Posts Tagged ‘salad’
June 30th, 2011
While I was constructing this salad in it’s bowl I was gently reminded of performing similar activities years before. When I was young(er) and my parents would have guests over for a braai I was often entrusted to make the green salad that would accompany our meal. This was a job that I took most seriously. I remember spending ages chopping and slicing the ingredients laid out by my mom. Finally (and most importantly) I deliberated over how to arrange said ingredients into intricate patterns, trying not to repeat arrangements previously used. I guess some things haven’t changed.
Today’s Lunch:
- Salad with mixed leaves, smoked chicken, baby tomatoes, feta and spring onion.
cheese, chicken, feta, salad, smoked chicken, spring onion, tomato
Packed Lunches
February 2nd, 2011
As much as I try to keep my lunches healthy and lean sometimes it’s nice to break the rules a little. Who can resist a piece of yummy bacon anyway? I think I struck a nice balance between the sweet, smoky, crispy bacon and the lentils and other crunchy veggies in this salad.
Today’s Lunch:
- Lentil and bacon salad with mixed lettuce leaves, red onion, carrot, mange tout and baby tomato,
- some grapes and
- a plum.
bacon, carrot, grapes, lentil, lettuce, mange tout, onion, plum, salad, tomato
Packed Lunches
January 21st, 2011
Last week a group of friends and I had dinner at Keenwä, a newish Peruvian restaurant situated on the Cape Town fan walk in Waterkant Street. We where one of a handful of tables in the restaurant that evening and thus got to speak with the hostess and owner at length about the menu and general intricacies of running the first Peruvian restaurant in South Africa. An interesting example being the two staple and readily available ingredients in Peru, limes and quinoa, are the two most expensive ingredients for them to source in South Africa.
We tasted dishes including Cerviche, Tiradito, a reinterpretation of Aji de Gallina and of course quinoa. Today’s lunch is inspired by the quinoa salad we shared, although I used the vegetables I had on hand instead of trying to recreate the dish we had that evening.
Today’s Lunch:
- Quinoa with mixed salad leaves, red peppers, spring onions, pomegranate arils and mange tout.
lettuce, mange tout, pomegranate, quinoa, quinoa salad, red pepper, salad, spring onion
Packed Lunches
January 19th, 2011
Pasta salad is one of those dishes that is perfect for packed lunches. It’s meant to be eaten chilled so you can prepare it in the evening and stick it in the fridge. Then in the morning pop it into one of those lunch cooler bags with a little ice brick and it’ll stay perfectly cool until lunchtime. A great summertime lunch that is also a wonderful vehicle for a few of your daily fruit and veg servings.
Today’s Lunch:
- Pasta salad with mini pipe rigate, yellow peppers, cucumber, spring onions, baby tomatoes and feta cheese all tossed in a light tomato sauce.
cheese, cucumber, feta, pasta, pasta salad, salad, sping onion, tomato, yellow pepper
Packed Lunches
October 8th, 2010
Sandwich and salad. It’s the combo I usually fall back on when I don’t have sufficeint leftovers to fill my lunch box. I try to keep the flavours interesting so that I’m not too tempted to head down the road to Cookshop for a plate from the daily buffet.
Today’s Lunch:
- Gammon steak and wholegrain mustard on brown sead loaf with lettuce and radicchio and
- some cabbage, carrot, fennel and orange salad.
bread, cabbage, carrot, fennel, gammon, lettuce, mustard, orange, radicchio, salad, sandwich
Packed Lunches
August 5th, 2010
This past weekend I had the privilege of watching Christine Stevens prepare a few recipes from her book Harvest at the Cape Town Book Fair. One of the dishes she prepared was a winter salad containing cabbage, carrot, celery and onion dressed with an orange juice vinaigrette. She explained that she thought cooking was all about adapting and that the original recipe in her book used fennel, but since she had none on hand she’d substituted onion instead. The combination of fennel and orange was the inspirational springboard for this salad lunch.
Today’s Lunch:
- Mixed salad leaves topped with
- carrot, red onion and fennel marinated in a little orange juice topped with
- sliced smoked chicken and
- orange segments with feta cheese.
carrot, cheese, chicken, fennel, feta, lettuce, onion, orange, orange juice, salad, smoked chicken
Packed Lunches
May 17th, 2010
Guess what’s for lunch today? Leftovers from this month’s daring cooks challenge.
Today’s Lunch:
- A slice of green chile and grilled chicken stacked enchilada,
- refried beans and
- a salad with lettuce, onion, baby tomatoes and avocado.
avacado, cheese, chicken, enchilada, lettuce, onion, refried beans, salad, stacked enchilada, tomatoes, tortilla
Packed Lunches
May 5th, 2010
This chili con carne is one of my go to meals and there is always some hanging out in the freezer patiently waiting for it’s time to shine. It has made many appearences in my lunch box over the last few years so I thought it was about time I shared my recipe with you.
Today’s Lunch:
- Chili con carne,
- basmati rice and
- a mixed salad with lettuce, cucumber, yellow peppers and baby tomatoes.
Here is the recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
- 1 onion – finely chopped
- 500g ostrich mince
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp dried crushed chillies
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 250ml beef stock
- 10g dark chocolate (this is a rough estimate I usually use two blocks of a Lindt 35g chocolate bar)
- 400g can red kidney beans
Method:
- Heat oil, add onion and garlic and cook till browned.
- Add mince to the pot and stir to brown breaking up any clumps that form.
- Stir through the paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander and crushed chillies.
- Add chopped tomatoes and stock and let simmer for about half an hour or until liquids are reduced
- Add chocolate and red kidney beans and cook for a further five minutes or so to heat beans and allow chocolate to meld into the chili.
- Serve on rice or tortillas accompanied with tomato salad, sliced avocado and sour cream or plain yoghurt.
Makes 4-6 servings
chili, chili con carne, cucumber, lettuce, rice, salad, tomatoes, yellow pepper
Packed Lunches, Recipes
March 14th, 2010
I have plenty of leftovers from this month’s daring cooks challenge, so you know some inevitably land up in my lunch box. Both versions seemed more tasty after sitting over night letting all the flavours mingle.
Today’s Lunch:
- Mushroom risotto,
- sausage, pea and red pepper risotto and
- a salad with lettuce, cucumber, baby tomatoes, red pepper and spring onions.
cucumber, lettuce, mushroom, pea, red pepper, rice, risotto, salad, sausage, spring onion, tomato
Packed Lunches
March 4th, 2010
This salad started out as my attempt to recreate Primi Piatti‘s hot beef salad, I didn’t quite manage the recreation but the salad was still very tasty.
Today’s Lunch:
baby marrow, beef, lettuce, paprika, potato, salad, tomato, yoghurt
Packed Lunches
