“Can you make some salads for the BBQ?”
Salads… So many ingredients, so much banal prep for little reward… That’s what ran through my head when asked to make some salads for a Friday night summer BBQ. I promptly sent back a link to the message of The Simpsons clip where they conga around Lisa chanting “You don’t win friends with salad!”, to the newly-turned vegetarian, Lisa.
Sigh. Salads. Ok, let’s do this. And the results were not only delicious and friend-winning, but if you like to really show some flair in the kitchen, these salads require a bit of skill, so you don’t feel under-utilized.
Let’s start with the Potato Salad with Basil Pesto Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 2kg baby potatoes
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard
- 500ml sunflower oil
- squeeze of lemon
- bunch basil
- dessert spoon of sugar
- big handful of chopped walnuts
Method
- The smaller the baby potatoes you can find, the better. If they are teeny there is no need to chop them in half, but if, like with most bags of potatoes, they are of varying sizes, chop the larger ones in half and leave the smaller ones. Boil in a big pot on the stove. You might want to boil them in two batches if you don’t have a large enough pot, which is what I did. Cook for about 20 minutes or so. You want the potato to be cooked through but still firm so they retain their shape. Drain and set aside to cool.
- To make the mayonnaise, place the egg yolks in a large bowl with the mustard. Slowly add half the oil whilst continually whisking. The key here is to add the oil in a steady trickle, a bit at a time and make sure it is fully incorporated into the yolk mixture.
- In a blender, place the remaining 250ml of oil, the basil and the sugar (a small amount of sugar just takes the residual bitterness out of the basil). Blend until finely mixed. Then slowly add this mixture to the mayonnaise and continue to whisk. When fully mixed, the mayonnaise should be thick and pale green in colour. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Once the potatoes have cooled, transfer into an epic-sized bowl and mix through the pesto mayo, and also sprinkle the chopped walnuts throughout. Season with sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper to taste. These add a bit of texture and crunch, which are never bad things. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Also, be careful how long you leave this hanging around for – it needs to be kept cool.
Tomato and Radish Salad with a Raspberry Dressing
Often things are born out of accident, or a desire to use leftover bits and pieces. This salad, which I shall be adding to my repertoire, is one of those things. Since moving to England last year, I have been enamoured with the radish. When I saw them piled high in their resplendent glory at Borough Market, my mind instantly drifted to Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor’s Garden. How sweet! Radishes don’t feature much in Australia, and these tickled my sense of whimsy. When I saw a bag of these delightful little rubies for 45p whilst shopping for salad ingredients, I thought, “Yes! Radishes! I can use those!”…
I paired them with lovely ripe heirloom cherry tomatoes in red and yellow. You need the variety of colour here as it makes it visually arresting, and also varies the flavour to the more developed palate. Please note, it is imperative to have lovely ripe tomatoes, you don’t want semi-ripe ones with mediocre flavour.
The raspberry dressing came about from some leftover raspberries I had knocking about the fridge. Push yourself to use what leftovers you have. Waste is a terrible thing.
Ingredients
- 300g heirloom cherry tomato mix
- 150g cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 7 small radishes
- For the dressing: 5 raspberries
- balsamic vinegar
- red wine vinegar
- lemon juice
- olive oil
Method
- This salad is best prepared as close to serving as possible. It may be chopped up and assembled slightly in advance, however do not dress it until serving time. Chop all the tomatoes in half. If you are good with knives (I prefer doing this with a long serrated blade) you can place your hand on top of several cherry tomatoes and slice through horizontally, which saves time compared to slicing them individually, however, this can be dangerous, so don’t try and be too clever. Place in whatever serving bowl you’ll be using.
- Thinly slice the radishes into rounds. Take a moment to admire how beautiful they are. These add a burst of freshness and pepper and crunch. Disperse radishes throughout the tomato mix. Season the salad with sea slat flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- To prepare the dressing, mash the 5 raspberries with a fork in a small bowl. I don’t have exact quantities for the liquids here as you use your eye and your palate to check how things are going. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and mix. Add a splash of red wine vinegar, some lemon juice and a bit of olive oil. Mix together roughly.
- Transfer to small jar with lid and shake it rather furiously. This will break down the raspberries. You don’t really want large pieces in there. Have a little taste and assess if it needs more of anything. It should have a lovely balance of sweet and tangy. It is a rather unexpected dressing and will even potentially stump the most avid of food genii.
- Pour over the salad evenly when ready to serve, if making this dressing in advance, which is fine, just be sure to store it in the fridge.
Roast Butternut Squash (or pumpkin if you’re Australian) with Spinach and Feta
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash cut into 2cm cube
- olive oil
- ground cumin
- chilli flakes
- sea salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 pack of baby spinach leaves
- 1 block of feta
- For the dressing: 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- juice from half a lime
- teeny weeny bit of sugar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Dice butternut into 2cm cubes and place on roasting tray. Splash over olive oil and then sprinkle the ground cumin and chilli flakes. Season with salt and pepper and roast until cooked through. This takes approximately half an hour. Set aside to cool. Once cool, you can refrigerate this until you are ready to assemble and serve the salad. The longer in advance you make this, the more the flavours will develop. Try and give it a good 6 or so hours.
- Wash the spinach and throughly dry off. You can dry it by pressing kitchen towel lightly over it. You don’t want wet spinach, so be meticulous. Add the butternut and crumble the feta over. I didn’t quite use the whole block, as you don’t want to overload the salad with feta. It’s very salty so pay attention! Toss the salad gently to get a good distribution of ingredients. Set aside whilst you make the dressing.
- Place the yogurt in a bowl and squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Mix together with a fork. Sprinkle a wee bit of sugar in. This tiny addition will help to bring out the sweetness of the butternut. Add some black pepper and sprinkle in a bit of ground cumin too. Lastly, add a little bit of olive oil and mix well. Pour over salad and mix through at the last minute and serve. The tangy yogurt works a dream with the spice of the butternut.
Roast Sweet Potato, Pomegranate and Dukkah Salad
Ingredients
- one large sweet potato, cut into 2cm cubes
- olive oil
- For the dukkah (an Egyptian condiment): 150g raw hazelnuts
- big fat handful of raw sesame seeds
- dessert spoon full of cumin seeds
- sea salt flakes
- pomegranate seeds
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. Peel the sweet potato and cut into 2cm cubes. Splash over some olive oil and roast until cooked. This takes about 25 minutes or so. Set aside to cool. You can make this in advance. Simply store in a container in the fridge until needed.
- For the dukkah, place the hazelnuts and sesame seeds into a fry pan and place over low-medium heat. You want to give them some colour. Be careful. Due to their high oil content, both of these ingredients can burn quickly. Once golden, remove from the heat. When cooled, place in a mortar and pestle along with the cumin seeds and a good pinch of salt and bash. You are not making a paste, more so just a chunky birdseed like mix.
- When it is time to serve the salad, place the sweet potato in your dish, lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the dukkah. The potato will be a bit sticky so the dukkah will cling to it nicely. Add the pomegranate seeds and mix well. This salad doens’t have a liquid dressing as the dukkah acts like a coating and there are gorgeous pockets of moisture added by the pomegranate seeds.
