Tag Archives: summer

Salmon with Couscous and Cherry Tomatoes

Posted on by
Reply

Instant or quick-cook couscous is ready in a jiffy and so is salmon, so I often team them up for a week-day dinner. With cherry tomatoes and lemons in the garden I came up with this tasty combination which you can have on the table in 15 minutes.

Any leftover couscous mixture makes the basis of a tasty salad for lunch the following day. Just add any of the following – cubed leftover chicken or other cooked meat, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, canned corn, herbs, onion and a dollop of mayonnaise, French dressing or pesto. To stretch if even further, serve on a bed of salad greens and voila, lunch is served. As I write this blog I am eating my leftover couscous salad. I added leftover roast chicken, a diced perfectly ripe nectarine, some cucumber, a teaspoon of curry paste and a dollop of mayonnaise. Delicious.

Salmon with Couscous and Cherry Tomatoes

1 cup couscous
1 cup water
2-4 tsp grated ginger
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 salmon fillets weighing 180-200g (with or without skin, as you prefer)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbs olive oil
Juice and zest of half a lemon
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 spring onions, finely sliced or ½ red onion, finely diced
½ cup chopped coriander
½  to 1 birds eye chilli, to taste, seeded and finely diced

Heat water in a saucepan and when it boils add couscous, stir then cover and turn off heat. Leave to stand while you cook the salmon. Place salmon in a dish with half the oil, garlic, half the lemon zest and juice. Season to taste and turn to coat. Pan fry salmon in a non-stick frying pan over moderate to high heat for 3-4 minutes each side, or until done to liking. There is no need to add additional oil as there is some in the marinade. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the ginger, tomatoes, onion, coriander, chilli, remaining zest, juice and oil. Season to taste and add any juices from cooking the salmon. Serve salmon on a bed of couscous garnished with more coriander. The couscous will be warm not hot.

Serves 2

Beetroot, Fig & Fennel Salad with Creamy Dressing

Posted on by
3

I grew up in a house where beetroot – boiled, peeled, sliced and doused with malt vinegar – was nearly always on the table. My mother made a dish full every week and we ate it as a side dish.

Since then I’ve found lots of different ways of serving this somewhat underrated vegetable. I particularly enjoy it without the addition of vinegar, so the lovely earthy taste shines through. Roasted and served in a salad with rocket, feta or goat’s cheese and maple-glazed pecans or walnuts it’s absolutely delicious. But I seldom served it raw until I came across this recipe which will please all beetroot fans. It’s even better the next day and goes down very well at a BBQ.Beetroot and Fennel Salad

250-400g peeled and coarsely grated raw beetroot
70g dried figs, chopped (or substitute raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit)
lots of chopped fresh herbs – whatever you have (dill, coriander, parsley)
1 small bulb fennel finely sliced
¼ cup lemon juice, or to taste
1-2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup mayonnaise (preferably home made)
¼ cup plain yoghurt
1 Tbs cumin seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan

Mix beetroot, figs, herbs and fennel, then add oil, lemon juice and seasoning to taste. Make an hour or two before serving then tip into a serving bowl or spoon onto individual serving dishes. Mix mayonnaise with yoghurt and dollop over the top. Sprinkle with the cumin seeds.

Serves 4-6

Note: the mayo-yoghurt topping is optional

A Long Weekend at Woodlands

Posted on by
2

We spent the Australia Day long weekend at Woodlands, the 115 acre rural property near Braidwood in New South Wales which we bought about 4 years ago.

The tussock and thistle hadn’t been sprayed for some years and gave the place a somewhat neglected look, but we could see the potential. Since then Matthew has been fighting an on-going battle with the weeds, but is gradually making progress. He has planted over 200 deciduous trees to contrast with the existing native eucalyptus which cover about 20% of the land. The rest is grazing land and in due course we plan to buy some cattle, though I can see them all becoming pets with names, which will make selling them something of a challenge. Matthew’s ambition to turn Woodlands into a park-like setting which lives up to its name certainly keeps him busy.

We were joined for the weekend by our son David, his wife Amy and her parents Ian and Bev. The purpose of the weekend was to build a pizza oven. Ian is a potter and has built kilns and pizza ovens, so he was in charge of proceedings. I took on my usual role as chief cook and bottle washer.

Each day the heavens opened at about six in the evening, with very heavy rain accompanied by spectacular thunder and lightening. Standing on the covered verandah as the water came down in sheets felt a bit like being on the set of the Titanic. Fortunately there was plenty of time each day to work on the oven and cover it with tarpaulin before it got wet. It’s now finished and looking great, as you can see from the photos.

Spectacular views across the valley towards the Great Dividing Range which forms part of the Tallaganda National Park and a very pretty fast-flowing creek on the western boundary makes Woodlands a very special place. It’s a 40 minute drive to Braidwood, the nearest town, which is a long way to go if you run out of milk. We recently had the excavators in to make a large pond with a small island in the middle. This is so the ducks and swans – which I’m hoping will turn up once the habitat is right – have somewhere to escape with their babies when Mr Fox comes looking for a quick lunch. I read somewhere that foxes can swim but don’t really like to. The pond is quickly becoming home to ducks and other birds, but so far no swans.

Two years ago we completed a stone house with all mod cons. It’s a privilege to to be able to soak up the peace and tranquility of such a remote spot, while enjoying the advantages of comfy beds with electric blankets (you really need them in winter when it can get down to minus 12), hot showers, an open fire and a dishwasher. Not to mention good food and a bottle or two of vino.

Our golden retriever Danske had the company of Hershey (chocolate lab) and Frankie (Staffordshire Terrior) for the weekend. They swam in the pond, chased kangaroos (without a hope of even getting close), rolled in mud and played rough games together. By the end of the weekend they were exhausted. Danske’s full name is Holger Danske, after a legendary medieval Danish warrior. He was acquired when we were living in Copenhagen, so he really is a Dane. Danske is petrified of thunderstorms and tries to hide behind people’s legs when he hears the scary rumbling. You would think being eight years old and having lived through quite a few storms he would be over it, but he’s not.

Peek gatherings are all about the food and I usually plan a combination old recipes and new ones I’ve been wanting to try. Lunch on the first day consisted of Gazpacho followed by some simple Bruscetta (see below). That evening we had rack of lamb with Mint Pesto accompanied by potatoes roasted in duck fat and Peas with Broad Beans and Artichokes (see below). This was followed by Italian Mince Pies with Panna Cotta and Berry Compote.

For breakfast next morning we had Ricotta Pancakes with Honeycomb Butter and lunch was Gravlax with Sweet Mustard Sauce, followed by a selection of cheeses and salads.  That night I made Kylie Kwong’s Caramelized Pork Belly with Scallops and potatoes, dug up that afternoon from the veggie patch, followed by Rich Chocolate Mousse with Peanut Brittle Ice Cream (see below). Brunch next day before everyone headed home was fresh mango mixed with passionfruit served with a dollop thick Greek yoghurt and followed by Bill Granger’s Corn Fritters with Avocado Salsa. I will have to dig out some of my Dukan diet recipes this week!!

The cement on the pizza oven has to “cure” for a few weeks, but we are all looking forward to trying it out.

Bruscettas with White Beans, Feta and Tomato

Bruscettas with White Beans, Feta and Tomato1 French loaf, sliced at an angle (plain, wholegrain, sourdough, whatever you prefer)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Extra virgin olive oil
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Half to 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2-3 large tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
Fresh basil leaves

Mix one clove garlic with some olive oil. Brush both sides of bread slices then bake on a metal tray in a moderate oven for 10 mins or until golden. Meanwhile mash beans with a fork, adding feta, olive oil and a crushed clove of garlic. You can also add any leftover oil from brushing the bread. Season to taste.

Spread bean paste thickly on the bread slices and arrange on serving platter. Top with slices of tomato, onion and basil leaves. Drizzle with more oil.

Serves 6

Peas with Broad Beans and Artichokes

1 500g packet frozen peas
1 500g packed frozen broad beans
1 cup artichokes marinated in oil
25g butter or 1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbs chopped fresh oregano or marjoram or 1 tsp dried

Cook peas in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and place in large frying pan. Cook broad beans in boiling salted water. Drain and when cool enough to handle slip off the outer skins. Add to frying pan with peas. Roughly chop artichokes and add to pan with remaining ingredients. Can be made ahead to this point. To serve heat the vegetables over moderate heat for a  few minutes, stirring. When hot and butter has melted serve immediately.

Serves 6-8

Rich Chocolate Mousse with Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

Rich Chocolate Mousse with Peanut Brittle Ice CreamMousse:
150g chocolate chip cookies, crushed
30g unsalted butter, melted
400ml thickened cream
400ml milk
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
400g dark/bitter chocolate, broken into squares
Ice Cream:
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 litre bought vanilla ice cream
2/3 cup salted roasted peanuts or cashew nuts

Mousse: Mix cookie crumbs with butter and tip into a square or oblong cake tin lined with baking paper. Size of tin is flexible – could be a small slice tin or loaf tin. If made of silicone there’s no need for the paper. Flatten the mixture evenly over the bottom with your hand. Alternatively divide crumbs between about 10 individual serving dishes or glasses – Martini glasses would look nice. Or use one large glass dish. Press crumbs down then chill while you make the mousse.

Heat cream and milk in a saucepan. In a bowl mix egg yolks with sugar, mix in some of the hot milk and cream, then tip mixture back into the saucepan. Continue to cook, stirring with a flat bottomed wooded spatula until almost boiling and mixture coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Leave for a few minutes then stir briskly until thoroughly combined and chocolate has completely melted. Pour mousse into cake pan or individual dishes and chill overnight.

Ice Cream: Melt sugar in a pan over moderate heat. Cook to a golden caramel, swirling from time to time so it colours evenly. Add nuts and tip onto a sheet of foil. When cold peel off the foil and chop coarsely by hand. Remove ice cream from freezer to allow to soften a bit. Keep some praline to garnish then fold the rest into ice cream and return to freezer.

To serve, tip mousse out of tin and cut into slices or serve in the individual glasses. Top each serving with a ball of ice cream and sprinkle with reserved praline. Mousse in the photo wasn’t refrigerated overnight so it wasn’t firm enough to slice and had to be scooped. Still tasted good!

Serves 10

Elin’s Gazpacho

Posted on by
5

In hot weather Gazpacho, a chilled soup which originated in Andalucia in southern Spain, makes a perfect lunch or starter. I’ve tried quite a few recipes, but one of the best versions was served for lunch by my Danish friend Elin, while we were living in Copenhagen. I remember thinking how delicious it was (better than my recipe!) and how snazzy the croutons looked cut into soldiers. Elin has given permission for me to share her recipe with my readers.

Gazpacho should be made when you have tomatoes in the garden or can buy local ones in the market. Supermarket tomatoes which have been refrigerated won’t taste the same.

This recipe has quite a few ingredients so it’s not a five minute job. But the effort is well worth it. If preferred leave out the chilli altogether.

Elin's Gazpacho

4 large red capsicums (peppers)
2 chillies (preferably peperoncino)
1½ kg good quality vine-ripened tomatoes
10 semi-dried tomatoes
200ml extra virgin olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic, depending on size, crushed
4 Tbs vinegar (preferably sherry)
1 bunch fresh basil
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 small cucumbers
1 loaf day-old Italian bread
2-3 Tbs sugar (depends on sweetness of the tomatoes)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To serve:
1 red capsicum (pepper)
1 small cucumber
Extra virgin olive oil
The rest of the bread made into croutons

Preheat oven to 200°C. Place a piece of foil on a baking tray and place capsicum and chillies on top (saves washing up). Bake until blackened, then cool, peel and remove seeds. If they are difficult to peel you haven’t cooked them long enough. The chillies being smaller will need to come out much earlier – they are a bit fiddly to peel so just removed stalk and seeds.

Meanwhile pour boiling water over the tomatoes in two bowls, leave for 2 minutes then tip away water, peel and remove hard cores.

In a blender puree the capsicum, tomatoes, dried tomatoes, peeled cucumbers, chilli, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, basil leaves, 3-4 slices of bread with crusts removed and oil. You will have to do this in 2 or 3 batches. Taste and add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Chill several hours or preferably overnight.

To serve: If soup is a bit too thick add a little iced water then pour into a soup tureen or ladle into individual bowls. Add some ice cubes (optional) and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Serve with the following side dishes so people can help themselves – peeled and diced cucumber, with some skin left on (to add some dark green colour) and diced capsicum. Make croutons from the rest of the loaf of bread – cut bread into “soldiers”, spray or brush with olive oil and bake until golden. For those who like spicier food you can serve some extra chopped chillies, but it was hot enough for my liking – probably because I used birds eye chillies rather than peperoncino which are much milder!

Serves 12

Note: sun-dried tomatoes as opposed to semi-dried tomatoes tend to be rather dark in colour which will result in a brownish gazpacho. So best to use semi-dried or leave them out altogether.

Italian Mince Pies with Panna Cotta & Berry Compote

Posted on by
1

When I’m looking for inspiration I browse through old cook books. I have quite a few, including some by Robert Carrier.

Born in the USA in 1923, Carrier’s success came in England, where he worked for most of his life as a chef, restaurateur and food writer. The Jamie Oliver of the 70s and 80s, Carrier tried to persuade the British public there was more to life than meat and three veg. He retired to France where he died in 2006.

Carrier said he acquired the recipe for Mezzorgiorno (which I have shortened to “Italian”) Mince Pies served with Panna Cotta and Berry Compote from The Don Camillo restaurant in Provence. It may seem like a complicated recipe, but most of the work is done by the food processor and you can spread it over three days. Make the pastry and filling for the pies on day one. Next day make the panna cottas, the compote and the pies. Refrigerate them covered, but uncooked. On the third day brush with egg and bake an hour or so before serving.

The pastry is not easy to roll out and you may find yourself using quite a bit of flour to stop it from sticking, especially on a hot day. Unfortunately too much flour makes pastry tough, so if you’re having difficulty try rolling it out between two sheets of baking paper. You could always substitute home-made or bought shortcrust or puff pastry.

Mr Carrier said to cut the pastry into 8cm squares, but I found this made the pies too big – 6 to 7cm is a better size. The original filling included brown sugar in addition to the honey, but the mixture is sweet enough with all that dried fruit and chocolate, so I left it out.

Panna cotta – which means cooked cream – is delicious served with just the compote. And the pies are nice served on their own as a change to traditional mince pies at Christmas. But all put together they make an unusual dessert.

Italian Mince Pies

Italian Mince Pies with Panna Cotta & Berry CompotePastry:
½ cup caster sugar
150g unsalted butter at room temp
1 Tbs cinnamon
grated rind (zest) 1 lemon
3 eggs
2¾ cups (350g) plain flour
Filling:
125g good quality dark chocolate
150g dates, pitted
250g dried figs, stems removed (or substitute raisins)
3 Tbs honey
3 Tbs Marsala or port
100g pine nuts, toasted
Grated rind (zest) 1 lemon or orange
½ cup dried sour cherries (I substituted cranberries)
1 egg, beaten
Icing sugar for dusting

Pastry: Place sugar, butter, cinnamon and lemon rind in food processor and process until creamed. Add eggs and when mixed add flour. Process until dough comes together in a ball. Tip out, form into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 3 days. Can be frozen for several weeks.

Filling: Break chocolate into squares, then pulse in food processor until coarsely chopped. Tip into a bowl. Place dates, figs, honey and Marsala or port in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Add to the bowl with remaining ingredients except egg and icing sugar and mix well. Store in a covered container in the fridge. Keeps several weeks.

Assembly: Preheat oven to 170°C. Roll pastry thinly on floured surface and cut into 6 or 7cm squares. You should have enough to make 35-40, but it’s best to make only as many as you can eat on the same day.  Also it’s easier to work with about a quarter of the dough at a time. Place one rounded teaspoon of filling on one side of each square, brush 2 sides with egg and fold over to form a triangle enclosing the filling, pinching well to seal.

Place pies in the cups of lightly oiled muffin trays, which is what gives them their interesting curved shape. If you don’t have muffin trays use flat baking trays.  Brush with egg and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Don’t overcook or they will be dry. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Pies are best eaten the day they are made, still warm from the oven, so it’s best to make just the right amount and store leftover pastry and filling for another time. While leftover cooked pies can be reheated next day, they are not as nice as on day one.

Vanilla Pana Cottas

4 Tbs water
3 tsp powdered gelatine
750ml cream
250ml milk
4-5 Tbs caster sugar, to taste
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla essence

Place water in a small bowl, sprinkle gelatine on top then zap in microwave to dissolve. Heat cream, milk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan to boiling point, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add gelatine, mix well, cool a bit then divide among 10 half cup moulds. Refrigerate, covered, overnight. To serve, tip briefly in hot water, run a thin knife around the edge and tip out. Serve with Berry Compote and one or two Italian Mince Pies.

Serves 10

Berry Compote

750g – 1 kg fresh or frozen berries (one or more of the following: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, stoned cherries)
1 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup cherry brandy, Kirsch or other liqueur (optional)
¼ cup sugar, or to taste

Slice or halve strawberries. Place all ingredients in a bowl and allow to macerate for several hours or overnight, stirring from time to time.

Serves 10

Spinach Salad with Red Dressing

Posted on by
6

When we were living in Pretoria, South Africa, in the late 1980s someone brought a delicious spinach salad to a pot luck BBQ we were hosting. I made a mental note of the ingredients in the salad, but it took me a while to get the sweet and sour red dressing right.

This salad is very popular as part of a buffet or to accompany a BBQ. The ingredients are unusual and the contrast of the spinach and eggs with the red dressing looks good. I used to call it Sweet and Sour Dressing, but as everyone in the family called it Red Dressing, I decided to go with the flow. Serve in a large shallow bowl, so there is only one layer of each ingredient, then spoon the dressing over at the last minute and serve without mixing.

The bowl in the photo is hand made and was bought at the craft market at Los Dominicos in Santiago, Chile. We lived in Santiago for 4 wonderful years and every time I return I end up bringing back a salad bowl for someone who has admired mine and asked for the spinach salad recipe. It’s a perfect size and shape for this salad.

Spinach Salad with Red Dressing

2-3 packets baby spinach leaves or use half spinach and half lettuce leaves
1-2 cups bean sprouts
4-6 hard boiled eggs
4-6 rashers bacon, diced
1 can water chestnuts
Red Dressing (see below)

Wash and dry spinach and remove stalks. Wash and dry bean sprouts and sprinkle over. Drain and slice water chestnuts and sprinkle over. Cut eggs into halves or quarters, lengthwise and arrange over the salad. Can prepare ahead to this stage. Just before serving fry the bacon in a pan without oil until crisp, dry on paper towels and sprinkle over the salad. Vegetarians can leave out the bacon. Just before serving spoon over some Red Dressing.

Serves 8-10 or more as part of a buffet

Red Dressing

¼ cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 small onion or ½ medium
½ cup cider or white wine vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
½ cup tomato ketchup

Process all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Keep in the fridge in a jar with a lid. Shake well before using. Goes well with any salad but especially with Spinach Salad.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Posted on by
3

While living in Chile in the 90s we had a couple of holidays in the United States.  When lunching in one of those huge shopping malls with umpteen different takeaway foods to choose from, I invariably head for the salad bar.

At one of these I found a selection of salads created by Wolfgang Puck, a well-known restaurateur and cookbook writer, originally from Austria but now well-established in the USA. His Chinese Chicken Salad was delicious, so I dissected it and wrote down the ingredients. I’m a bit of a pain when travelling, always whipping out a notebook to write down food ideas! I had to guess what was in the dressing, adjusting the quantities each time I made it, until I got it right.

The internet didn’t exist back then so before writing this post I read through some of the many versions of this salad which appear online – including one on Mr Puck’s very own site. There are lots of variations!

I’ve been making my version for over 20 years and it’s delicious, so what was in the original recipe has become somewhat irrelevant. A great salad for a summer evening and if you’re in a hurry buy a cooked chicken and you’re halfway there. Go easy on the dressing for small kids as it packs quite a punch. Mr Puck uses crispy fried wonton wrappers to crumble over the salad, but corn chips or crunchy noodles – a ready-to-eat Asian snack available in Australian supermarkets – work well and are easier.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Meat from 1 whole roast chicken, cut into strips
4-5 cups finely shredded white cabbage
2 cups finely shredded red cabbage
3 carrots, cut into fine julienne
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 cup celery, very finely sliced
A handful toasted cashew nuts, sliced (optional)
Honey Mustard Dressing (see below)
2 cups corn chips, crumbled by hand
Or ready to eat crunchy Asian noodles
chopped coriander, parsley or chives

Keep a few nice pieces of chicken breast to garnish, then mix the rest with remaining salad ingredients (except corn chips) and enough dressing to moisten. Place in one large or individual serving dishes, top with reserved chicken pieces, drizzle with a little more dressing and sprinkle corn chips or crunchy noodles over the top.  A few chopped herbs, just to add a bit of green colour and it’s ready. You will have dressing left over.

Serves 4-6

Variations and Additions: add some thinly sliced snow peas (mangetout), red capsicum or beansprouts

Honey Mustard Dressing

4 Tbs Dijon Mustard
1Tbs hot English mustard
2 Tbs sweet chilli sauce
2 Tbs honey
1 cup oil
¼ cup cider vinegar
1-2 Tbs lemon or lime juice, to taste
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger

Place all the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to emulsify.

Salmon with Cucumber & Asian Dressing

Posted on by
4

Salmon is a delicious protein with minimum waste. We eat it quite often so I always have some in the freezer.

One of my favourite ways to cook salmon is to lightly spray a piece of foil, place it on a baking tray and place the salmon fillets on top. For two portions each weighing 180-200g, mix 2-4 teaspoons each of grated ginger and Thai sweet chilli sauce and spread it over the fish. I use 4 teaspoons, which is equivalent to a tablespoon, because we love ginger! Place in a hot oven at 200°C for 7-8 minutes, if you like your salmon medium-rare. Serve with a salad or green vegetable for a quick, delicious and healthy weekday dinner.

Adapted from one of chef Luke Mangan’s recipes, this Salmon and Cucumber with Asian Dressing takes a little longer to prepare, but it’s not complicated. If you halve the recipe use a very small omelette pan to poach the fish.

 

Salmon with Cucumber and Asian Dressing

4 x 180g-200g salmon fillets
3 or 4 Lebanese cucumbers, depending on size
Poaching liquid:
1 cup white wine
1 small onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
a few peppercorns
enough water so liquid just covers salmon
Dressing:
1 lemon grass stem – core removed and thinly sliced
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs finely grated ginger
3 tsp soy sauce (or more, to taste)
2 Tbs Thai sweet chilli sauce
Herb salad:
¼ cup each Vietnamese or ordinary mint, Thai or ordinary basil and coriander
To garnish:
¼ cup fried Asian shallots (from Asian shops)

Place poaching ingredients in a small shallow frying pan. Simmer for 5-10 minutes then add salmon, cover and switch off the heat. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile make dressing by placing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shaking well. Peel cucumbers, then slice lengthwise with a wide vegetable peeler, going round and round removing the flesh in ribbons and discarding the middle when you get to the seeds. Place cucumber in a bowl and mix with some of the dressing.

When salmon is cool enough to handle, remove from poaching liquid and break into large flakes, discarding skin, bones and the poaching liquid. Wash and dry herbs for salad – just the leaves. Recipe can be prepared ahead to this stage. Keep the individual components covered in the fridge till serving time.

To serve: divide cucumber salad between four plates, forming into a round nest in the middle. Place salmon on top and spoon over some dressing. Mix herb salad with some of the dressing and arrange some on top of the salmon. Garnish with the shallots.

Serves 4

Tri-Colour Coleslaw

Posted on by
3

At our rural property we had a good crop of cabbages until the earwigs found them. Matthew went up there for a couple of days earlier this week to water the new trees and brought a cabbage back with him. As I started to remove some of the outer chewed leaves out jumped a million earwigs! They were everywhere and it was easy to see what they had been eating. I had to throw away about about half the cabbage before I got down to virgin territory.

I’ve been reading up on the internet about tried and tested earwig traps and saving empty containers with lids. Vegetable oil with the addition of something attractive to earwigs, such as a dollop of peanut butter or the oil/juice from a can of tuna, is said to do the trick – it lures them in and they drown. We’re going to the property the weekend after next and those b***** earwigs had better watch out!

Coleslaw when I was growing up was pretty standard – cabbage, carrot and bought mayonnaise – or Heinz salad cream – sometimes with a tin of crushed pineapple thrown in for good measure. This is a more modern version.

Tri-Colour ColeslawAbout 4 cups shredded white cabbage
About 4 cups shredded red cabbage
About 1 cup thinly sliced celery
About 1 cup coarsely grated or julienned carrot
About ½ cup thinly sliced green (spring) onions
1 cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise, preferably home-made
½ cup thick Greek yoghurt or sour cream
½ cup French dressing (see below)

Prepare salad ingredients and place in a large bowl. Place dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake vigorously to emulsify. Add enough dressing to the salad to moisten to your liking – you may not want to use it all. Taste and add more salt if you think it needs it.

Serves 6-8

French Dressing
1 cup oil (sunflower, canola)
¼ cup cider or white wine vinegar
1 Tbs Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Tbs honey (optional)
1-2 cloves garlic peeled and halved

Place all ingredients in a jam jar with a lid and shake vigorously to emulsify. Keeps in the fridge for up to a month. I usually make double or triple in a very large jar so it’s always on hand when I need it. If you like a sweet dressing add the honey. Otherwise just add about half a tsp of sugar.

Cucumber Mousse

Posted on by
3

We have recently had several days in Canberra where the mercury hit 40 degrees Celsius, which is 104 Fahrenheit for the benefit of my British and American readers. Today is due to be another scorcher, our cooling system is kaput and they can’t come and fix it till tomorrow. So what do you eat when you hardly have the energy to read a book or watch the cricket on TV? You certainly don’t want to turn the oven on and make matters worse.

We all know the expression As Cool as a Cucumber, so as I was wondering what to make with the first Lebanese cucumbers we picked yesterday I remembered a recipe for Cucumber Mousse, given to me ages ago by a UK friend called Felicity. I had some cooked peeled prawns in the freezer and always keep some Philadelphia-style cream cheese in the fridge – unopened it keeps for ages and is handy for dips – so there was no need to go and buy anything. Perfect.

Felicity’s recipe says 1 sachet or half an ounce of powdered gelatine. After reading the instructions on my packet and looking on the internet I decided an Aussie tablespoon (20 ml) would work and it did.

Back in the seventies recipes using gelatine were all the rage. I remember making salmon mousse, strawberry mousse, lemon mousse and a tart which had a biscuit base and a filling of evaporated milk – whipped furiously until thick – then set with gelatine and decorated with tinned apricots. Fortunately that recipe has well and truly died and been buried, but Cucumber Mousse is still a refreshing option for a hot day. This recipe makes a good starter or light lunch. The first day I served the mousses with two prawns and a drizzle of sauce round the plate, as a starter. The second day they became a more substantial dish for lunch, with the addition of some smoked salmon rolls – even nicer. If you wanted to be really snazzy you could arrange some very thin slices of cucumber in the moulds before tipping in the mousse.

Cucumber Mousse

1 Tbs powdered gelatine
5 Tbs white wine or cider vinegar
1 scant Tbs sugar
1 large telegraph cucumber or 3 small Lebanese ones
250g cream cheese (I used Woolies Home Brand) at room temp
150ml cream (generous half cup) sour cream, creme fraiche or thick Greek yoghurt
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Peeled cooked prawns and/or smoked salmon to garnish
Green Shallot Dressing to serve

Place vinegar and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatine over the top then zap in the microwave for about 30 secs to dissolve completely. Remove about 60% of peel from the cucumbers and trim the ends. Cut into chunks and place in food processor or blender and puree. Add cream cheese and puree, then cream and lastly gelatine mixture, stopping from time to time to scrape down the sides. Season to taste then tip into 8 half cup ramekins or one large mould and chill for a couple of hours or overnight. Dip moulds briefly in hot water, run a knife with a thin blade around the outsides, then tip out. Decorate with prawns, smoked salmon or both and chives. Drizzle some Green Shallot Dressing around the plate. If you don’t have any green shallots (spring onions) substitute chives or even basil.

Serves 8 as a starter