@MikeOxgreen the OP asked what was our favourite salad, not what to have in a winter salad. We too eat seasonal foods as much as possible but we're not obsessive about it. The picture posted above was taken in summer I had grown 95% of the ingredients.
Well I do love to cook @Fairygirl and I do love to experiment. Sometimes it goes horribly wrong, but c'est la vie! My oven has a sous-vide function, so it's only a matter of pressing a different button
My fave curry is Madhur Jaffery's Goan Pork Vindaloo. I made a double batch yesterday which took the whole day. I make 3x the sauce and freeze that in portions too so I can knock up a prawn vindaloo in 15 mins. My house reeks of curry for about 3 days afterwards - lovely https://www.recipebinder.co.uk/recipes/goan-style-hot-and-sour-pork-pork-vindaloo/
I like the look of that curry, Pete. I'll maybe have a go at that. I've got a big batch of extra hot chilli in the slow cooker just now.
It's really good @Balgay.Hill very authentic and better than any I've had in a curry house. Most important is to fry the onions until they're like the ones you'd put on a hot-dog - thick, gooey and sweet. I use 2x pork tenderloin rather than shoulder, but tenderloin only needs 10mins cooking once browned so I let the sauce simmer for about 30mins then add the browned tenderloin and simmer for another 10 mins. It does take a lot of time, so well worth making 2x or 3x the amount of sauce then freezing the rest in portions so it's easy to knock up a prawn or chicken vindaloo in no time.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I always make big batches @Pete.8 The chilli in the slow cooker right now will make 8 portions. The only thing i would change with that Vindaloo recipe would be to up the hot chillies. I'm addicted to heat, and always have a few jars from The Chilli Jam Man in the cupboard.
I have a year round red salad which goes really well with BBQ'd meat and sausages, smoked salmon and tuna or fritata depending on the season. It's full of flavour and textures and just happens to be healthy too.
SWEET & SOUR RED SALAD 250g red
cabbage, shredded 400g tin red
kidney beans, drained and rinsed 125g radishes,
sliced 125g dried
cranberries 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced 250g beetroot,
cooked and cut into strips 1 red
apple, cored and cut into chunks 4 tbs cider
vinegar 2 tbs light
soy sauce
Cover the cabbage with boiling water and
leave while you chop the other veggies.
Put the vinegar and soy sauce in a bowl or Tupperware
and add the cranberries. Microwave 30
seconds then leave covered while you chop and slice the rest.
Drain the cabbage well and squeeze out some
of the excess water. Combine all the salad ingredients in the bowl
or tupperware. Toss the salad in the dressing and
serve.
The salad benefits from being left to
marinate an hour or two before serving and keeps well for at least a week.
Otherwise, fresh home-grown tomatoes in summer with basil and a good dressing. Fennel, apple and walnut with a dressing made from mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and crème fraiche; Nigella's sald with red chicory, blue cheese and walnuts - fab dressing - and for a green salad a mix of rocket, baby spinach and shredded beetroot. There has to be some crunch and no flabby leaves so, when I can get it or grow it, Cos lettuce for me.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Mâche is lovely @Dovefromabove and I have watercress growing too. A warm spinach salad with bacon bits and crunchy onion crisps. Best is a mixed salad such as curly lettuce of scarole, little gem, mâche and fried bacon bits and chicken livers and hearts if you can get them It's called "Salad de Gésiers" here. Grilled slices of goat's cheese atop doesn't go amiss. Small wild leeks, boiled. Served warm with vinaigrette is also a nice salad. (for you @Fairygirl !!)
All using seasonal vegetables! Tomatoes and cukes are for summer enjoyment when they are at their best!
@tui34 we love a warm chicken liver and lardons salad on crispy leaves but I've yet to find chicken livers here and I will not eat or cook gésiers. OH likes them but then he also likes andouillettes. Just too stinky for me.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
LeClerc @Obelixx Confits - in the refrigerated section in the meat department. About where all the poultry is. I freeze them. Handy if someone comes unexpectedly. A couple of hard boiled eggs usually makes up the dish.
The beauty of salads for me is that they don't really need a recipe. You can sling all sorts in - most sorts of veg will go in a salad somehow, raw or cooked - pulses, nuts, fresh and dried fruit, cheese. Then standard vinaigrettes, citrus, mustard, mayonnaise, yoghurt based ones. Salads are a free for all, and a great way of using whatever you've got.
Have I a favourite/perfect one? No, not really. I just love salads!
Posts
We too eat seasonal foods as much as possible but we're not obsessive about it. The picture posted above was taken in summer I had grown 95% of the ingredients.
I've got a big batch of extra hot chilli in the slow cooker just now.
Most important is to fry the onions until they're like the ones you'd put on a hot-dog - thick, gooey and sweet.
I use 2x pork tenderloin rather than shoulder, but tenderloin only needs 10mins cooking once browned so I let the sauce simmer for about 30mins then add the browned tenderloin and simmer for another 10 mins.
It does take a lot of time, so well worth making 2x or 3x the amount of sauce then freezing the rest in portions so it's easy to knock up a prawn or chicken vindaloo in no time.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
The chilli in the slow cooker right now will make 8 portions.
The only thing i would change with that Vindaloo recipe would be to up the hot chillies.
I'm addicted to heat, and always have a few jars from The Chilli Jam Man in the cupboard.
SWEET & SOUR RED SALAD
250g red cabbage, shredded
400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
125g radishes, sliced
125g dried cranberries
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
250g beetroot, cooked and cut into strips
1 red apple, cored and cut into chunks
4 tbs cider vinegar
2 tbs light soy sauce
Cover the cabbage with boiling water and leave while you chop the other veggies.
Put the vinegar and soy sauce in a bowl or Tupperware and add the cranberries. Microwave 30 seconds then leave covered while you chop and slice the rest.
Drain the cabbage well and squeeze out some of the excess water. Combine all the salad ingredients in the bowl or tupperware. Toss the salad in the dressing and serve.
The salad benefits from being left to marinate an hour or two before serving and keeps well for at least a week.
Otherwise, fresh home-grown tomatoes in summer with basil and a good dressing. Fennel, apple and walnut with a dressing made from mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and crème fraiche; Nigella's sald with red chicory, blue cheese and walnuts - fab dressing - and for a green salad a mix of rocket, baby spinach and shredded beetroot. There has to be some crunch and no flabby leaves so, when I can get it or grow it, Cos lettuce for me.
Mâche is lovely @Dovefromabove and I have watercress growing too. A warm spinach salad with bacon bits and crunchy onion crisps. Best is a mixed salad such as curly lettuce of scarole, little gem, mâche and fried bacon bits and chicken livers and hearts if you can get them It's called "Salad de Gésiers" here. Grilled slices of goat's cheese atop doesn't go amiss. Small wild leeks, boiled. Served warm with vinaigrette is also a nice salad. (for you @Fairygirl !!)
Have I a favourite/perfect one? No, not really. I just love salads!