My perfect Summer salad

When a day has been as hot as today the only thing I really want it a big bowl of salad - and I don't just mean a bowl of lettuce - that's boring!  They always say that the more colours you can get into your meals the healthier they are and I like that as a basis for salads (although I must admit that the majority of colours in my salads are still shades of green)!  In my mind a good salad is made up of three key components: a protein, a carbohydrate and some veggies.  The protein can be meaty such as chicken or ham, or vege such as cheese or eggs.  Carbohydrates include bits like couscous, dough sticks, potatoes, bulgar wheat. The veggies can be whatever you fancy - my personal favourite is avocado (even though it's not technically a veggie), it's also good to bulk out your salad with bits like lettuce, cucumber and celery.

Today's salad is pretty much my favourite mix (although if I had any I would have added in a few tomatoes).

Here's what went in it:

Boiled new potatoes

Boiled egg

Iceberg lettuce

Celery

Roasted & marinated red peppers

Spring onion

Red onion

Avocado

Homemade French dressing

Boil the potatoes for 10-15mins depending on their size, after about 5mins add the eggs to the pan.  Meanwhile chop the lettuce, celery and spring onions and put them in a mixing bowl.  Finely slice the red onion and add that.  I normally shred the red peppers into strips but feel free to chop them instead.  Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone and use a sharp knife to cut it in the skin (without cutting the skin itself) then get a spoon to scoop it all out into your bowl.

When the potatoes and eggs are done plunge them quickly into cold water to stop them cooking.  Remove the potatoes first, cut them while they are still warm and add them to the salad.  Peel and quarter the eggs but don't add these to the main mixing bowl.  If you have trouble peeling eggs I would recommend Jamie Oliver's method, lightly crack all round the egg (top, bottom & sides) then give it a gentle roll across the worktop, this should loosen the shell enough to let you get it off more easily in one go (or at least less go's than normal)!

Stir up all your ingredients (minus the eggs) and put a portion into your bowl/plate and top with the quartered egg.  Make a quick French dressing by putting a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a pinch of salt in a jam jar, then top that off with white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil (in a ratio of roughly 1:3 depending on your own taste, you may find you prefer 1:4).  Put the lid on your jam jar and give it a good shake before tasting it and adjusting the ratios if necessary.

After this you just need to dress your salad and stuff your face!

Here comes the sun...

Finally we’ve had some sun!  The summer is my favourite time of year and since we get precious little of it in England I think it’s so important to make the most of it.  I normally spend a silly amount of money on Starbucks iced coffee when it’s hot so over the weekend I decided to experiment with concocting my own – with pleasing results!

I’ve never been very keen on instant coffee so to start off I made a big pot (about 6-7 cups) of strong coffee in a cafetiere.  After it had brewed and been plunged (still something I enjoy doing despite the fact I’m no longer under the age of 10) I poured it into a blender and added 60g soft brown sugar and a good glug of vanilla extract.  To cool the coffee down I chucked in about 8 large ice-cubes (part of the reason the coffee needs to be strong) and set the blender to melt in the sugar and crush the ice.  Once everything had disappeared I added skimmed milk until I got the colour I was looking for – it depends how you like it really but I added about 200ml.  After this I chucked a few more ice cubes in and blended again.  Once all the ice was melted and I had a nice cold drink I poured it all into a jug, chucked some ice cubes in a glass and headed out to the balcony.

All in all it was a very successful experiment (and what’s even better is there was even some left over for this morning)!

A bit of Bank Holiday baking

It’s not that long since I moved into my flat and there are still a few bits that need fixing up.  Obviously the best person to do this is my dad and the best way to get him round is to promise food!

I always think the best bribe will be cake but at the moment I’m trying to get ready for my holiday so I’ve been developing ‘healthy’ cake recipes.  This one is a variation on a great recipe from a kids cook book called ‘Let them eat cake’ – I think it’s called American Chunks.  My variation is made with spelt flour because I think it makes lighter cakes and also isn’t so bad if you have problems with wheat as I seem to.  I also use Clover lighter in all my baking which I’m not sure you’re supposed to but it always makes nice cakes – it does mean you don’t need to add a pinch of salt to any recipes.  I also added chopped prunes and mixed chopped nuts because I like them!

Here’s the finished cake:

  

If you fancy making your own here’s the recipe for what I tend to think of as crack top cake.

Ingredients:

1tbsp cocoa powder

5 tbsp cold water

85g Clover lighter

2 medium free range eggs

225g golden caster sugar

2 tbsp chopped nuts (approx)

100g white spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

Chopped prunes (optional – feel free to substitute other dried fruits)

Preheat oven to about 150 C for a fan oven (I’ve only ever used the fan but I think you could probably go with about 180 C non-fan in the centre of the oven).

Heat the cocoa powder, water and clover lighter in a non-stick pan until the fat has melted.

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add sugar and beat with an electric whisk (if you have one) until they are light and fluffy.  Add in the chocolate mix and keep beating, also add the nuts and dried fruit at this point.

Add the flour and baking powder into the bowl (some people sift it in but I’m way too lazy), I normally use the electric whisk to incorporate it all in but you could fold it in with a metal spoon.

Pour into a deep baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and put in the oven for 35-40mins (check after 30).  Take it out when the top is firm to the touch and leave to cool for a bit in the tin (don’t worry when the top starts cracking – it’s supposed to do that).

Happy baking!