salad

/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Thai Beef Salad

This Thai Beef Salad was the first meal I made after we got home from our holiday.

Along with our watches, phones and schedules, ‘meal planning’ went out the window for our holiday.

We went back to simple and no frills this time around. A basic cabin, a beach, some bike riding and bush walking, card games, slow mornings and late nights.

Like all family holidays, there were fights, tantrums, storms and torrential rain, power outages, laughs, hugs, big waves and beautiful sunsets. There was on any given day a million compromises to be made between 5 people who all wanted or expected something different.

Just like normal life, but in a different location.

It was a chance to be away from the rush and noise and endless demands of the business we run, home and school life. The biggest joy was having my husband with us, relaxed and engaged.

I did lots of reading, which is my other great love that I often don’t make time for when at home. Reading on holidays is starting to get a little easier now that the kids are getting older.

Even in it’s imperfect moments, we were together, making memories, good and bad ones and refilling our tanks before a new year begins.

When it comes to food on holidays, I find the break from thinking ahead and making all the decisions on my own about food quite liberating. Having another person around to share in that process is so good, not to mention the break from the dishes!

It means our eating habits change too, but that’s part of the novelty of the holidays. Way too many hot chips, ice-blocks, cereals the kids get to choose from the ‘normaly banned list’, treats in the car while travelling, christmas leftovers and more. There are pretty much no rules.

My husband and I share a love of cheese and wine and so that became our holiday ritual after a day on the beach. That’s one of the things I already miss the most. I told the wheel of Brie I saw in the shops the other day that we will reconnect at Easter. It’s not that long away is it?

I digress.

Back to the Thai Beef Salad.

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Now that we are home, salad and protein in different forms pretty much makes up our summer menu.

This is my kid friendly Thai Beef Salad, with no raw onion or spicy sauce. Just fresh and flavoursome and super quick. And just as I thought, vegetables that would otherwise be left on the plate, were gobbled up in this salad. It shows you what a little added flavour can achieve.

I hope you are having a great summer break and your re-entry back into your ‘normal’ isn’t too painful.

E x

Thai Beef Salad

Created by on January 20, 2016

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 5m
  • Total Time: 15m

Ingredients

  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger or ginger paste
  • 600 grams rump steak
  • 100 grams baby spinach or mixed salad leaves
  • 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 large cucumber, sliced thinly into rounds
  • 1/2 capsicum (red, green or yellow), thinly sliced
  • 100 grams snow peas, raw, thinly sliced
  • 1/8 purple cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup fresh herbs, a mixture of basil, coriander and mint or whatever you like. (If you can get it, vietnamese mint works perfectly with asian salads)

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients for the dressing in a jar and shake to combine. Set aside.
  2. If you have time, bring your meat to room temperature before cooking.
  3. Brush both sides of the meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Heat a non stick frying pan (or BBQ) over medium to high heat and add the meat.
  5. When blood rises to the surface, turn your meat. Continue cooking and turning until your meat is cooked to your liking. You can press the meat with your finger to test how cooked it is. The firmer it feels, the more well done it will be.
  6. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to rest. Don't skip this step.
  7. Once rested for a few minutes, slice thinly.
  8. Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl.
  9. Add the steak and pour over the dressing. Give it a big toss.
  10. Place on the table with servers and bowls and let everyone help themselves!
Source: cook fast eat slow

 

 

 

 

/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Chargrilled Peaches with Basil and Beans

Christmas With My Family is one of my favourite days of the year. Chaos, noise and the occasional meltdown from a child is almost guaranteed, but I love it anyway. We’re not a perfect family, but we’ll all tumble into my parents house with arms full of food, drink and gifts and lots of news to share that we will all try and share at once! The girls will end up chatting around the kitchen bench and there are usually bets on which over-tired Dad or Uncle will fall asleep first. Amy Grant’s Christmas album will be on repeat and the kids will hover around the tree until everyone has arrived and Nonni and Grandad say ‘It’s TIME’ to open the gifts.

And probably one of the best bits, is when my Dad stands up and always a little choked with emotion, gives thanks to God for his family, our many, many blessings and the gift of his son, Jesus.

And if he can’t get through the prayer, my brother usually takes over.

Then there will be countless loads through the dishwasher and a few fights from over-tired and over-sugared children, as we wait for the late night breeze to blow through the house and start to cool us all down.

This is will be my family Christmas and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I enjoyed making and eating this salad last summer, from memory I made it for a Christmas gathering and enjoyed it again at our NYE celebrations.

After looking back at the original recipe from Delicious Dec 14/Jan 2015 I realised that it could lose a step or 2 to make it a little more achievable for the time poor cook.

And you could even go one step further – if the thought of char-grilling your peaches overwhelms you, just thinly slice them and add them to the salad just as they are. Chargrilling anything just ‘caramelises’ the natural sugars in the food and brings out the sweetness.

This salad is best assembled right before eating, so if you need to make it in advance, just prep your ingredients and store them separately, putting it all together at the last minute.

Chargrilled Peaches with Basil and Beans

Created by on December 16, 2015

  • Prep Time: 5m
  • Cook Time: 10m
  • Total Time: 15m

Ingredients

  • 500 grams green beans, trimmed
  • 4 peaches, cut into wedges
  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded, plus extra to serve
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
  • 2 tablepsoons basil infused olive oil (or plain extra virgin olive oil)
  • Balsamic Vinegar to serve

Method

  1. Steam green beans until just cooked, rinse under cold water and place on serving platter.
  2. Heat a chargrill pan or BBQ over high heat.
  3. Place the olive oil in a shallow bowl and tumble in the peach wedges. Toss around to coat in oil.
  4. Cook the peach wedges in the pan or on the BBQ for a few minutes on each side until fragrant, soft and slightly golden.
  5. Remove from the pan and place on top of beans. (Or you can store them separately at room temperature until you are ready to plate the salad up and serve)
  6. Add the shredded basil leaves and almonds to the platter.
  7. Drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar to serve.
/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Beetroot and Pomegranate Salad

As I am chatting with friends and family about food, I am hearing loud and clear that people are really wanting ideas for Christmas and entertaining that require minimal effort.

‘Recipes’ that read more like a list of nice ingredients that when put together with minimal process, taste great.

This Christmas themed salad is just so pretty with it’s red, green and white colours, but more importantly, when you take a mouthful of the fresh greens, soft beetroot and cheese, crunchy pomegranate seeds and then get a burst of fresh mint, you will be reminded again that sometimes cooking is indeed pairing the right ingredients together, with minimal fuss. The ingredients themselves are the hero, and not the process.

For those who haven’t seen or eaten Labneh before, it’s a cheese made from strained yoghurt and is often used in Middle Eastern cooking. You can easily make your own, but for ease this time of year, you can buy it in the supermarket. It makes a beautiful dip with raw veggies and crackers too.

If you prefer, you can use a creamy goats cheese or Persian feta instead. I do think a creamy cheese and not hard one, is best in this recipe.

And lastly, one of the ways you can be kind to yourself in the kitchen this time of year is to stock up on some different and beautiful store-bought dressings. At the drop of a hat you can make any salad at the last minute and take it to ‘a whole other level’ when you dress it with something gorgeous.

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This Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar has been a favourite in our house for a few years now. I have to hide it at the back of the cupboard otherwise one of my sons, who has a sweet tooth, will drink it straight from the bottle! It’s generally found in Deli’s and Gourmet Food stores and can be pricey. For Christmas time, I think it’s worth spending a little extra for something special though.

Be warned – it’s quite sweet so you don’t need a lot, but it is the finishing touch a salad like this needs.

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Beetroot and Pomegranate Salad

Created by on November 30, 2015

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Total Time: 10m

Ingredients

  • 450 grams tinned beetroot wedges, drained
  • 150 grams rocket and baby spinach salad mix
  • seeds of 1/2 a pomegranate
  • 1/2 bunch of fresh mint leaves
  • 125 grams Labneh, marinted in herbs and oil (or another soft creamy cheese)
  • Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar to dress

Method

  1. Wash and dry the salad leaves and lay in a shallow bowl or on a platter.
  2. Top with all the other ingredients. Use a teaspoon to dollop the labneh all over the salad.
  3. Drizzle with the Pomegranate Balsamic vinegar to serve.
  4. NOTE - do not toss this salad. As people take spoonfuls the ingredients and flavours will come together on their own.
Source: cook fast eat slow

 

 

 

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Warm Beef Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing

If you’re a little bored with ‘meat and 3 veg’, then shake things up a bit by layering your veggies and meat on a plate, drizzling it with a dressing and calling it a salad!

Warm Beef Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing

Created by on October 27, 2015

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 20m
  • Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

  • 500 grams rump steak
  • 1 medium size sweet potato, peeled and cut into thin rounds
  • 1 bunch broccolini, cut in half
  • 50 grams goats cheese, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted
  • 2 large handfuls green beans, topped and tailed
  • 1 handful snow peas, de-stringed
  • Creamy Balsamic Dressing
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1 heaped teaspoon tahini paste
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together in a jar with a lid. Set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
  3. Place sweet potato rounds on a baking tray, lightly spray with olive oil spray (or use a small amount of oil to coat), sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 20 mins or until soft and slightly golden. Set aside.
  4. While the sweet potato is roasting, steam the green vegetables lightly, in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove. Set aside.
  5. Brush each side of the rump steak with olive oil and season with pepper.
  6. Heat a non stick pan over a medium to high heat and add the piece of steak. When you see blood start to rise to the surface, turn the steak over. Cook for a few minutes on the other side or until cooked to your liking and then remove from the pan. Place on a plate, and cover with foil to allow to rest.
  7. Assemble together all the ingredients, layering the green vegetables on a plate, followed by the sweet potato.
  8. Thinly slice the steak and place on top of the vegetables.
  9. Sprinkle with goats cheese and pepitas and drizzle over the dressing.
Source: cook fast eat slow
/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 1 Comment

Lemon Coriander Chicken & Rainbow Salad (with a simple satay sauce)

The secret to eating well in the warmer months of the year is to keep a large variety of fresh produce on hand. A salad of any kind can be thrown together without too much forward thinking if your fridge is well stocked with protein and fresh seasonal veggies.

This Rainbow Salad was put together on a night where I was fossicking through the fridge, knowing we were going to have some kind of salad and meat combo for dinner, but not exactly sure what that was going to be.

It ended up being a real hit with the kids and was given a 9/10… yes… my boys are my harshest critics and often rate my dinner out of 10!  Obviously anything under a 5 never makes it to the blog.. LOL!

I think the reason it was loved in our house, is because it was ‘crunchy’ and not soaked in mayo as most salads like this often are.

Topping it with some grilled chicken breast that had been marinated in lemon juice and finely chopped coriander worked really well. But feel free to use any herb you have on hand or leave  out completely if you are pressed for time.

The hardest part of this dinner is the chopping. If you have a mandolin or a food processor, feel free to use those to chop the veggies, they’ll help you get them extra fine. Changing the way you present a food can sometimes encourage fussy eaters to give them a go.

Feel free to chop and change ingredients based on what your family loves. That’s the beauty of salads. Leave out the fennel and add cucumber, leave out the carrots and add celery…..whatever works for you and will get your kids eating some fresh veggies!

Rainbow Salad

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Serves a family of 5

Ingredients

2 Carrots, peeled and finely chopped or peeled into ribbons

1/4 purple cabbage, finely sliced

1/4 white cabbage, finely sliced

1/2 a small fennel bulb, white part finely sliced

1 red capsicum, seeds removed and finely sliced

a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Dressing

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon infused olive oil (or a mix of lemon juice and olive oil)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl and pour dressing over.

(If possible, leave to sit for a little while before you serve it. The vinegar will help soften the vegetables a little and give it a nice flavour).

Lemon & Coriander Chicken

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Serves a family of 4-5

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut in half horizontally, to make it thinner, and then cut into smaller portions again (this just makes the cooking time a little quicker)

juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped

Method

Combine all the ingredients and set aside for as long as you have to marinate. (The acid in the lemon juice will start to ‘cook’ the chicken slightly, so you will notice it start to change colour from pink to white.)

Heat a skillet pan or BBQ over a high heat, add chicken, lower heat to medium and cook on both sides until cooked through.

Place on top of the salad and serve with the satay dipping sauce if desired.

Simple Satay Sauce

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This is a very ‘kid friendly’ satay sauce and not spicy at all. If you would like to have extra heat, just add some dried chilli flakes or finely chopped fresh chilli.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, finely grated or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger paste

1 teaspoon sesame oil or peanut oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons peanut butter

3/4 cup coconut milk

Method

Gently heat oil in a small saucepan and add the garlic and ginger.

Fry for a minute and then add all other ingredients.

Stir gently over a medium heat until combined.

Serve alongside the chicken and salad.

It will keep for a month in an airtight container in the fridge and also freezes well.