just brilliant. this salad will change your life.
I promise you:
this will drive you crazy….
and you will want it for dinner the next evening too.
do it.
this is a go to favourite of mine. its easy, and its a salad full of flavour and texture.
the dressing recipe is incredibly adaptable – use it for a thai beef salad, or make it vegetarian and chuck in some firm fried tofu …. its a real crowd pleaser.
fresh and crisp, your body will love you for it… and your tastebuds too. thats what i call a win, win.
Continue reading “vietnamese chicken salad, with crispy fried shallots”
the classic combination of sushi inspired this dish. its been SO hot in christchurch lately, and that brings with it cravings for fresh and clean salads.
this dish brings with it a pop of hot from the wasabi, balanced beautifully with the salt from the soy and sour from the lemon. the ginger will remind you of sushi garnishes – and altogether this is a match made in heaven.
im drooling writing about it.
this will take you 30min or so, so an easy and TASTY weekday meal.
i went to the supermarket intent on making a steak with a pumpkin, basil, pinenut & feta salad……… but when the pumpkin looked shriveled and a bit nasty, i went with the beetroot instead. and then of course, it all had to change.
but thats where the best ideas end up coming from – the need to adapt.
this is bloody delicious. and its easy 🙂
get into it.
nothing else can match the fresh, explosive flavour of a thai salad… and the one i had at chinwag in christchurch on a hot, blustery dry summers day was just that… and it hit the spot.
boy was it spicy… (which i love) but not at the expense of all the other trademark thai flavours. perfectly balanced and satisfying, i had to give it a whirl.
there are a few deviations from chinwags offering – i didnt have lemongrass at home, so used ginger in the dressing instead. and i couldnt get fresh squid, so there is chicken which i bathed in its own sticky marinade so it would get a great flavour crust on it. the chicken ended up contrasting with the chilli in in the dressing perfectly.
this is something you can smash together in about 45mins if you need to. it will take longer if you want the chicken to marinate longer.
i had a fabulously long lunch at hellenic republic in brunswick, melbourne early jan 2017.
not only did i nearly make new best friends with the server, i experienced the most mouth watering lamb (arni sto fourno) i have ever had – melt in your mouth, cut with a spoon kind of tender. i had the carrot salad, which is far too humble of a description for what blasted me with flavours of cumin, basil and honey. and the saganaki – well there isnt much in the world thats better than a hot, textural, and salty cheese with figs.
my replication of the dishes took a few creative liberties based on what i had available – but i was super pleased… they were delicious… and they took me right back to my seat in that brunswick restaurant on a 35 deg day, where i downed delicious mythos lager and went on my first, and immensely memorable, greek food journey.
i didn’t get to eat the original dish myself. the recommendation came from my husband. i then checked out what a.baker’s website said about the dish – the rest was up to me.
my result (photo posted) was amazing, actually incredible – heaps of flavour, super fresh, the smoked pork gives it great depth and there’s heaps of texture. every spoonful was heaven.
don’t be put off by the ingredient list – the broth is easy, it’s a set and forget kinda broth.
the toughest bit of the recipe was trying to do 63 deg eggs on gas, but i found the right balance of “pot off the element” to not have to watch it like a hawk. if you don’t have the patience for this, just do poached eggs! the best thing about 63 deg eggs is the texture – but if you do poached eggs, flavour won’t be impacted.
give it a go! recipe follows.
ReplicATE It. 