either lunch or dinner. Firstly preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Pat off the excess moisture from the precooked beetroots and roughly chop. Spread over a baking tray, sprinkle over finely chopped rosemary, crush 3 cloves of garlic and add these to the baking tray also. Give a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and cover everything with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Place in the top part of the oven for 30 minutes, until the beetroots come out a darkened purple with crispy brown edges. In a small pan over medium heat toast the walnuts for 3/4 minutes, add the honey and toss everything so that all the walnuts are coated. Allow the honey to reduce to a thick sticky consistency, this should take no longer than 2 minutes. By this stage all the honey should have coated the nuts, and they should be golden. Transfer the walnuts to greaseproof paper and allow to cool, the honey will harden, creating a sugary coating on the toasted nuts. Add the chickpeas to a large salad bowl. Pour in the slightly cooled roasted beets with all the garlic and oils let over. Mix through the rocket leaves and sprinkle over the cooled toasted walnuts. Make your dressing by simply adding in equal parts of olive oil with balsamic vinegar and the mustard to a jar. Shake well and pour over the salad. Give all the ingredients one final toss, serve and enjoy!
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PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE I recently visited a restaurant that I had never been to just down the road from my house, where I tasted my 1st ever grilled peaches salad. Inspired by this delicious salad I have decided to create my own take on this delicious dinner using fresh summer ingredients! This salad is bursting with flavor, it has contrasts of hot and cold, crunchy and soft, bitter and sweet! Its the perfect dish if you want something tasty, quick and easy to whip up in the kitchen. INGREDIENTS Makes a salad for two people 2 peaches 3 asparagus large handful of rocket leaves large handful of mixed leaves 2 radishes 1 spring onion 3 pieces of parma ham 2 pickled beetroots honey olive oil or coconut oil balsamic vinegar coarse sea salt pepper I'm not a cheese lover but if you are definitely add mini mozzarella balls or shavings of parmesan! METHOD Firstly, prepare all of your salad ingredients. Finely slice the radish & spring onion so that they are wafer thin, or at least try. This salad isn't fussy(neither am I!). Remove the stone from the peaches and lightly drizzle them with honey. Snap off the ends of the asparagus. Next, in a piping hot griddle pan, splash a little olive oil and place your peaches face down on the surface. Throw the asparagus in also. Give a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and allow them to become lovely and charred on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside (should take about 5 minutes). In two seperate bowels(if making this for two people) add the rocket, mixed leaves, sliced radish & spring onion. At this point I like to add seasoning and dressing to the salad. Depending on how sour you like your dressings splash in equal parts of olive oil & balsamic vinegar into each bowl, sprinkle over salt and pepper and toss making sure everything is coated. Tear apart the parma ham and scatter it equally between the two salads. By this stage your peaches and asparagus should be ready! Chop up the peaches and asparagus and sprinkle them amongst the leaves and salad ingredients.
If you like give the salad one more glug of olive oil, sit down, relax & most importantly enjoy! PALEO, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE, GRAIN FREE & SUGAR FREE My good God, this salad the tastiest one I have made yet. I always love adding as many different textures and flavors as I can because lets face it, bland salads are never too exciting. This is the perfect dish to serve for a summer dinner party, plonk a large bowl of it in the middle of the table and let every one help themselves. The dried cranberries add such a nice chew and give a little bit extra sweetness. So wipe the drool off your chin and make something thats light, tasty and unbelievably healthy. INGREDIENTS For two salads you will need 1 large sweet potato 2 tbs coconut oil(melted) 2 tbs balsamic vinegar salt pepper 2 generous handfuls of rocket leaves handful of cherry tomatoes 3 spring onions 3 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes(about 7/8) handful of diced almonds 4 tbs dried cranberries Dressing equal amounts of balsamic vinegar & coconut oil(melted) with a little salt & pepper METHODPreheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Roughly chop the sweet potato in to bite sized chunks. Place in a baking tray and coat with the olive oil, balsamic, salt & pepper Roast in the oven for about 1 hour until the skin is slightly crispy and the centre is soft. Leave to cool slightly once cooked and being to prepare the salad. Place a generous handful of rocket onto each plate. Chop up the cherry tomatoes and sprinkle over. Diced up the spring onion and scatter over the salads with the sun dried tomatoes. Then add the slightly cooled sweet potato, diced almonds & dried cranberries. There is no need to go making the dressing in a separate jug or anything, simply just drizzle over the balsamic, olive oil and season. ENJOY! PALEO, GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE & SUGAR FREE I recently bought pomegranate molasses and was looking for different ways to use it. This recipe is so simple and really delicious. Its full of flavor and texture, and will keep you going until dinner. I originally wanted to make salad cups/wraps with the salad leaves but I found that they were too fragile, so I combined everything to make a salad. This recipe can be made with cos lettuce which is more sturdy and has the can be used as little cups, perfect for taking a scoop of the chicken and vegetable filling, and to munch away on. NUTRITIONAL VALUE Serving Size 285 g(PER SALAD OR 4 WRAPS) Amount Per Serving Calories 245 Calories from Fat 51 Total Fat 5.6g Saturated Fat 1.5g Trans Fat 0.0g Cholesterol 62mg Sodium 162mg Potassium 794mg Total Carbohydrates 25.0g Dietary Fiber 4.0g Sugars 17.0g Protein 22.3g Vitamin A 89%•Vitamin C 285%Calcium 8%•Iron 26% INGREDIENTS For two salads or 8 wraps you will need 1 head of red leaf, green leaf lettuce OR 8 cos lettuce leaves 2 spring onions 2 mini sweet peppers handful of tomatoes handful of spinach leaves Handful of raisins 1/2 a lemon 2 small chicken breasts 2 tbs pomegranate molasses 2 tbs balsamic vinegar rape seed oil salt pepper METHOD Firstly prepare all the vegetables; Finely dice the tomatoes, mini sweet peppers & spring onions. Rinse the lettuce leaves and spinach leaves.
Diced the chicken in bite sized pieces and place in a pan with a little bit of rape seed oil. When I pan fry chicken I always add a glug of boiling water. This helps the chicken to remain tender and juicy but allows it to cook through. The water will have evaporated in less than 5 minutes and by this time your little chicken pieces should be nearly cooked. Drizzle in the pomegranate molasses with the balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of salt & pepper. Allow the sticky molasses and balsamic vinegar to cook down and coat the chicken. You should be left with lovely moist chicken pieces that have a dark sticky coating. Leave this to the side for a minute while you prepare your salad or wraps. If you are making wraps, line the cos lettuce leaves with the spinach, add some of the diced vegetables along with the chicken and sprinkle over a few raisins. For the salad just mix all the vegetables together with the lettuce and the spinach leaves. Plate the leaves and vegetables up with the chicken and throw over a few raisins. Drizzle either the wraps or the salad with a little bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy! |
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