Chop Chop Tuna Salad

My friend Dana always has a bowl of this salad in her fridge, and very kindly also brings a bowl to any party I ever have.  Because everything is cut so small, it is a cross between a salad and a dip and works equally well on its own or piled over toast or crackers. It lasts a few days in the fridge so is a great option for healthy lunches during the week. Adam, Dana's husband, also like to add a beaten egg and some oats to the salad and make patties that he cooks in a sandwich press for a quick dinner.

2 x 185g tins of tuna in chilli oil

4 eggs, hard boiled and grated

1 red pepper, finely diced

1 yellow pepper, finely diced

2 lebanese cucumbers, finely diced

2 pickled gherkins, finely diced

½ bunch dill, finely chopped

½ cup green olives, seeded and finely diced

zest of one lemon

dressing

juice of one lemon

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt to taste

Drain tuna and break up chunks with a fork. Combine all ingredients, pour over dressing and mix.

Quinoa Salad Two Ways

I love quinoa salads because you can put anything you like in them, and they are always delicious. Here are two recipes that are similar but different, each borne out of what was in the fridge at the time. Feel free to substitute any of the roast vegetables for what you like (or what you have in your fridge). You can also add any nuts, seeds and/or fresh herbs.

Quinoa with Cauliflower, Pumpkin and Beans

½ head of cauliflower

½ pumpkin (jap or butternut), cut into small (approx 2cm) cubes



1 cup quinoa (I use the tricolour but any colour is fine)

½ cup toasted slivered almonds


½  pomegranate seeds


Handful yellow beans blanched and topped


Handful green beans blanched and topped


1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

¼ bunch parsley, shredded

zest of one lime

dressing


juice of one lime

1 tspn honey


¼ cup olive oil


1 tbspn white wine vinegar

½ tspn salt flakes

Cook quinoa as per pack, but use chicken or vegetable stock for extra flavour. Steam cauliflower for about 5 minutes (til just tender) then cut into small florets.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Spray cauliflower and pumpkin with olive oil and roast in oven for approx 25 min or until browned.

In a large serving bowl combine cooked quinoa, roasted pumpkin and cauliflower, beans, almonds, chickpeas, pomegranate, parsley and zest.

In a small mixing bowl combine lime juice, olive oil, honey, white wine vinegar and salt and whisk together. Pour dressing over salad, mix together thoroughly and serve.

Quinoa and Roast Vegetable Salad

In this instance I have used eggplant, cauliflower, pumpkin and carrots as my roast vegetable, but on other occasions I have also included or substituted fennel, red pepper, butternut pumpkin, zucchini or sweet potato. You could also use steamed broccoli or broccolini in place of or in addition to the beans.

1 cup of quinoa (I use the tricolour one)

1 eggplant, cut in cubes

½ head cauliflower, cut in florets

¼ jap pumpkin, cut in cubes

6 dutch carrots (or 2 carrots)

handful green beans, steamed

½ cup parsley chopped

¼ cup sunflower seeds, toasted

¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

zest of one lemon

1 large handful of baby spinach leaves

dressing

juice of ½ lemon

¼ cup olive oil

1 tspn maple syrup

1 tbspn white wine vinegar

1 tspn balsamic vinegar

½ tspn sugar

Cook quinoa in vegetable stock according to directions. Place in a flat bowl to cool, stirring occasionally. Salt eggplant and stand for 30 mins. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Drizzle eggplant with oil and toss in a baking dish. Combine pumpkin, cauliflower and carrots in baking dish (or dishes – don’t crowd because otherwise they will steam instead of bake), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast at 200 degrees for 25 mins, shake pan and roast for another 10 mins or until golden.

Combine, quinoa, roast veg, beans, parsley, spinach,  seeds and zest. Pour over dressing and stir to combine.

Chicken Soup with Pumpkin, Mushroom and Barley

As the nights get cooler, take comfort in a steaming bowl of this hearty soup. The jap pumpkin almost melts into the broth and gives the whole pot a cheery yellow hue. You feel better just looking at it! Then all you need is some crusty bread and a good red and dinner is done. I know the English mustard sounds like a strange addition but it adds a lovely complexity to the flavour of the soup. Try it.

To make an equally delicious vegetarian version, substitute the chicken for a can of chickpeas

Top half of a chicken (i.e. breasts and wings)

2 carrots, diced

2 sticks celery, diced

½ bulb fennel, diced

8 mushrooms, sliced

¼ jap pumpkin, cut into pieces

1/3 cup barley

hot English mustard to serve

Heat 2 tbspn oil in a soup pot and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove and set aside. Saute carrot, celery and fennel until fennel is translucent. Add mushroom and sauté for another 3 minutes. Add pumpkin and stir. Return chicken to pot and cover with enough vegetable stock to cover chicken. Bring to the boil. Add barley and turn heat down to low, let simmer for at least one hour.  Remove chicken, cool, shred meat and return the meat to the pot. Check seasoning and add salt or pepper to your taste. To serve, ladel into deep bowls and stir through ½ tspn hot English mustard per person.

Persimmon, Fennel and Candied Pecan Salad

With the sweetness of the nuts, the zing of the lime, the crunch of the fennel and glorious hue of the persimmons, this salad is a winner no matter what you serve it with. If you can't find finger limes, you can substitute with a teaspoon of lime zest added to the dressing.

200g baby spinach leaves

1 firm persimmon finely sliced 

1 baby fennel finely sliced 

2 finger limes

100g pecans

2 tspns castor sugar

dressing

¼ cup olive oil

2 tspn maple syrup

2 tbspn apple cider vinegar

Dry fry pecans in a non stick frying pan for a couple of minutes until they begin to toast. Remove nuts and sprinkle sugar in the frying pan. When sugar has melted, return nuts to pan and stir through the sugar. Remove from pan and set aside to cool.

Arrange spinach, fennel and persimmon in a dish. Cut open finger limes and squeeze pulp out over the salad. Add pecans. Combine dressing ingredients and pour over.

Sesame Chilli Tuna with Soba Noodle Salad

This dish is perfect for lunch or a light dinner any day of the week. It takes only a few minutes to prepare and is so wonderfully satisfying that it is guaranteed to go into the weekly repertoire. 

400 gm sashimi grade tuna (in batons)

1 tbspn black sesame seeds

1 tbspn sesame seeds

½ tspn salt flakes

½ tspn chilli flakes

1 tbspn olive oil

1 packet soba noodles

1 bunch coriander – leaves only

1 spring onion, finely sliced

handful of snow peas, blanced and finely sliced

1 tbspn toasted black sesame seeds

dressing

¼ cup rice vinegar


2 tspn palm sugar


1 tbspn soy

½ red chilli finely diced

1 tsp toasted sesame oil


1 tbspn olive oil

grated zest and juice of 1 lime

Mix black and white sesames seeds, salt flakes and chilli on a plate. Rub tuna with olive oil and then press into the sesame mixture. Heat a griddle pan to high and sear the tuna for about a minute on each side (you want the centre to remain pink).

Cook soba noodles according to directions on packet. Drain and refresh under cold water. Drain well then add herbs, snow peas and extra black sesame.

Combine ingredients for dressing. Taste and adjust. Reserve 2 tablespoons of dressing and toss the remainder to combine with noodles.

Slice tuna and arrange on top of noodles. Spoon extra dressing over tuna.

Freekeh with Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruit

This is the kind of salad that makes you feel like you a doing your body a favour by eating it. It is gorgeous as a side to any protein, but also works wonders alone if you add some creamy goats cheese or feta.

Just a word of caution, best to prepare in advance as the smell of freekeh cooking is reminiscent of hay and horse stables, but it disappears ones the grains cool down.

2 cups of freekeh (cracked wheat)

½ bunch coriander, shredded

½ bunch parsley, shredded

¼ bunch mint (leaves only), shredded

½ cup slivered almonds

¼ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

½ cup currants

zest of one lemon

dressing

juice of one lemon

½ tspn salt flakes

1 tspn ground cumin

½ tspn cinnamon

1 tspn honey

¼ cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place freekeh in a deep microwave proof bowl with 2 cups boiling water, 1 tspn salt and 1 tbspn olive oil. Cover and cook on high for 15 minutes. Allow to stand a further 5 minutes, covered. If all water has been absorbed, stir and leave to cool. If there is excess water in the bowl, drain, then stir and cool. Place almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Shake tray then bake for another 5 mins til nuts and seeds are toasted. Add nuts, herbs, chickpeas, currants and zest to freekeh. Combine ingredients for dressing. Taste and adjust to your liking. Toss with freekeh mix.

Crispy Salmon Tarator

This salmon is a real show stopper. It looks fantastic, tastes incredible and is great to wow a crowd. If you have a lot of people over, you can also make this using an entire side of salmon instead of pieces. It works equally well with white fish too.

4 pieces of salmon

2 tspn coconut oil

¾ cup natural yoghurt

juice of ½ a lemon

1 generous tbspn tahini paste

salt to taste

½ bunch parsley, chopped

¼ bunch coriander, chopped

¼ bunch mint, chopped

1 red chilli, finely diced

100g walnuts, toasted and chopped

2 tspn sumac

½ tspn cinnamon

3 tbspn olive oil

juice of ½ lemon

pinch of salt

Combine the fresh herbs, walnuts, chilli and spices. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Dress the salad and set aside.

Heat a non stick pan to high. Add the coconut oil, and then sear the salmon skin side down for 4 minutes. Turn the flame to medium and turn the salmon over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Remove the salmon form the pan, wrap in silver foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile whip the yoghurt with the tahini, add lemon juice and salt to taste.

To assemble, place salmon on a plate, spoon over tahini yoghurt and top with tarator salad.

(If you want to skip a step, it works just as well with tahini sauce from your local felafel shop). 

Spiced Lamb Backstrap

This is super quick way to boost your iron intake for the day. It takes two minutes to prepare and less than five minutes to cook. Best of all, there is only one dish to wash up!

2 lamb backstrap (400g)

2 tbspn olive oil

2 tbspn red wine vinegar

1 tspn cinnamon

½ tspn ground coriander

½ tspn cayenne pepper

½ tspn cumin seeds

1 tspn paprika

½ tspn salt

Put oil, vinegar and spices in a snap lock bag. Add lamb and marinate for as much time as you have. Bring the lamb to room temperature. Heat a non stick frying pan to high. Sear lamb and turn every 15 seconds for about 4 minutes of until cooked to your liking. Rest for 5 minutes on a rack and then slice up.