folkmann.ca » Salads

Asian cucumber salad

jfolkmann — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:11:05 +0000

So simple. This fresh tasting salad is a great addition to any Asian spread. I like it as a side to chicken or soup, you can alter the amount of chili depending on how hot you like it.

Preparation time: 10m
Cooking time: n/a
Difficulty: 1
Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 cucumber (sliced into thick match sticks)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Small bunch coriander (roughly chopped)
1 small red chili (roughly chopped)
Sesame seeds

Preparation

Slice the cucumber into thick match sticks and place into a bowl. Add all of the other ingredients, stir to coat cucumber and serve.

Pomelo salad

jfolkmann — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:30:21 +0000

This salad is a great addition to any south east asian meal. The freshness of the pomelo cuts right through heavy curries and cleans the palate. You can substitute grapefruit if you can’t find any pomelos. Thanks to “Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet” by Alford & Duguid for the recipe.

Preparation time: 10m
Cooking time: n/a
Difficulty: 1
Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 pomelos (one red, one white)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tablespoons of dry roasted grated coconut
2 tablespoons of dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1 cup of mint leaves chopped
2-3 bird chiles, finely chopped
Bibb lettuce leaves, washed and dried (for garnish)

Preparation

In a small bowl mix together fish sauce, lime juice and sugar, stir until the sugar is dissolved and set aside.

Peel the pomelo and separate into segments. Cut off the inside seam of each segment and then run your thumb between the membrane to free the fruit inside. Place the fruit in a bowl.

When ready to serve, pour off any juice that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl. Add the coconut (and peanuts), the shallots, mint and chilies to the fruit and mix well. Pour the dressing over and mix well. Adjust flavouring and serve immediately on a bed of lettuce.

Note: If you don’t have dry roasted coconut, just buy shredded coconut and dry fry it in a frying pan for a few minutes until it just starts to turn brown.

Mixed fruit salad

jfolkmann — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:17:55 +0000

My mother in law made this dish for us for breakfast. It’s a slightly odd combination of fruits but somehow it just worked. It’s a lovely salad to start the day. Serve along with some boiled eggs and english muffins.

Preparation time: 20m
Cooking time: n/a
Difficulty: 2
Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 small pineapple
2 pears
Seeds from 1 Pomegranate
3 oranges
¼ cup feta Cheese
handful fresh Mint – chopped

Preparation

- Cube and grill pineapple until slightly caramelized.

- Cube pears and 2 oranges.

- Mix all fruit, including pomegranate seeds, in a bowl.

- Squeeze the juice from the remaining orange over the fruit.

- Add chopped mint and crumbled feta cheese and mix together.

Spinach, goats cheese and peaches glazed in a balsamic reduction

jfolkmann — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:07:43 +0000

This is a great summer salad. If you’re fishing for compliments I guarantee that everyone at your next dinner party will tell you how good this is. I tested it again for a birthday party last night and it never fails.

Preparation time: 30m
Cooking time: 10m
Difficulty: 2
Serves: 6

Ingredients

4 cups baby spinach
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
4 peaches or nectarines
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp of salt
¼ tsp of salt freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to 3/4 cup goat cheese, about a 150g

Preparation

In a small pan bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil and simmer for 1-5 minutes until the vinegar thickens. Leave it on the stove to cool.

Peal the peaches and chop into small chunks. Put the peaches into a bowl and pour the vinegar over the peaches. Leave it sit for 1/2 hour or so until the vinegar has mixed with the peach juices.

In a seperate dish mix the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and whisk together. Add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and toss them. Serve.

If you want to be fancy, just toss together the spinach and the olive oil mixture. Plate the spinach and then crumble the goats cheese on top. Spoon the peaches on top of both and spoon on some of the juices.

Left-over Salmon Nicoise

jfolkmann — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:10:24 +0000

Left-over salmon (or a few salmon steaks)
3 medium potatoes, sliced and boiled until just soft
12-15 stems of asparagus
6 or 7 small ripe tomatoes, cut in half
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in 1/2

Vinaigrette:
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of grainy Dijon mustard
pinch of salt
pinch ground black pepper

The easiest way to make this recipe is to use left over salmon from the evening before, but if you don’t have any put some salmon steaks in the oven at 250F for 30 minutes (make sure you drizzle the steaks with a bit of olive oil so they don’t dry out.)

Otherwise this is probably the easiest lunch you’ll ever make. Clean and slice the potatoes (thick) and put them in a pot of boiling water and simmer until the potatoes are just soft. Whilst the potatoes are boiling use a steamer to cook the asparagus, until the stems turn a vibrant green (better to be under done than over done.) In another pot, boil the eggs until they are hard. Usually about 12 mins. Once the potatoes, eggs and asparagus are ready, plate all of the ingredients and cover with the dressing.

Delicious. Fact.

Goats cheese and garlic bread salad

jfolkmann — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:53:51 +0000

1 head of butter lettuce (ripped into small pieces)
2 yellow tomatoes (diced)
2 red tomatoes (diced)
2 orange tomatoes (diced)
1 small round of goats cheese
1 french stick
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Cut the clove of garlic in half and cut your french stick into small rounds. Rub the clove of garlic over each piece of bread and then brush each piece with olive oil (make sure you do both sides). Place the bread on a cookie tray and place under the broiler until the bread is brown, flip and repeat on the other side.

Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl, crumble in the goats cheese, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve.

Wheely greek salad

jfolkmann — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:00:23 +0000

I used to work at a company called Wheel and due to the lack of food establishments in proximity of the office we often resorted to making communal lunches. It had the side effect of bringing everyone together and getting people up from their desks to have lunch in a civilised way. This greek salad (or our version) was a favourite as it’s quick and feeds the multitudes for only a few pesos. I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

1 red onion
1 small basket of mini plum tomatoes (use large plum tomatoes if you have them)
1 large cucumber
150g of feta cheese
1 splash of balsamic vinegar
1 splash of olive oil
1 dash of dried oregano

Cut the onion into large pieces, and do the same for the cucumber, feta and tomatoes (mini ones, just cut them in half). Add all the ingredients to a large bowl, splash with vinegar and oil and sprinkle the oregano on top. Mix all together and serve with a french stick. Serves about 3 people, and makes a great healthy lunch.