Serves: 2
Prep: 15 min
Cook: Optional (add grilled seafood, beef or chicken)

Ingredients:
2 handfuls of baby salad leaves
1 small Lebanese cucumber
½ red capsicum
1 mango (consider nectarines or oranges)
½ Spanish onion

Dressing:
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1 small red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
2 limes juiced
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of soy sauce

1. Begin with mixing the dressing together to allow it time to mature. I like to begin with dissolving the sugar into the lime juice and adding the garlic. The longer the garlic is in the citrus the more will cook slightly in the acidity.
2. Add remaining ingredients and set to one side.
3. Wash and chop together the main ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Dress just before serving.

Because I’ve had this delightful salad a few times, I remember the core ingredients (tuna, potato, eggs, lettuce, beans, and olives) and I improvise with the rest. I never remember how to do a traditional dressing, so today I went part inpro and part reference. For the dressing I took it straight from Damien Pignolet’s book “French”.

Serves: 2
Prep: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
6 cos lettuce leaves washed and cut into 2 inch wide pieces
6 baby potatoes pealed and halved
2 eggs boiled and cut into quarters
A handful of beans (I’ve used butter beans, but you can use green beans)
¼ capsicum thinly sliced lengthwise
12 kalamata olives
½ Spanish onion sliced thinly (rings halved)
6 semi sun dried tomato’s cut length wise into three
6 anchovy fillets cut in half

Dressing:
3 lugs of olive oil
1 lug of red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put two eggs on the boil – cook so they are firm, but still a dark yellow in the centre. Don’t overcook.
2. Meanwhile make your dressing so that the flavours can develop while you are cooking. Squash a garlic clove with the flat of your knife and use the inner flesh to rub the inside of a bowl and discard the debris. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper – then whisk together. Taste. Ensure it has a sharp but not over powering vinegar flavour.
3. Once your eggs are out you can use the boiling water to get the potatos started.
4. Meanwhile, chop the other ingredients you need and begin to combine. Get the olives in, the anchovies, sundried tomatoes, cos lettuce, capsicum, and Spanish onion.
5. Get your tuna out and oil it, rub salt and pepper on it then leave for a few minutes until your ready.
6. Chop the ends off your green beans and when there is only a few minutes left to go for the potatoes throw them in a steamer and pop it on top of the potatoes.
7. Peal the egg and cut into quarters, set aside. You should place these on the plate at the end as they will break up if tossed into the salad.
8. In a really hot pan sear the tuna for about three minutes each side ensuring there is a crust on the outside, but that it remains quite rare inside but heated through. Take off the heat, then pull together the last few steps while allowing to rest.
9. Meanwhile, you should have taken the beans and the potatoes off the stove and given them a few minutes to cool (only slightly so that they are not steaming). Now is time to mix the potato and beans with your salad and the dressing.
10. Slice the tuna longwise.
11. Compile the final touches of the salad by placing the fresh salad ingredients onto a plate, lay the quartered egg pieces around the side and then layer the sliced tuna into the center.
12. Done. Eat.

I’m going for a sweet flavour by focusing on pumpkin and fresh peas. This one takes slightly longer because of the roast pumpkin, but that leaves you with plenty of time to prepare accompanying dishes.

Serves: 4 as a side
Prep: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min

Ingredients:
1 cup cous cous
Half a Japanese pumpkin
Half a cup of peas
¼ red capsicum diced
¼ yellow capsicum diced
1 shallot finely diced
1 small red chili, seeds removed and sliced
1 teaspoon of veggie stock
1 handful of lemon thyme
1 lug of olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Start out by roasting the pumpkin, you want nice pieces, a little smaller than bite sized. You will need to cook this in a moderate oven for about half an hour or so, turning once or twice during this time.
2. Prepare the red and yellow capsicum, the chili and the shallot and place it in a medium to large bowl. Add the lemon thyme leaves, cous cous, veggie stock, salt and pepper.
3. When the pumpkin only has about 10 minutes to go get 1¼ cups of water on the boil. Add the peas and cook for three minutes, then toss over the cous cous salad mixture. Cover allowing to steam for five minutes until the cous cous is soft then fluff and combine with a fork.

Quick and easy. Sorry about the picture. I’d already eaten most of my dinner when I realized it was so good that I should do an entry!

Serves: 1 or more
Prep: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast ( you won’t need all of this but may as well cook it)
1 large mushroom
½ Spanish onion
1 ½ handful of rocket
½ handful of oregano
1 garlic clove
1 small red chili
Lemon myrtle infused olive oil
½ lemon
Grated halloumi to serve

1. Cut the chicken into strips and marinate in the finely chopped chili and finely chopped oregano with a lug of lemon myrtle olive oil and a teeny bit of that lemon as we need most of it in the dressing. Leave for half an hour
2. In a seperate hot pan begin to cook the chicken pieces until nice and brown
3. In the mean time, begin to cook the mushrooms. Slice them and throw into the pan with plenty of olive oil. Once half way through cooking add the onion and garlic continue to cook until just golden on each side on a medium heat.
4. In a bowl combine rocket the remaining juice of the lemon
5. Combine the cooked mushroom and chicken with the rocket. This will wilt it a little. Stir to combine and garnish with halloumi and pepper.

This can’t get any simpler – oh my the flavour combo is great though. I’ve tried to make something with the most basic of combinations – but with a complex flavour. I think this does that.

Serves: 2
Preparation: 3min

Ingredients:
2 radish cut into slithers
2 handfuls of rocket
½ lemon juice
Salt & pepper

1. Combine the above ingredients and serve.

An orange
A bit of Fennel
A few leaves of mint
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Grab your orange and top and tail it. Then use your knife to cut off the remaining skin using curved downward cuts so as to maximize on the yield of the orange flesh. Chop some slithers of fennel and stir in a bowl with the orange, olive oil and the salt and pepper. Serve flat on a plate with a sprinkle of mint.

Serves: 1 or 2
Prep: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
2 small zucchinis cut lengthwise
8 asparagus spears cut lengthwise
2 handfuls of rocket
2 tablespoons of Parmesan shavings
½ small brown/red onion sliced into long pieces
Balsamic vinegar
Lug of olive oil

1. Put water on in a saucepan for poaching the chicken
2. Heat grill pan, clean and chop the veggies and place on pan for grilling
3. Cut the chicken into two equal portions horizontally and lengthwise as though you were going to butterfly it open
4. Put the chicken in the boiling water with a lid on and cook for around 8 minutes
5. Meanwhile, turn the veggies
6. In a bowl, place Parmesan shavings, onion and rocket
7. Once the chicken is ready remove from the saucepan and slice
8. Add chicken to bowl of salad with the grilling veggies
9. Stir through salt and pepper, a lug of olive oil and splash of balsamic.
10. Serve

Cal. 270

Serves: 2
Prep time: 20min

Ingredients:
Corral lettuce sliced
Cucumber peeled and sliced
One carrot grated
A handful of bean sprouts
Half a papaya with the seeds removed, peeled and finely sliced
Star fruit sliced into stars
Fresh mint sliced
A handful of beansprouts
A handful of white radish peeled and finely sliced
The juice of one and a half limes

1. Mix ingredients and serve.

Hmmm… kick it! This salad really rocks. And it was a really satisfying way for me to send off a tummy bug!

Serves: 2
Cook time: 25 min

Ingredients:
2 chicken thighs
3 cups of inch cubed pumpkin
2 slices of haloumi
A handful of green beans
A handful of rocket

Dressing
1 lug of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
½ teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon of parsley

1. Place the pumpkin in the oven and roast at a moderate temperature for 45 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, slice the haloumi and pan fry until golden on both sides
3. Dice the chicken and cook fairly quickly on a high heat so that nice brown crispy bits appear.
4. Slice the green beans and blanch for a moment.
5. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl, add the rocket, cooked green beans, pumpkin, haloumi and chicken and stir through.