However it is now winter here in lil ol' NZ, annd quite frankly, the thought of yet another salad has been turning me right off.
I have had a lapse, a bit of a fall off the bandwagon if you will...
Last week we had, Kebabs, Pizza (It was home made... wholemeal base and all...if that counts for anything???? yes?? I'll take it anyway) AND a lovely wintery comfort food classic, home made steak and vegetable pie.
Ok ok, I know, my muffin top and pooch pants aren't going to dissapare when I'm eating that kind of food...but I was in a bit of a healthy food eating rut.
BORED BORED BORED.
After my weekly weigh in displayed the results of my bad eating week... (+1.5kg if you must know) I was quickly lerched back into weight loss reality and headed off to the supermarket hoping to find some new salad inspiration.
Grabbed a bunch of things I rarely buy and got stuck in.
To my sheer delight, I created, possibly the tastiest salad I've ever had the pleasure of filling my face with!
So here I am, blogging away, coffee in hand, dreaming of the divinity of that salad and thinking *Im putting that on my dinner menu at least once once a week, whether the fusspot man of mine and kid-faces like it or not*
So in case you're in a salad rut too, or just wanna try something a bit different, here is my recipe for the best salad ever.
Apologies about the not so flash picture, my camera decided to have a battery crisis and my phone camera had to make do...
Smoked Chicky Salad with Kale Toasted Nuts & Fennel
You will need:
- 5x Stalks of curly kale (de-stalked and curly leafy bits torn up)
- Half a fresh fennel bulb
- Olive oil
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1x breast of smoked chicken (smoked salmon might work well in here too, I'll try it sometime soon and let you know)
- 2 Tablespoons of raw walnuts
- 2 Tablespoons of raw sunflower seeds
- 2 Tablespoons raw hazelnuts **
- 25g Feta cheese
- Small handful of fresh Parmesan shavings (optional)
What to do:
1.Start by chucking the oven on to 200°C (Sorry if you're reading this from America, I haven't a clue what that is in °F but I'm sure google can help you :smile: )
2. Grab your kale stalks and shred the curly leafy bits off the stalks....discard the stalks (or better yet, go feed them to the chooks or chuck em in the compost pile). Now put your leafy bits in a bowl with a lug of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Get your hands in there and give them a good scrunch! This gets the olive oil, salt and pepper all over them properly, and also the scrunching reduces a bit of the bitterness you can get in kale.
Now divide your kale into 2 portions. One half you're going to leave raw, and nommy nommy, the other half you're going to toast up in the oven and make kale chips with.
3. Pop one half of your kale on a baking tray, spread it out so they crisp up. If there is room, spread out your seeds and nuts on the same baking tray.
However you wanna keep them within their groups...they will toast at varying speeds, so you will need to be able to take them off the tray at different times...if they're all muddled together, this will be tricky, if not downright annoying...don't say I didn't warn you!
Now drizzle them with a LITTLE BIT of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and bung em in the oven on the top shelf.
KEEP AN EYE ON THEM!!!! They will turn quicker than your back does to flick the kettle on.
Keep checking them, as soon as any one of your groups has turned golden, bring the tray out, pull off whatever is done and throw in your bowl with the fresh kale, then place the tray back in the oven so the rest can finish up....repeat until theyre all golden brown and finished up.
4. Shred your chicken breast and add to your bowl of kale and nuts.
5.With a mandolin (or some mad knife skills) finely slice up your fennel bulb and place in ice water. (Or if you're lazy like me, throw it in the food processor on the fine slicing attachment)
The ice water? I saw it on a cooking show once, I forget why, I think it has something to do with shocking it into crispness...or something...I'm not sure, but I've always done it and will probably continue to do so. You of course don't have to or probably even need to!
5. Now chop up your feta into little diced chunks and shave some parmesan.(Did anyone else just get an image of a block of cheese shaving its hairy little legs?? No? Just me??....)
6. Ok, drain your fennel bulb of the ice water if you decided to bathe it, and throw it along with your Feta, into your salad bowl, squeeze your fresh lemon juice in, toss it all together, nuts and all, and pop your Parmesan shavings ontop.
BOOM
BEST. SALAD. EVER.
** The hazelnuts were a last moment thought, I saw a few left in my collection of nuts and seeds, and thought, what the heck I'll pop them in....SO GLAD I DID, the hazelnuts were actually my favourite element of this salad. A bit different and unexpected, which is what I was really looking for to get out of my salad rut.
So there you have it, something a bit different. Worth a go, I ate this for lunch and for dinner today it was so good!
Oh and for anyone wondering about the semolina pudding I posted about last week, YUM definitely give it a go. My one tip though, STIR, STIR, STIR! The second you stop stirring when the semolina is being added to your got milk mixture, you get giant lumps that you can't get rid of!
Enjoy!!
Right, I have a grumpy 10 month old adorable little man climbing up my leg who I need to go and feed!
So for now,
Make some salad, and stay beautiful! x
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