For years I searched for the perfect bruschetta recipe. This is properly delicious and not a million miles off the Pizza Express one.
Vine ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Red onion
Salt n pepper
Pesto
Garlic cloves
Wide French loaf
Olive oil
chop and deseed the toms and cut into small pieces and put into a bowl
add the extra virgin olive oil so they literally soak into the toms – add salt n pepper
finely chop half a red onion and add to the mixture
leave for 30 mins to soak up the flavour
cut up as many slices of bread as you want from the french loaf
place them all on a baking tray
brush olive oil lightly onto one side and place into a hot oven
when bread is starting to brown nicely take out and rub a garlic clove lightly on the toasted side
then spread some pesto lightly on the same side
dollup the tomato mixture on top with a fork so as not to get too much extra virgin olive oil on the bread
then you're ready to serve!
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Seared Salmon Salad...Mmm
I haven't posted up any recipes recently. Been too consumed with my day job which seems to be a 24 hours these days!
So here's an easy and healthy one that I tweaked a bit, taken from my fave chef Rick Stein:
Delicious seared salmon salad...
(serves two)
YOU NEED:
2x skinless salmon fillets
light olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
salad leaves - I prefer watercress and spinach leaves
short thin french bread stick
1x medium red pepper
1x large salad/spring onion branch
frying pan - pref a skillet
dressing:
(choice of)
lemon juice - a whole lemon cut in two halves
or 1/2 a small tub of no fat creme fraiche, half a teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and two pinches of dill mixed together.
start by making the croutons:
cut small slices (1cm width approx - less if you can) of the french bread up and lay maybe 14 down on a baking tray. preheat the oven to 210C while you start brushing olive oil onto each side of every slice of bread. Then ground a little pepper over the whole try before sticking in the oven for about 11 minutes or until crispy brown.
for the salad:
take a couple of salmon fillets without the skin and place them face up on a chopping board.
next run a knife along the middle of the fillet making two thinner slices of the fillet - so you're pointing the knife away from your body and cutting either from left to right or right to left depending what hand you use.
do this again with the other fillet.
this gives you four fairly thin slices of salmon that should shallow fry very quickly
pour some olive oil into an egg cup and use a brush to coat both side of each fillet with a thin layer before seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
heat up the skillet pan to quite a high heat with no oil in it (the fillets have enough on them already to sear the salmon)
put the fillets into the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes each side or until they've seared to your liking
remove them and let them cool down
lay out the salad leaves in a shallow bowl and finely chop the salad onion right up the green part until you have no more fresh onion left to chop and then distribute evenly over each of the bowls of salad leaves.
then tear small chunks of the cooled salmon (up to you if you want it hot or cold though) over the salad.
chop your red pepper up into thin edible slices or chunks and distribute over each of the salad bowls before tossing the whole lot to make them look more presentable.
finally add your croutons for a little crunch.
wait to add the dressing at the last minute as it will make it soggy otherwise:
with the lemon halves: put one half on the edge of each bowl and serve so the person eating it can squeeze as mucj or as little as they want to. makes for a healthy fresh zest to the salad
with the creme fraiche dressing: I like to just put a healthy dollop on the edge of the bowl but you may just want to serve it in a separate dish for people to dress over the top of their salad.
Delicious, healthy and perfect for a saturday lunch at home or a warm summer evening meal out in the garden with some fresh chilled sauvignon blanc.
So here's an easy and healthy one that I tweaked a bit, taken from my fave chef Rick Stein:
Delicious seared salmon salad...
(serves two)
YOU NEED:
2x skinless salmon fillets
light olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
salad leaves - I prefer watercress and spinach leaves
short thin french bread stick
1x medium red pepper
1x large salad/spring onion branch
frying pan - pref a skillet
dressing:
(choice of)
lemon juice - a whole lemon cut in two halves
or 1/2 a small tub of no fat creme fraiche, half a teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and two pinches of dill mixed together.
start by making the croutons:
cut small slices (1cm width approx - less if you can) of the french bread up and lay maybe 14 down on a baking tray. preheat the oven to 210C while you start brushing olive oil onto each side of every slice of bread. Then ground a little pepper over the whole try before sticking in the oven for about 11 minutes or until crispy brown.
for the salad:
take a couple of salmon fillets without the skin and place them face up on a chopping board.
next run a knife along the middle of the fillet making two thinner slices of the fillet - so you're pointing the knife away from your body and cutting either from left to right or right to left depending what hand you use.
do this again with the other fillet.
this gives you four fairly thin slices of salmon that should shallow fry very quickly
pour some olive oil into an egg cup and use a brush to coat both side of each fillet with a thin layer before seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
heat up the skillet pan to quite a high heat with no oil in it (the fillets have enough on them already to sear the salmon)
put the fillets into the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes each side or until they've seared to your liking
remove them and let them cool down
lay out the salad leaves in a shallow bowl and finely chop the salad onion right up the green part until you have no more fresh onion left to chop and then distribute evenly over each of the bowls of salad leaves.
then tear small chunks of the cooled salmon (up to you if you want it hot or cold though) over the salad.
chop your red pepper up into thin edible slices or chunks and distribute over each of the salad bowls before tossing the whole lot to make them look more presentable.
finally add your croutons for a little crunch.
wait to add the dressing at the last minute as it will make it soggy otherwise:
with the lemon halves: put one half on the edge of each bowl and serve so the person eating it can squeeze as mucj or as little as they want to. makes for a healthy fresh zest to the salad
with the creme fraiche dressing: I like to just put a healthy dollop on the edge of the bowl but you may just want to serve it in a separate dish for people to dress over the top of their salad.
Delicious, healthy and perfect for a saturday lunch at home or a warm summer evening meal out in the garden with some fresh chilled sauvignon blanc.
Belogging
Been enjoying my regular Seth Godin daily newsletters again recently and found this great TED talk he did in Feb 2009: check it here
I like these guys too: Brand Gym
Just been reading a great book called 'Waking The Tiger: Hidden Trauma' by Peter Levine, which is about research into identifying and overcoming trauma - looking at the 'freeze response' which is something that occurs alongside the fight or flight mechanism we get when we are confronted with an extreme experience. It's a third type of response that regularly occurs amongst people in alarming situations but rarely talked about. Fascinating and insightful read: check it out here
I like these guys too: Brand Gym
Just been reading a great book called 'Waking The Tiger: Hidden Trauma' by Peter Levine, which is about research into identifying and overcoming trauma - looking at the 'freeze response' which is something that occurs alongside the fight or flight mechanism we get when we are confronted with an extreme experience. It's a third type of response that regularly occurs amongst people in alarming situations but rarely talked about. Fascinating and insightful read: check it out here
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