three summer salads with feta





What's not to love about summer and alfresco dining... crisp fresh ingredients tossed together with crumbs of feta, dressed with fresh lemon and olive oil, served and enjoyed outdoors - this for me is summer on a plate.  These three ideas are all extremely simple to prepare and very pretty to eat.  As they all use a hint of feta, I wouldn't necessarily serve them together but rather mix and match them to different meals or BBQ's. 

 

I couldn't resist dressing the table with a few hand picked herbal blooms straight from the garden, a little bouquet of Lavender, Chamomile, and Pea shoots add a delicate touch to your table.

 

 

Roasted sweet potato, beetroot and feta salad

 

• Serves 2/4
• 2 large sweet potatoes, sliced or cubed
• 5 medium sized roasted beetroots
• 1/2 slab of feta
• lettuce leaves

Method:

 

1) Place sweet potatoes in a roasting dish, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 20 minutes or until crispy but still soft.  If your beetroots are fresh, cover each one with foil and place in the oven together with the sweet potatoes but leave in for at least an hour till soft, remove from foil and peel the skin off.  Alternatively use pre-packed already cooked beets.

 

2) Toss all together with crumbed feta, place on the lettuce leaves and drizzle with olive oil and little balsamic vinegar.

 

 

Courgette, mint, chilli and feta salad

• Serves 2/4
• 3 raw courgettes, peeled length ways with a peeler
• 1/2 medium heat red chilli, finely chopped
• 1/4 slab of feta, crumbed
• few sprigs of mint

Method:

 

1) Toss all together in a bowl and dress with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  Note this is best when the courgettes have been marinated in the dressing for at least half an hour, they go all soft but still maintain a slight crunch.

Rosemary roasted butternut and feta salad

• Serves 2/4
• 1 butternut, peeled and sliced into chunks
• few sprigs of rosemary
• 1/2 slab of feta, crumbed
• 1 tsp chicken spice

Method:

 

1) Sprinkle the chicken spice over the butternut together with the sprigs of fresh rosemary, roast in preheated oven of 180 degrees for 20 mins.

 

2) Toss together with the feta and dress with olive oil.



butternut, cauliflower & chickpea curry

Honestly this came about from being all I could find in the fridge and pantry.  I always have a tin of chickpeas handy for whatever reason be it salads, houmous or stews and I had a very big butternut begging to be chopped.  I'd also noticed half a cauliflower in the fridge, who knows how long it had been there and the first thing that came to mind was a mild coconuty curry.

 

There used to be quite a famous advert in South Africa for crackers where the toppings started out very fancy e.g. smoked salmon and cream cheese, then just cream cheese and by the end of the month there was nothing but the plain cracker, they referred to it as the end of the month salticrax.

 

This dish is my end of the month curry for your lovie ;)





Serves 4

 

You'll need:

• 1/2 a butternut, diced
• 1/2 a cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 1 red onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tin of tomatoes
• 1/2 tin of coconut milk
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp coriander
• juice from half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• plain yoghurt to serve

Method:

1) Fry the onion in a pan.  Add the spices and all the vegetables.  Mix well to ensure the spices coat all the veggies

 

2) Add the coconut milk and tinned tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper and simmer for approx. 20mins or till tender.

 

3) Serve with a dollop of plain yoghurt and toasted pita breads or naan.

 

watermelon and feta



Something refreshing for dare I say it these slightly warmer days.  This is in essence the Greeks equivalent to British strawberries and cream.  A true staple in Greece where restaurant owners may even bring you a plate as a post-meal refresher - on the house.  It also goes down well in the afternoon when everyone wakes from their siesta about to head down to the beach.  Back in the UK I love it any place, any time.

 

The combination of feta and watermelon may sound strange to those who haven't tried it but trust me it works very well.  It's a sweet and salty explosion of flavours, you will never be able to eat watermelon without feta ever again.  A few sprigs of mint would also go down well with this.

 



 

You will need:

• watermelon
• good quality feta (preferably cows milk feta not goats milk)

 

Method:

 

1) Slice some cold watermelon and serve with slices of good quality feta.

 

raspberry, coconut and honey lassi

 

 

 

There is not much to say about this drink other than it is every so simple, ever so refreshing and ever so good for you.  One small sip and you'll find yourself drifting off to another land, a land of suntan oil, mosquitos and peace, yes somewhere exotic, somewhere we call a holiday!

 

 

Serves 2-4

 

You'll need:

• 1 punnet of raspberries
• 1 Tbs honey
• 1/2 can of coconut milk
• crushed ice

Method:

1) Put raspberries, honey and coconut milk in a blender and blend till smooth.  Serve over crushed ice.

We're thrilled with recent coverage in Crumbs Magazine

Thank you Crumbs for a great feature in this month's issue.   For those who don't know Crumbs Magazine has just been voted best Food Magazine in the Guild of food writers awards, a very big congrats to you all.

We recently hosted a Vintage Blossom Tea Party in the Garden, Crumbs came along and this is what they had to say.

P.S. You have to try the simple Swiss roll with strawberries and rose cream recipe listed in the feature!

Read feature here:

Vintage Blossom Tea Party

homemade granola + fruit compote

Friends invited us round for brunch a few weekends ago.  They whipped up this quick granola and fruit compote which was to die for, a little piece of heaven I had to ask how it was made. It sounded so simple, I  immediately got on the case.

From now on, I make sure I always have a pack of frozen berries in the freezer for whenever I need to make this delicious little number.  It's great too when you have friends come stay for the weekend.  There is something that feels quite posh about serving this to guests and leaves a lasting impression - meanwhile it's the easiest thing in the world!

Oh and it has to be served with Greek yoghurt!!!

All you need is a packet of frozen berries and mixed seeds and oats which you toast (these keep forever in jar).

Little tip:  I sometimes serve it as a dessert too with crushed biscuits on top, Ginger biscuits work well so to do Amaretti (almond) biscuits.

 

You will need:

 

For the compote:

• 1 packet of frozen berries (any flavour, I used mixed summer berries but it also works well with plain blueberries)
• 1 Tbs of honey
• Juice from 1/2 an orange

 

For the granola:

• Oats
• Mixed seeds, I use pumpkin seeds, linseeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds (a packet of superfood seeds usually has them all)

 

 

Method:

 

1) Make the compote by putting frozen berries in a pan with honey and orange juice and simmer on low heat till it waters down and starts to thicken, not too thick as it will thicken more when it cools so should still be a little runny.  Allow the compote to cool before serving.  Keeps for a while in the fridge.

 

2) Toast the seeds, as much or little as you need (quantities up to you) a good mix of oats to seeds ratio is good.  Toast them under the grill for a few seconds, keeping a constant eye on them as they burn very quickly.

 

3) Serve over Greek yoghurt with the compote and seeds on top.

Moroccan orange cake

This cake was a complete experiment this morning.  I decided to put a bulk load of oranges from the wholesale market to good use in baking.  However when reading the ingredients I realised we were missing half the items so had to make it up as I went along.  I was very surprised how delicious and simple it turned out!

The original recipe is actually a gluten free healthy cake, however I didn't have any ground almonds so had to add flour but by all means try it as a gluten free option too.

It is a no beating, no butter cake, which makes it very quick and very easy.

So here it is, a simple tangy Moroccan orange cake!



You will need:

• 350g self rising flour
• 250g xylitol (or sugar for a less healthy option)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 5 eggs
• 200ml sunflower oil
• 2tsp agave syrup (or substitute with honey)
• zest and juice of 1 large orange and 1/2 a lemon
• 3 cinnamon sticks

Note: for gluten free option substitute the flour for 300g ground almonds.

Method:

1) Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Line the base of 20cm spring form tin with baking paper and grease the sides.  Mix together the flour or (almonds for gluten recipe), xylitol and baking powder.  In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, 2 tsp agave syrup and orange and lemon zest and orange juice.  Pour the mixture into the dry mixture and combine.

2) Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approx 50 - 60 minutes or until a skewer comes clean from the centre and there is no raw cake sticking to it.  Cover with foil if it is browning too much.  Allow to cool and make the syrup.

3) Pour juice from 1 orange and 1/2 a lemon into a pan with 60g of agave syrup (or 3 tsp of sugar), bring to boil and leave simmer for 5 minutes. 

4) While the cake is still warm drizzle the syrup over the cake and all it all to seep in.  I made a few holes with a skewer on top of the cake to ensure it all gets soaked up.

Enjoy!