Salmon and avocado salad

14 May 2013 By 4 Comments
Salmon and avocado salad

Salmon and avocado salad

This is hardly a recipe I’m afraid. But it is the kind of thing I am eating lots of at the moment. I had a look through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s latest cookery book recently: Three Good Things. Many of the recipes in it are so simple but really delicious. It’s a book that seems to me to really reflect my home cooking and shows simple ingredients that work so well together, rather than complicated or elaborate recipes.

Whilst I’m in favour of learning new skills and challenging yourself in the kitchen, when it comes to every day cooking, I find my approach to be very simple, as it’s often this kind of food that I really find myself craving. This salad is one of my favourites. 

Salmon and avocado salad

Serves 2

Ingredients 

1 fillet good quality salmon, skin on

1 large, ripe hass avocado, sliced

Lambs lettuce

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A queeze of fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Method

Cook the salmon fillet however you like. I like to pan fry it, skin side down in a non-stick pan until just cooked. This usually takes around 10 minutes for a large fillet on a moderate-hot heat.

Once the salmon is cooked, remove the skin and flake the fillet. Combine with the lettuce and sliced avocado. Drizzle over the oil, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy without delay.

 

Filed Under: Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Smoked mackerel and bacon salad

9 May 2013 By Leave a Comment
Smoked mackerel and bacon salad

Smoked mackerel and bacon salad

As you may know, I am enjoying eating fish more regularly recently as part of the Fish is the Dish Healthy Happy Hearts campaign. Not only is this a highly nutritious meal which is great for a quick but filling lunch, it is very convenient to make, as smoked mackerel and bacon have quite a long life in the fridge. As I am away so much, these are ingredients which I generally have to hand or can leave in the fridge for days when I haven’t managed to go shopping.

This is one of those fallback meals which I rely on so frequently, using good ingredients, prepared simply.

Smoked mackerel and bacon salad

Serves 2

Ingredients 

2 smoked mackerel

2 rashers smoked back bacon, cut into thin strips

A couple of handfuls salad leaves

¼ red onion, thinly sliced

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp capers

Salt and pepper

Some fresh basil leaves

Method

Remove the skin from the mackerel and flake into chunks. Set aside.

Cook the bacon in a non-stick pan until golden and crisp. I use a non-stick pan and don’t add oil, but you can use 1 tsp oil if you like.

Lay the leaves and onion out onto plates. Place the remaining ingredients into a bowl and whisk together to make the dressing.

Add the mackerel and bacon to the lettuce leaves and pour over the dressing.

Serve immediately with some nice bread or new potatoes.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

A day with Lesley Waters

28 April 2013 By 6 Comments
Pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf

Pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf

Last week, I had a really fun day at the Lesley Waters cookery school down here in Dorset. I spent the day with Lesley and a small number of other guests cooking in her beautiful cookery school kitchen which has recently been custom built adjacent to her Dorset home.

We spent the day cooking a number of Lesley’s signature dishes which was most enjoyable and included bread making, preparing and cooking fresh Dorset seafood, and some fantastic ideas for fresh, quick and absolutely delicious meals. I came away feeling really inspired, thanks to Lesley’s  enthusiastic way of teaching and her generosity with ideas.

Most of the food we made on the day we ate for lunch, with the exception of this delicious loaf of bread we made. I took it home and it was such a hit, I found myself making it again in the week.

The pumpkin seed, sage and thyme plait loaf is absolutely delicious and is great to enjoy at this time of year with salads, and even in a bacon sandwich. It is an adaptation of this recipe found here, with 5 tbsp of toasted pumpkin seeds, and 3 tbsp each of finely chopped fresh sage and thyme added at stage 6 of the recipe and worked into the dough.

It was also a fantastic use of my lovely new Mermaid baking sheet which I was sent to celebrate National Bread Week which worked really well here. A lipless baking sheet is really helpful when making complicated loaves of bread as you can simply flour the bread and slide the loaf on to the sheet, rather than having to pick it up and transfer it, which can result in a misshapen loaf.

Filed Under: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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