Melbournian people, it’s gonna be HOT tomorrow, VERY HOT! As you must know… :-) You probably won’t feel like eating much and that’s why I thought I’d come to your rescue and share my experimental salad recipe from last week. It is yummy and fresh, perfect for the upcoming hot Summery days, plus mon cheri loved it too! I do experiment a lot lately and will share more soon but here is a sneak peek… Oh and I should mention that I don’t really measure precisely the quantity I use for each ingredients so feel free to either follow the recipe or adapt to your taste, it is always nice to add your personal touch to a dish! :-)
Type of dish: Entree/Side/Main… you decide! ;-)
Serves: 2-4
Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Low
Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 5 min
Ingredients:
1/2 celery bunch
1 cucumber (the large one)
2 handfulls of kale (THE superstar vegetable) but if hard to find, spinach leaves will work; I bought my kale from Woolworths and will hopefully find it at the market next time!
50 to 75g pine nuts
50g parmesan cheese (shaved or shredded)
5 table spoons of plain yoghurt*
1/2 shallot
basil (or parsley, coriander)
1/2 lemon juice (optional)
salt & pepper
Preparation:
Choose a large bowl;
Cut the the leaves off the celery and wash the celery;
Peel the cucumber and rinse the cucumber;
Rinse the basil;
Dice the celery (approx. 1.5cm wide dices) & add to the bowl;
Cut the cucumber in half length wise, bring the two halves of the cucumber together, slice them into approx. 3mm thick rounds & add to the bowl;
Slice the shallot thin & add to the bowl;
Cut the basil in a chiffonade & add to the bowl;
Add the kale;
Add lemon juice (optional);
Add yoghurt;
Add salt & pepper (as desired);
Stir all ingredients together;
Cook the pine nuts in a non-stick frying pan until golden;
Sprinkle the parmesan cheese & the pine nuts over the salad & stir;
The final touch: sprinkle some more pine nuts and basil on the top of the salad for presentation!
*Note: in France we have what we call “fromage blanc” which is similar to yoghurt but not quite the same, it is more creamy. Recently I have found something very similar at Woolworths but still called “yoghurt”. It is delicious and I recommend to use this for my celery and “yoghurt” salad but be careful it is addictive, either as a dressing, on its own or with some seasonal fruits! And a big bonus: it is organic! So here it is…
Bon Appetit !!! :-)