Catalina Salad Dressing

If my memory serves me right, this dressing used to be made my Kraft and my mother used to buy it in Safeway - many years ago. This recipe is quite close to it - at least from what I remember!! It is both sweet and tangy.

Ingredients:

• 660ml of tomato ketchup

• 74ml of sugar

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 4-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

• 1/8 teaspoon paprika

• Dash ground turmeric

• Dash cayenne pepper

• 125ml of canola oil

Place the first ten ingredients in a blender. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream.

Caesar Salad Dressing

I had to make this when I didn’t realise we had none in the fridge!!

Servings:  enough for about 8 salads

Total Time: 12 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 small garlic cloves, minced

1 small anchovy

2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Pinch of salt and freshly gound pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce.

Add the mayonnaise, parmesan, salt and pepper and whisk until well combined. Season to taste.

Crab with Mango, lime and chilli

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tsp of palm sugar
• 1 green bird’s eye chilli
• 1 red bird’s eye chilli
• 1 tsp of ground dried shrimp
• 300gm of fresh white crab meat
• 20gms of chopped mint leaves
• 20gms of chopped coriander leaves
• 4 small shallots – sliced in rings
• 1 green mango – halved, peeled and sliced
• Cherry tomatoes – for garnish
• 1 large green chilli – thinly sliced at an angle

(Serves 4)

This dish is fabulous! It has a ‘clean’ taste, typified by lots of Thai dishes. You may want to add another small chilli if you like your food spicy but don’t add too much as it will ‘kill’ the dish. I suggest that you mix all of the ingredients soon before you serve. If you want, you can prepare the mix and leave out the crab until the last minute.

So there you go – put the lime, fish sauce, sugar and chopped chillis into a bowl and allow to infuse – taste and adjust with sugar or lime (the proportions I have given should work perfectly, however!). Chop all the other ingredients and mix up (less the crab) in a large bowl. Make sure the shallot slices are separated into rings. When you are ready to server, mix the crab in bowl with the shallots etc and add the ‘sauce’. Mix well. Enjoy – I know you will!

'Nutty' Rice

This recipe is something that I make when I have cooked rice left over.

Original Recipe – Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Cooked Basmati Rice
• 80ml of Pistachio Nuts - shelled
• 1 cup of small sultanas
• 1 small onion –chopped
• 1 Tsp of Ras-el-Hanout
• Olive oil

Fry the onion in oil until tender, add the sultanas and nuts and toast until golden. Add the rice, and stir the mixture in well until well warmed through. This recipe is really enjoyable but using up bits from the fridge prior to holiday gave it a different edge:

Additional Ingredients:

Additional optional Ingredients (but I tend to add these anyway):

• Small handful of chopped coriander
• Handfull of chopped red & green caspicums
• Handful of sliced spring onions

With this version, add the caspicums with the other nuts and then add the coriander and spring onions at the end. Very tasty and a meal in its own right AND vegetarian! I like to serve this warm but you could just as easily serve this cold.

If you want to add meat, try adding pre-cooked (warm) chicken in small strips

(Modified 30/4/24)

Thai Style Chicken Salad Starter!

I lost my way trying to decide what to do as a starter yesterday, so made up something that turned out to be really enjoyed by everybody (Mrs H wants it again this week!)

Ingredients (serves 4 – 6):

• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Lime Juice
• 1 Tbsp of palm sugar
• 1 large red chilli – chopped
• 1.5 Tsps of ground dried shrimp
• Handful of Chopped Mint
• Handful of chopped coriander – a little more than the mint
• 4 shallots – finely sliced
• 6in length of cucumber – peeled and deseeded then sliced
• 4 spring onions chopped – include some of the green bits
• 4 decent chicken breasts
• Half an Iceberg lettuce

Mix the fish sauce, lime, sugar, chilli, shrimp in a bowl and ensure the sugar is dissolved. This is kept to one side and added to the salad just before serving.

Fry the chicken until golden and then allow to cool. Slice/chop and add to the coriander, onions, cucumber and mint. Mix well. Just before serving, arrange chopped iceberg onto plate and then add sauce to the salad mixture, mix well again and spoon onto lettuce pre plated.

I also made another sauce similar to the above but with a few extra spices and some hotter chillis together with a little rice wine vinegar and a little more palm sugar – this can then be added to the salad for the braver ones! Enjoy!

Moroccan Salad

It’s close but not perfect!

I have tried to recreate the dish but it may be missing something – still very good! If anyone has any advice then please post a comment!

Ingredients:

• 1 large Onion
  
• 4 Tomatoes
  
• ½ Cucumber
  
• ½ Red Pepper
  
• 1 tsp Red wine vinegar
  
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
  
• Mini Cos Lettuce Leaves for decoration
  
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice
  
• Ping of sea salt
  
• Pinch of cumin
  
• Optional – 1 tsp sugar
  

Finely dice the onion, de-seed and finely dice the tomato and red pepper, finely dice the cucumber. Mix in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and serve in the centre of a plate with small cos leaves in the corners.

When I had this dish in morocco, some restaurants seemed to add a little dill (?) some a few hard boiled egg quarters and one. I am convinced had some white crabmeat in it. Either way it is a very refreshing dish and great in the summer sunshine.