Sweet Potato Salad

I'm late to the sweet potato party but I'm making up for lost time. I'm not a huge fan of potatoes in general and the name sweet potato does not do this delicious, filling healthy object justice. With both of us working from home and me doing the majority of homeschooling I handed the cooking reigns over to Joe but since moving to Hampshire just before Christmas I have taken back one reign and will occasionally do a freezer filler or a filling salad for a healthy lunch and this is one of my go to's. 

You can of course tweak it to suit your tastes - I would always add pomegranate seeds, Joe can live without them - but this should be just what you need to liven up your working-from-home lunch break and you can cook the sweet potato, keep in the fridge and then make the salad when you need to which means it takes a matter of minutes. 

This is the basic recipe - I tend to do the sweet potato, I usually have feta in the fridge and some herbs and then add whatever else I have. Avocado is delicious in this as are a few spinach leaves. 

Sweet Potato & Feta Salad
serves 2

2 sweet potatoes 
1/2 block feta, cut into cubes
Pumpkin seeds and/or pine nuts
Pecans and/or almonds, chopped
Half a head of broccoli
1 tbsp teriyaki 
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
basil or any fresh herb you like
salt & pepper

For the dressing:
soy
honey
olive oil
fresh ginger

Pre-heat oven to 200C/

1. Peel the sweet potato and cut into cubes, you can par boil it or not. If you do it will reduce the time in the oven. Then toss in oil, cumin and turmeric and cook in the oven for about 40-45 minutes or until slightly crispy. 

2. In a small frying pan over a low heat sprinkle the pumpkin seeds and pine nuts with the teriyaki and cook briefly til they are coated and the teriyaki is sort of hardened onto the pan - not too much! If you don't have teriyaki soy will do just as well. Tip into your salad bowl and using your wooden spoon get the teriyaki off the bottom of the pan into the bowl too. 

3. Add the feta and then tear off tiny mini heads of broccoli into the bowl. It can seem ponderous but small bits of raw broccoli are amazing so worth it. 

4. Mix up the dressing and then put the sweet potato into the salad bowl, add the chopped nuts and the dressing. Add the basil and toss. Season to taste. 

Jamie Oliver's Gorgeous Gado Gado

Jamie's Comfort Food arrived in my life when my pregnant superhero level sense of smell was at it's peak and making a baked egg exhausted me. It has to be one of my most looked at cookery books, there are a ton of recipes I want to try out and every mood and taste is covered but they mostly require a level of time and mental involvement that I just didn't have. Until now. Now I am just about managing two children, I'm going to the gym three times a week and it's not acceptable to send my husband out for pizza 5 nights out of 7 because the large slab of fat on my tummy no longer houses a person and needs to disappear. In short I'm not pregnant anymore so I need to take control of what I eat. I'm back in the kitchen.

One of the recipes I've been threatening to try out for a while is the Gado Gado, an Indonesian salad with radishes, beansprouts and tofu, with a peanut and lime dressing. We eat salad quite a lot and I am very strict about what qualifies as a salad-that-is-a-main-course. If there is cheese or meat involved then it is a main course, without these it is just a side salad and not enough for my supper. Therefore feta and mozarella feature heavily in our diet - it's nice to explore other options. Gado Gado has neither cheese nor meat (though I'm sure you could add both) but the egg, potato and tofu sneak this one in to the main course category and it is incredibly filling. We made the amount from the book, recommended for 4 people and had two large helpings each and both had a large bowlful for lunch the next day.

This was the first time I had cooked tofu rather than using the pre-cooked stuff and it was ok - it sort of disintegrated in the pan so I'll probably use the pre-cooked next time, or just try again until I'm better at it (unlikely). I followed his instructions on cooking the cabbage and agree it's the best way to do it (see below). I do think I'd probably add at least one more tomato to this though. But I'm a tomato fan. This is basically, like all salads, one of those recipes where you use the dressing and add what you like. It's a guideline. A good one.

I've changed the order in which he does things as this, to me, makes more sense. If you want soft-boiled eggs, well I do them almost last, he does them first...

Gorgeous Gado Gado
Serves 4

for the salad:
400g new potatoes
4 large eggs
400g firm silken tofu
sesame oil
½ Chinese cabbage
2 ripe tomatoes
1 handful radishes
½ a cucumber
2 handfuls ready to eat beansprouts
½ bunch fresh coriander
optional: prawn crackers
optional: 1 fresh birds eye chilli

sauce:
1 clove garlic
50g palm sugar  (I used this)
120g crunchy peanut butter
1-2 fresh red chillies
juice of 2 limes
2 tsps fish sauce
1 tbsp low-salt soy (we just have normal soy)
1 tbsp tamarind paste

You will need a magimix or blender for the sauce though of course you can mix it by hand, and a frying pan for the tofu if you are cooking it yourself.

1. Scrub the potatoes and cook in salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes or until tender; then halve or slice them up.

2. Finely slice the cabbage if you want it raw of if you want it cooked, which is more traditional, cut into 2cm slices, place in a colander and slowly pour a kettle of boiling water over the top.

3. Cut the tomatoes into wedges, quarter the radishes and slice the cucumber.

4. Put all the veg into a bowl and season with salt.

5. Cut the tofu into 2½ cm chunks and fry in a splash of sesame oil for about 15 minutes, or until golden, then sprinkle lightly with salt.

6. While the tofu is cooking put the eggs on to soft boil for 6 minutes or longer if you prefer. Place all the sauce ingredients in a blender, peeling the garlic and grating the palm sugar if needed, and blitz until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning - you want this to be quite limey so I added some more.

7. Traditionally you serve this in individual bowls adding the salad first and then mixing in the dressing. Jamie adds the sauce to the bowls first with the dressing on top so the individual can see all the ingredients while they mix the dressing in. I am lazy. I put it all in a big bowl, added the dressing and mixed. Tastes the same, doesn't look as beautiful as you can see from my picture. If I was making this for other people I would probably do the individual bowl thing.

Jamie's Griddled Kinda Nicoise

My infatuation with Jamie Oliver is escalating. What started as mild disinterest is now a full-on passion. I was very kindly given Comfort Food for Christmas and am gearing up to cook something from that soon (pregnancy makes everything very slow) but the other night I was cooking for my mother and husband both of whom are trying to be virtuous in January and I'm very aware that the bump isn't getting its 5 a day so I randomly picked this Salad Nicoise from 15 minute meals. No potatoes and no egg but supremely delicious and finished by three of us and pretty easy to cook (and no it didn't take me 15 minutes but I'm a pretty slack cooker). Will be cooking this again and again - nice tuna steaks aren't cheap but the rest of the ingredients are and you can use what veg you have in your fridge.

There were quite a few things I tinkered with on this recipe, for example I'm not a huge fan of green beans and couldn't get the mixed green and yellow from the recipe so I used half beans and half broccoli tips.Where I've made changes I hope I've made them clear - I think the thing with salads is they are endlessly adaptable depending on what you have and like. I also refuse to serve anything on a board so I did this on one big platter... as you can see from the picture.

Griddle Tuna Salad
Serves 4

350g mixed green and yellow beans (or half green and half broccoli tips)
½ a baguette (I used a small one from Sainsburys)
12 black olives (Jamie says stone in, I say stone out)
3 ripe mixed-colour tomatoes (or red ones)
1 romaine lettuce
20g feta cheese
1 lemon

Tuna and Dressing
1 big bunch of fresh basil
6 anchovy fillets
1 lemon
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 x 200g tuna steaks (about 2.4cm thick)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp runny honey

You will need a medium sized saucepan with a lid, a griddle pan and a liquidiser/magimix.

1. Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put them into a pan of salted boiling water and put on a lid (I did my broccoli and beans for the same length of time).

2. Slice the baguette into 2cm chunks and, if you are following Jamie put onto the hot griddle pan. I think basting them in a tiny big of garlic oil pre-griddle would be lovely. Turn when golden.

3. Pick and reserve 10 baby sprigs of basil then rip off the rest of the leaves and blitz in the liquidiser with the anchovies, juice of 1 lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and a splash of water.

4. Pour about 40% of the dressing on to a nice serving platter (Jamie uses a separate one for the dressing and tuna and then places the whole lot on a board with the salad. I used one big platter and it worked very well).

5. Rub 10% of the dressing into the tun and season with salt and pepper. Pour the rest of the dressing into a big bowl with the vinegar, mustard and honey then mix together. Drain the cooked beans, remove the stones from the olives. roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the dressing and mix together.

6. Put the tuna on the griddle pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until blushing in the middle. How you cook your tuna is a matter of personal preference.

7. Chop the lettuce into 2cm chunks, tear the toasts into croutons and arrange over a large board (or on the platter) with the lettuce. I think it's nice to toss half the croutons in the bowl of tomatoes and dressing so they get a bit soggy.

8. Scatter the dressed beans, olives and tomatoes over the top. Tear each tuna steak in half or more and add to the dressing platter (or put on top of the dressing in the centre of the platter if you are not using a board).

9. Scatter over the reserved basil leaves, crumble over the feta and serve with lemon wedges (if you remember).

Pickled Cucumber Salad

In my family there's really nothing (well nearly nothing) we like more than a lunch of 'deli foods'. This does not require a trip to an actual deli, though that is a bonus, but should include some of the following: cheeses, salami, smoked salmon, pate, bread, tomatoes, pickles and chutney. Birthdays are often a good excuse for a deli foods lunch and my mothers birthday last Friday was no exception. However, even though this is the easiest, (though not necessarily the cheapest) option for whoever is hosting the lunch, in this instance me, I always like to have something homemade. More than a salad but not necessarily something as extravagant as Heston Blumenthal's Quiche Lorraine. I was incredibly short on time, thanks to an earlier incident with a much-hated aubergine, and thought now was finally time to try out the Pickled Cucumber Salad recipe I'd written down six years ago and have failed to make ever since. Goes very well with fish.

I know some people are iffy on pickles but I LOVE THEM. So deal with it.

Pickled Cucumbers

Serves 4-6 as part of a picnic

2 medium cucumbers
2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground white pepper
3 tbsp finely chopped parlsey

1. Peel the cucumbers and cut into thin slices.

2. Place the slices, with a sprinkling of salt between layers, between two plates with a weight on top (I used a couple of cans) and leave to stand for about an hour.

3. Pour off the juice that has formed and put the slices in a salad bowl.

4. Mix the dressing of vinegar, sugar, pepper and parsley.

5. Pour the dressing over the cucumber and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Somen Noodles, Prawn and Cucumber Salad

My sister is very good at buying cookery books as presents and one little gem she got for Joe is A Little Taste of Japan. My close family are obsessed with Japanese food, my mother having spent some time living there when she was tiny, and one of the things Joe has done for me over the past ten years is hand rolled sushi for me. Knowing this my sister bought him A Little Taste of Japan to broaden our at-home Japanese cooking horizons, so on Saturday night I was treated to sushi, sashimi and Somen Noodles, Prawn and Cucumber Salad.

Well I would have been if you could get all the ingredients in a mad dash at Waitrose in Shepherds Bush... which you can't. So we were missing a few things but this salad was delicious anyway and perfectly fine without them, or with the substitutions we made. Probably another great all-round dressing to liven up a normal salad with prawn or beef and we will definitely be having this again but next time I will venture to Thai Smile to see if I can get the things we were missing.

Somen Noodle, Prawn and Cucumber Salad

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 fatties

2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers
1 tbsp dried wakame pieces*
200g dried somen noodles
12 cooked king prawns, peeled. deveined and cut in half lengthways
3 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
shichimi togarashi (seven spice mix) to serve, optional*

Dressing:
½ tsp dashi granules*
125ml Japanese rice vinegar
60ml mirin
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp lightly grated fresh ginger
pinch of sugar
½ tsp sesame oil

* things we didn't have

We also couldn't find somen noodles so we used thin egg noodles which were yummy.

1. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, then slice the flesh very thinly on a slight diagonal. Put the slices of cucumber in a colader, sprinkle with salt and leave for 10 minutes before rinsing and squeezing out as much  water as you can. Chill.

2. Meanwhile soak the wakame in cold water for 5 minutes, or until rehydrated and glossy but not mushy. Drain well and chill... or skip this step if you too can't find Wakame.

3. To make the dressing mix the dashi granules with 1 tbsp hot water until dissolved. Add the rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, grated ginger, sugar and sesame oil and stir to combine. Chill.

4. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then reduce and simmer. Add the noodles and cook for 2 minutes or until tender (or follow the instructions on the packet). Quickly drain and rincse under cold running water until completely cool.

5. Combine the cucumber, wakami, noodles, prawns and half the spring onion in a bowl. Pour on the dressing and toss well. Serve immediately garnished with the remaining spring onions and the shichimi togarashi.

Chicken and Greens Salad

My wonderful friend Joy has a reputation for leading me astray. 'I'll be back on the last tube... it's just kitchen supper' I say breezily to my husband as I leave. 'I got carried away' I say croakily as I return in a taxi we can't afford at 5am. So I think we were both a little concerned about what would happen to me if I turned up there pregnant. However, Joy has her own offspring, is trainer, councillor and all round healthy eater so I was in safe hands and she made this most fantastic salad for my supper that contained a billion things that I'm supposed to eat but don't get round to and gave me some for my lunch the next day.

She very kindly gave me the recipe as my cooking has been a bit lax recently... unless you count eating pepperami dipped in cream cheese cooking.

Joy's Chicken and Greens Salad

Serves 3-4

1 bag baby red potatoes
1 packet broccoli stems
1 packet dwarf green beans
1 packet wild rocket
1 packet of mini chicken breast fillets
2 good sized tomatoes, sliced
1 packet fresh basil
1 packet fresh chives
1 packet feta cheese
1 handful toasted pine nuts
1 fresh lemons
ground pepper
Worcestershire sauce

For the dressing:
olive oil
pinch of salt
ground pepper
juice of 1 lemon

1. Boil 2/3rds of the baby red potatoes, drain and let them cool.

2. Steam the broccoli and green beans until still slightly crunchy and then cut in half. Set aside to cool.

3. Stir-fry the chicken in olive oil until cooked through. In a dish squeezing over the juice of 1 lemon, a grind of pepper and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Toss together and leave to cool.

4. Cube the feta cheese.

5. Finely chop most of the basil and chives - how much you use is up to use. Most of each packet is good.

6. When the chicken is cool, chop roughly and add to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients. 

7. Whisk together the dressing ingredients, add to the salad and let it sit for half an hour.

Simple Salad Dressing #2 - Zingy Balsamic Dressing

I feel a bit of a wanker calling this 'zingy' when I really mean 'balsamicy'. This is my favourite dressing and I usually try to make enough to half fill my dressing bottle so it's in the fridge ready to go any more and it can go a bit sludgy... we don't eat enough salad in this house.

Balsamic Dressing

10 tbsps olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsps grainy mustard
1 1/2 tsps caster sugar
1 tsp garlic paste
Salt and pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together either in a blender or by hand in a jug with a whisk (which is what I do). Add salt and pepper to taste and add a bit more oil. mustard and sugar if you find the balsamic too mind
blowing.

Mortadella Pasta Salad

The last of the salads for my studio picnic with my sister and the last from Nigella Express. I love this - I thought it was going to be a bit bland and dry (and lacking in mayo) but it was delicious and, even though I hate lemon, the lemon juice here is absolutely necessary and not at all too lemony. Although it used Mortadella it would work well with any kind of ham you can get hold of or even bacon... but then pretty much everything works with bacon. In fact, this pasta salad is a great basis for everything as you can have most of it in the fridge. I've taken to buying the pre-grated Parmesan because it's so useful for things like this and soups so in fact I only need to get the ham - I think I'll make this next time I have ham leftovers. Delicious!

Mortadella Pasta Salad

Serves 4 as a packed lunch

250g fusilli
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Maldon salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp mild German mustard, or similar
1 thick slice (approx 150g) mortadella, diced into 5mm squares
20g curly parsley, finely chopped
25g Parmesan flakes
salt and pepper to taste

I didn't have German mustard so I used good old grainy and it worked just fine. I also hate curly parsley and never see the need for it so I used flat leaf.

1. Put the pan of water on to boil, add the salt to taste, and then cook the pasta following the packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile whisk together the oil, lemon juice, salt and mustard to make the dressing.

3. Drain the cooked pasta and tip it into a large bowl, pour over the dressing and toss well to coat.

4. When cool, stir in the mortadella pieces, chopped parsley and Parmesan flakes. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as required.

Sesame Peanut Noodles

Another of the choices for my studio picnic with my sister and also another from Nigella Express. Next time I make it (and there will be a next time) I think I'd scatter over some crushed salted peanuts. This would be great to make at the beginning of the week as a yummy, easy lunch.

Sesame Peanut Noodles

Serves 8

For the dressing:
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp garlic oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
100g smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp lime juice

For the salad
125g mangetout
150g beansprouts, rinsed
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into small strips
2 spring onions finely sliced
2 x 275g packets or 550g ready prepared egg noodles
20g sesame seeds
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl or jug.

2. Put the mangetout, beansprouts, red pepper strips, sliced spring onions and the noodles into a bowl.

3. Pour the dressing over them and mix thoroughly to coat everything well.

4. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, chopped coriander and salted peanuts if you want to try them out!

Couscous and Feta Salad

I'm always a bit meh about couscous... it either tastes of nothing, or of stock, or of pesto but I've finally found a way to not only make it taste nice but I actually find this salad incredibly moreish and pretty hard to stop eating but lovely to have in the fridge as a yummy lunch. This does have pesto in it but not too much and if you cube the feta quite small and add it when the couscous is warm then it becomes all soft and yummy.


Couscous and Feta salad

Serves 2

100g couscous
200ml hot vegetable stock
2 spring onions
1 red pepper
1/2 cucumber
1/2 block feta cheese, cut into small-ish cubes
2 tbsp pesto, ideally the fresh stuff
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
4 or 5 large fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn

You just need a bowl to make the couscous in and a chopping board and you can do all the chopping while the couscous is brewing.

1. Put the couscous in a large bowl, pour over the hot stock, cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave for 10 minutes until all the stock has been absorbed.

2. While the couscous is cooking slice the onions, peppers and dice the cucumber. Cube the feta and toast the pine nuts.

3. When the couscous is ready, fluff it up with a fork then add the vegetables and mix, then the pesto and finally add the feta, basil and pine nuts.

Tuna and Beans

This is one of the salads made for my studio picnic with my sister. It's from Nigella Express, although I tweaked it a tiny bit by adding some vinegar, and it was just yummy. Will definitely be making again.

Tuna and Beans

Serves 4-6 as a starter or part of a meal

1/2 red onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 x 400g cans borlotti beans
250g (200g drained weight) good quality tuna
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish
4 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Put the chopped onion into a bowl with the lemon juice and let it steep while you get on with the salad.

2. Drain the beans and rinse to get rid of any gloop then place them in a bowl.

3. Drain the tuna and flake it into the beans.

4. Add the olive oil and some salt to the onion and lemon juice mixture, whisking to make a dressing, then pour it over the tuna and beans and transfer to a serving dish.

5. Fork the tuna and bean salad through, seasoning with salt and ground pepper, and scatter the parsley over.

6. Add the balsamic vinegar to taste.

Studio Picnic

My sister has work exhibiting in the London Art Fair which is coming up coming up so she's been working really hard in her East London studio for the past month and I thought she deserved a picnic, it also gave me an excuse to try out some quick, easy packed lunch recipes I've been wanting to test for ages three of them from Nigella Express.

I love picnics with pies, quiches and pates but this needed to be quick, easy to pack up and carry on the tube and simple to eat whilst perched on a painty chair. I decided on four different salads, some ginger ale and my chocolate fridge cake for pudding. I've listed the salads below and you can click on them to be taken to the recipe post which I've decided to do separately so they are easier to find, and follow.

It was so much fun - I highly recommend taking lunch to someone who is working hard and deserves a treat. An added bonus was having the leftovers for lunch the next day allowing us to go for a massive dog walk, get home ravening and have yummy lunch immediately. I also felt a bit smug for using a lot of the hoarded takeaway boxes I insist on keeping, I think slightly to my husbands disgust, but it does mean the photos don't look great - sorry Mumma!

• Sesame Peanut Noodles
• Mortadella Pasta Salad
• Couscous and Feta Salad
• Tuna and Beans

Simple Salad Dressing #1

I know most people know how to do a salad dressing but this is one of my favourites and I make enough to put in a bottle and then it sits happily in the fridge being yummy and  you don't have to make up a new batch every time you have a salad.

I've used the regular measurements for one batch if you want to fill a bottle multiply all amounts by five except the garlic (use 2 bulbs instead of one), salt (use 1 tsp still and then add to taste) and pepper (same as salt).

Simple Mustard Salad Dressing

For 1 salad

1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp cider vinegar (or red wine if you prefer)
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed

Whisk together, or if you are making a bottle full I do this in a blender.

Sarah Raven's Watercress and Smoked Trout Salad with Horseradish

Trying to eat healthily is all very well but it can be a bit boring can't it? So Joe has been rifling through the cookery books for something that we don't usually have and came up with this from Sarah Raven's Garden Cook Book. It's actually from the March/April section but you can get all the ingredients now but I do have to hold my hands up for cheating right away. The recipe calls for freshly grated horseradish and I just couldn't be bothered to go and get any when I have some in a jar in the fridge. I've also halved the recipe as we were making it just for the two of us... double up and you'll get the original for 4.

WATERCRESS SMOKED TROUT SALAD WITH HORSERADISH
Serves 2

2 leeks
bunch of chives, chopped
100g watercress
2 smoked trout fillets (or hot smoked salmon)

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish (I used 2 tbsp of jar stuff)
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
60ml groundnut oil
salt and black pepper

1. Cut the leeks into quarters lengthways, wash and boil or steam for 8-10 minutes. Drain well. Don't chop them up yet - it's easier to do that when they've been in the dressing.

2. Make the dressing by mixing together the grated horseradish, mustard, vinegar and 1 tbsp water, then add the groudnut oil. Season well.

3. Add the dressing to the leeks and leave for a few minutes. Add the chopped chives.

4. Lift the leeks out of the dressing and put them into a large shallow dish, roughly chop them as best you can, toss the watercress in the dressing and add to the dish.

5. Lastly add the smoked trout and serve. I cannot tell you how tasty this is.

Vietnamese Steak Salad

This is loosely based on the recipe from Spooning with Rosie by Rosie Lovell which I have to say I have had for years and have yet to cook anything from. I did do quite a lot of tweaking to this and it is completely adaptable - you can you as much or as little of any of the vegetables that you like - I added a bit more fish sauce and soy sauce that she recommends but again this dressing is really a taste and tweak kind of thing.

VIETNAMESE STEAK SALAD
Serves 2

For the salad:
3 medium carrots, sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp lightly salted peanuts
3tsp fish sauce
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1tsp sugar
lime juice
A large handful of coriander, roughly chopped
A large handful of mint, roughly chopped

For the steak:
2 fillet steaks, about 180g each
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp peanut oil
freshly ground black pepper

Rosie uses a mandolin to slice everything but I just chopped by hand because I don't have one because I'm just too scared!

1. Marinade the steak in the soy sauce and lots of black pepper - I use a zip lock freezer bag - in the fridge for at least an hour.

2. Slice the carrots, pepper, and spring onions and put in the big bowl you want to use.

Sliced veg

3. Smash the peanuts up either in a magimix or in a freezer bag bashed with a rolling pin. You don't want dust you want nice bite size bits. Chop the herbs and mix these and the peanuts together with the veg.

4. In a heavy bottomed frying pan, I use a griddle, add the steaks and fry on a medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side. After the first side add the rest of the soy from the marinade. I like my steak just done so they are nothing a good vet couldn't bring round but you can cook yours as long as you like but this salad is really nicer with pinker meat.

5. Put the steaks on a board to stand and mix together the salad dressing - fish sauce, lime juice , peanut oil, rice vinegar, soy and sugar - and tip over the salad.

6. Thinly slice the steaks and add to the salad. Toss together and top with a few whole leaves of coriander and mint and serve.

Smoked Mackerel Salad with Crunchy Crutons

Now really there are very few recipes in diet books that you'd actually cook when not on the diet, lets face it they never taste as good as the thing they are impersonating,  but I was really surprised by the Smoked Mackerel salad in Anna Richardson's Body Blitz: Five Rules for a Brand New You. And the work wife was so impressed she's even made it for herself and she laughs in the face of diets (mostly, I think, because she is built like a racing snake). You have to trust me though because this salad sounds like it will be incredibly boring but it's not and even the weird 'crunchy cruton's' (i.e. ryvita) work. An added bonus is that I loved it so much I wanted to blog about it and that meant I know know how to spell the word 'mackerel'... see!

SMOKED MACKEREL SALAD WITH CRUNCHY CROUTONS
Serves 1

1/2 yellow pepper, deseeded
1 medium carrot, peeled
2 ripe tomatoes, quartered
a few slices of cucumber
1 celery stick, trimmed and thinly sliced
3-4 romaine lettuce leaves, roughly torn
1 smoked split mackerel fillet (roughly 50g), skinned
1 thin rye crisp bread
1tsp hot horseradish sauce
1tsp salad cream

1. Cut the pepper and carrot into thin strips and put into a bowl with the tomatoes, cucumber, celery and lettuce leaves. Toss lightly together.

Salad pre-mackerel

2. Flake the mackerel into chunky pieces and drop on top. Break the crispbread into small pieces and scatter over.

Salad post-mackerel

3. Mix the horseradish with the salad cream and 2tsp cold water in a small bowl. Spoon over the salad and eat!