PARTY PLANNING

We are knee deep in First Communion and Confirmation parties at the moment - it is wonderful to have a happy event to celebrate, filled with hope and promise.  An excuse to dress up and meet up (with some spirituality thrown in) what can be better than than?

In the current economic climate (!) many people are catering these events themselves (although I wonder if it's cheaper,  we probably way over cater when we are doing it ourselves!!)  and I have been asked for advice on how to manage without tearing your hair out!!

In an ideal world you would put the rest of the family into suspended animation for a few days before the party - imagine the house staying as clean as you have left it!!!!  AND being able to concentrate all your cooking attention on the party instead of the day to day meals!

When choosing your menu, first decide whether you want hot or cold or a mixture of both.  I favour a cold spread, but most people prefer to have a mixture - in this post I will cater for the cold camp!

Protein - the old reliables are always acceptable, roast sliced beef, turkey and ham* are lovely. Salmon is one of my favourites, particularly when portioned and served on a platter covered in a lettuce and sugar snap salad, with a dill dressing.  At the moment I'm really enthusiastic about serving tandoori chicken breasts, which are marinated for a few hours and roasted a day in advance - again these look great served on a platter strewn with green leaves.  For the veggies, although I don't generally make a specific vegetarian dish, many of the salads will contain cheese and nuts, so I reckon their protein intake is taken care of, and I don't feel too guilty!
*try cooking the ham in cola - it tastes great

Then come the salads - these come into a few categories:

Essentials (as in I'd be in trouble if these didn't appear!!)

Potato Salad (see here)
Caesar Salad
Coleslaw/Carrot Salad  (see here)
Rice Salad


Popular (these disappear in no time)

Beetroot (see here)
Bean  (see here)
Tomato
Pasta
Broccoli  (see here) Avoca call this their most popular salad, so perhaps it belongs in Essentials!
Green  (see here)

Ring the changes

Tabbouleh
Onion
Couscous (see here)
Any one that takes your fancy while reading blogs/cookbooks!!!

There are plenty more salads here on Brownieville Girl - just follow your own taste.

The most important factor when deciding is that 90% of the dish must be able to be prepared in advance - there is no point in being frazzled when the guests arrive.


One of the all time favourites is the Pesto Rice Salad (pictured at the front of this photo), it is best prepared in advance and  tastes delicious.

This recipe comes from Queen Delia's Summer Collection (in my opinion one of her top three).  I have made it with my own pesto, but have come to the decision that if you buy a really good fresh pesto, it tastes almost as good, but the saving in effort and money make it well worth using.

Pesto Rice Salad

225ml     risotto rice (arborio is good) - measured like liquid
tub          very best fresh pesto you can find (tesco finest is quite good)
450ml     vegetable stock, simmering
1             lemon, juiced
2 tbsp     best olive oil
25g        Parmesan cheese, shavings
              basil leaves to decorate
1 tsp       salt

Place the rice in a saucepan and stir in a quarter of the pesto, until every grain is coated.
Pour the simmering stock over the rice.
Place on the hob and bring to boiling point stirring with a wooden spoon.
Add the salt and give a final stir.
Put on a lid and bring the heat down to low, allow to cook for 20 mins.

When ready pour on the lemon juice, olive oil and remaining pesto sauce, and combine.
Taste and season as required.
Pour into a pretty serving dish and allow to cool.
Before serving scatter the basil leaves and Parmesan shavings over the top.

Enjoy.

WHY RANDOM IS WONDERFUL

Queen Delia comes up trumps again!  The wonderful Dom has challenged us to randomly choose a recipe from the gazillion recipes we all have, and just give it a go.  This dish is one of the reasons that Dom's Random Recipe Challenge is so wonderful.  This month Delia Smith's "Summer Collection" came to hand when I randomly chose my book, this is a book that I used alot when I first bought it, and I would still refer to it from time to time - well the book popped open at page 38/39, so my choices were the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad (which I have made time and time again) and to Marinated Mozzarella with Avocado (which I have skipped over time and time again!!).  The reason I skipped over the recipe?  I just couldn't get a marinated avocado salad to work in my head - I imagined horrible black pieces of slimy avocado ruining the beautiful cheese.  I should, of course, have trusted Delia, I think in all my time cooking, she has only let me down once (and maybe that was just my wonky taste!!!).

The salad was a beautiful smooth texture, which works well with a selection of salads, many of which will be crunchy.  The fruit and cheese melded in together, helped by the kick of the dressing.  I always remember Nigella's comments about avocados moisturising from within, whenever I eat them, and find myself glowing with health and smugness (for a few moments anyway!!).  Try this salad, it's a little bit different, totally delicious and will do wonders for your skin and hair - happy days!!

Marinated Mozzarella with Avocado

110g (4oz)       Mozzarella Cheese - the best you can get.
1                       Avocado - nicely ripe (I used two)
1/4                   Red Pepper - cut into fine slices
1                      Handful of basil leaves - Delia says to use 18!!
2                      scallions (spring onions) finely chopped

Dressing

1                     small clove of garlic
1                     tsp sea salt
1                     rounded tsp of dry mustard powder
1                     dessert spoon white wine vinegar
5                     dessert spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1                     dessert spoon snipped chives
salt and pepper


Prepare the salad about 2 hours in advance. 
Slice the mozzarella into 5mm (1/4 inch) slices.
Peel, destone and slice the avocado into thin slices.
Arrange the cheese and avocado in alternate overlapping slices on a pretty plate.
Now scatter the finely sliced pepper and basil over the salad.
Make up the dressing by either grating the garlic or pureeing it with the salt.
Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a jar.
Pour over the mozzarella and avocado.
Cover and allow the flavours to combine for two hours.
Serve and enjoy!

Thank you very much for the links and suggestions for my son's culinary adventure - unfortunately the stove in his apartment broke, pretty much immediately after I posted the recipes - and they haven't been able to persuade the landlord to replace it yet!!  Sod's (or Murphy's) Law!!

VIRTUOUS BUT GOOD!

I promise I haven't had a blow to the head (!!) but I had a yen for some healthy, bright, crunchy food - something that yelled "summer" - a salad obviously, but not a claggy mayonnaise laden one, something much fresher.

Never one to do things by halves, I went the whole hog with this one - not even a smidgen of oil in there, but brim full of flavour - try it - you'll forgive me the virtuousness!!!




Carrot and Coriander Salad

6        organic carrots
2        handfuls of coriander
2        limes juiced


Grate the carrots - you really do need to go with organic ones, they have a much stronger flavour.
Chop the coriander stems very finely and the leaves roughly.
Combine them both, and add the lime juice to taste.
Allow flavours to combine for a half hour or so.
Enjoy.

BILL GRANGER'S HOLIDAY

On the now defunct forum  Nigella.com, they had a cookbook review each month, I have to say that none of the books selected really grabbed my attention until Jutta chose Holiday by Bill Granger - it was a book that I had owned for a while but hadn't used, and I will be forever grateful to her as I have found winner after winner in this book, actually out of all the recipes I tried (and there were many!!) there was only one that we weren't mad about - not bad going.  The review has carried onto the replacement forum Through The Oven Door, which is a wonderful alternative set up by Jutta among others. (Although that said I'm having problems with it at the moment - I'm blaming all the new spyware we have installed!).

Place of honour goes to this cherry tart which beside tasting excellent has the easiest pastry of all time - no rolling out needed (yahaa!!!), I'm going to be using this time and time again. (recipe below)

 

 The Green Ratatouille, with some obvious replacements!!!  I'm not a big fan of green peppers, and I happened to have yellow courgettes (zucchini) in the house, it was a lovely vegetable dish pretty and tasty - works for me!!

 Crispy Skinned Salmon with Tamarind Caramel Dressing, the tamarind was a revelation to me, I have had some in the cupboard for some time and hadn't gotten round to trying it - boy am I glad that attempting this recipe introduced me to this wonderful flavour - a subtle bitterness, that doesn't cause the "sour lemon" face (!!) but still has that sour hit - I used the leftover dressing in a bowl of rice the next day (strange but delicious!)

This is the Never-Fail Birthday Chocolate Cake, before I added the Chocolate Icing, without doubt the least successful of all the recipes I attempted, its biggest failing was that there wasn't nearly enough chocolate in it - a "mortler" in my book!!  (A "mortler" being our childhood term for mortal sin, ie. a biggie!!!)

 Sweet Potato with Coriander and Preserved Lemons, an unusual combination I know but it really works.  The left overs were wonderful in soup. 

 A pretty awful picture, but this Leg of Lamb with Indian Flavours was as far from awful as you could get!!  A delicious combination of flavours served with the sweet potatoes (above) and the turmeric potatoes (below).

We're Irish, we eat potatoes by the sackful!!!  Any new ideas for potatoes are always welcome, this one particularly - it tastes great and with turmeric being sooo good for you, they are actually health food!!

 Flourless Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake, this is the cake to give as a gift to someone diagnosed with gluten intolerance - it will make them feel a whole lot better about a life without flour!!  The cake was moist and full of nutty chocolaty flavours, it went down really well when I served it to visiting relatives, worked well with all ages.

 Bills Garlic Mushrooms were probably nothing you wouldn't do anyway (I get really annoyed with cookery books that contain really obvious recipes - ham sandwich anyone? - you know the sort of recipes I mean!!!) he just added some chili to the usual mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  To give him his due these excessively easy recipes were few and far between.

 The Roast Chicken with Coriander Chili Stuffing and Coconut Gravy, was a real departure from the norm for me, and it was a welcome change - although it in no way replaces my usual roast chicken with lemon and garlic in my affections!!  As you can imagine chicken stuffed (under the skin) with chili, coconut, coriander, ginger, lime and sugar is jam packed with flavour and it really works.  This dish made for wonderful leftovers - I heated up the leftover chicken meat in the coconut gravy, added this to pasta - mighty good I have to say!!!

 Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, it was great to try out my new ice-cream maker with this recipe, although nice it didn't reach the dizzy heights of the Raspberry Yoghurt Ice Cream - that said it was demolished in no time!

How pretty is this dish??  Poached Salmon and Risoni Salad was really tasty (and would be a great way to use up leftover salmon) I used some chard (from the veg box) instead of the specified spinach, and I think that the rougher texture of the chard worked really well, another one on the "make again" list.

Oh man oh man, this stuff is beyond good, and couldn't be easier!!  All you do is whisk 100g of sugar into 500g of greek yoghurt, tip into an ice-cream maker add a punnet of raspberries and  hay presto, fantabulous Yoghurt and Raspberry Ice-Cream.                                                                                  



Cherry Tart

Pastry

125g (4 1/2 oz)        butter, melted and cooled

90g (3 1/2 oz)          caster sugar

175g (6 oz)              plain flour

pinch salt

2 tbsp                      ground almonds

Filling

170 ml (5 1/2 fl oz)     cream

2                                eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp                           vanilla extract

3 tbsp                         caster sugar

2 tbsp                         plain flour

550g (1lb 4 oz)           cherries, halved and pitted (Bill says fresh are best, I used frozen!!)

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F

Grease a 24cm (9 1/2 in) round loose-bottomed tart tin.

To make the pastry, stir the butter and sugar in a large bowl.

Add the flour and salt and combine to make a soft dough.

Press this dough into the tin as evenly as possible with your fingers.

Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the pastry is slightly puffy.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the ground almonds.

Now for the filling, whisk the cream, eggs, vanilla and sugar together.

Add the flour and mix well.

Strew the cherries, slightly overlapping over the pastry base then pour the cream filling over the cherries.

Return the tart to the oven for 40-50 minutes until the filling is firm.

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool.

Serve with cream of ice-cream.

Enjoy.

ODE TO MAYBLOOM!

It's coming to the end of the Organic Vegetable Box Scheme season, and I've decided to celebrate the return of my computer (and thus photos on the blog!!) with a review of some of the fantastic boxes Niamh has delivered from Maybloom Farm this summer.

Every week there is something new and exciting, along with the old reliables - we couldn't survive without a good big bag of potatoes!!!

I used that cabbage in a yummy coleslaw - cabbage, carrots, a tiny bit of onion all shredded,  I then moistened the vegetables with a french dressing and then added some home made mayonnaise and greek yogurt.  This combination makes a nice tasty light salad (I hate claggy coleslaw!)

    

Some fantastic pea pods in the corner - earlier in the summer I just hid in a corner and ate them all by myself!!!!!!

Later in the summer I shelled them and steamed with some tender stem broccoli, and served with some lemon zest and butter.

I have to say that these were the nicest strawberries I have ever had - they tasted intensely strawberryish (!) real reliving your childhood taste memories stuff!

Another delicious week - those french beans were fantastic sauteed with a little panchetta and garlic.

I cannot tell you how delicious Niamh's fresh garlic is -  and the fact that it is so incredibly good for you makes me feel less guilty about the amount of Caesar salad dressing I ate!!!!

I had read that really, really fresh corn was miles better than the stuff you buy - we were sitting down munching this corn with salt and butter 90 minutes after it was picked!!!!!!  Superb!

This little large beauty was the first white aubergine (eggplant) I had ever tasted, really delicious smooth and full of flavour.  I made a deconstructed ratatouille with it (primarily because different members of the family don't different components of the ratatouille, and therefore deconstructed we could all choose the bits we liked!)  I roasted the aubergine with thyme and olive oil.  The onions  with a tiny amount of rosemary.  The tomatoes with basil  and the mushrooms with some pesto, and finally the peppers with plenty of pepper - a real success.  Talk about your 5 a day on a plate!! 

The picture doesn't do the dish justice - but I had to make sure that the different components didn't touch!!!

The onion didn't even make it onto the plate for fear that the juices might contaminate the mushrooms!!!!!!

FOREVER SUMMER REVISITED

I have rediscovered "Forever Summer" by Nigella Lawson recently, it was one of those books that I bought, tried one or two recipes and then forgot about - this was a mistake as it is jam packed with wonderful recipes that work beautifully and more importantly are easily changed to suit your taste and what you have in the pantry.

I tried the pineapple salsa with some organic ham and a tomato salsa, it was just perfect and was the ideal dinner on a very warm day (warmth - seems like a distant memory now!).The pineapple combined perfectly with the coriander and mint to lift the ham to sublime!

When I spotted some yellow courgettes in my  vegetable basket, I knew that this was the first recipe they were destined for!

It is a light tasty soup, again perfect summer fodder.  It is based on a Middle Eastern dish, where they believe that "eating yellow foods will result in laughter and happiness" - how could you resist trying that!!

I blitzed a couple of portions (faddy eaters!!) and for some strange reason it tasted much more substantial and warming - go figure!!

This is a version of Nigella's recipe for Sea Bass with Saffron, Sherry and Pine Nuts,  this time I used Plaice in place of the Sea Bass and it was excellent, the light delicate sauce  compliments the fresh flavours of the fish.  Neither the saffron nor sherry dominate, they just compliment.  I have cooked this with Sea Bass before and couldn't recommend one fish above the other - both were just right.  The dish would have looked better if I had used the white half of the plaice, but I think there is more flesh on the dark side.

This is the Old Fashioned Tomato Salad, and although it tastes lovely, it wouldn't be great on the "taste/labour ratio" scale.  There was quite a bit of faffing about making the Salad Cream, and I would prefer a nice garlic mayonnaise.

I loved this Short Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon Garlic and Parsley, but then I love anything with asparagus.  It is a super simple dish where you gently fry some garlic in olive oil add steamed asparagus and lemon juice to taste.  Combine with your pasta of choice and sprinkle over some parsley, yumm!

Finally, The Rainbow Room's Carrot and Peanut Salad was totally addictive.  Amo and I ate the whole bowl in the belief that "it's a salad therefore it's low fat and healthy", obviously this thinking was aided by the glass of wine (or two) we enjoyed with the salad!!!!  Well I suppose it was better than eating a bag of peanuts (not lower fat though :-{{ )  Here's the recipe

Carrot and Peanut Salad

4 medium carrots, peeled

75g    salted peanuts

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp groundnut oil

few drops sesame oil

Grate the carrots coarsely.

Combine with the peanuts, vinegar and oils.

Devour as you choose!

SUMMER DINING

The weather has been really fantastic recently - a very unusual occurrence in these parts.  The past two years, summer consisted of a good week in May, when we all dashed out and bought wardrobes full of summer gear -  followed by wintry weather spent looking longingly at our lovely (and totally unsuitable) clothes, while dressing in warm tops and jeans!!!

Well I have been making hay while the sun shines (so to speak) and doing lots of cooking on the barbecue.  These are some burgers I threw together using just lamb, chopped mint and a nugget of feta cheese in the center of each one - yumm, and as easy as you can get.

 

I served these aubergines with the burgers, they come from Nigella Summer (I've been referring to it alot recently) and were a great match with the lamb.  I sprayed my sliced aubergine with olive oil* and then barbecued them - they came out just perfect (aubergine can be very oily if you're not careful).  They are stuffed with a mixture of feta, chili, mint, lemon juice and zest - I am using zest every time I use lemon or lime juice since I heard that the zest prevents skin cancer, double win (flavour and health)! 

I mirrored these flavours in the salad dressing, mashing up some feta in lemon juice, grated in some garlic and added this mixture to a low fat plain yogurt with a very small amount of olive oil.  All in all a pretty healthy meal.

* I have a plastic bottle with a spray top (bought it in Boots Chemist, in the travel section) which I  fill with equal amounts of extra virgin olive oil and water.  Far cheaper than the "light" oil sprays in the supermarket  and zero nasty additives.

COURGETTE AND FRENCH BEAN SALAD

This is my entry to the  No Croutons Required  (courgette salad or soup) competition over on Jacqueline's wonderful blog Tinned Tomatoes.  It was inspired by this week's vegetable basket, and was deemed a huge success by even the non courgette eaters here.

The soft, smooth grated courgette was a wonderful textural contrast to the crunchy barely cooked french beans.  The mellow caramelised onion brought a warm back note to this otherwise zingy salad - this salad will be a regular visitor to our table over the summer.


French Bean and Courgette Salad

4           baby onions (or about 6 scallions/spring onions)
2           handfuls of french beans
1           medium sized courgette
1 tbsp   olive oil

Dressing

4 tbsp   extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp   cider vinegar
1 tsp     Dijon mustard
1 tsp     honey
salt and pepper

Fry the onion gently in the olive oil until soft and slightly caramelized.
Grate  the courgette while waiting for the onions to cook.
Add the french beans to the onions and toss.
After about a minute add the courgette and cook for a further minute.
Remove from the heat.
Combine the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad.
Allow to cool and serve.
As with most salads this is nicest served at room temperature.

Enjoy.

TRUELY TASTY TOMATOES

Sometimes the really simple salads are the best.  This salad was an afterthought I just threw a packet of baby spinach in a bowl sprinkled over some semi sun(oven)dried tomatoes with their oil, olives  feta cheese and balsamic vinegar, it was really good.  Each and every flavour was distinct and they complimented each other beautifully.  Couldn't be easier or tastier!

A few years ago my wonderful friend K. gave me a gift of a days cookery course with Kevin Dundon in Dunbrody House.  We had a great time - and learned loads.  Although even Kevin was unable to teach me how to chop onions properly, I really wish I could chop onions properly (you know with the flying knife the way the chefs on telly do it!!)

One of the handy basics Kevin covered was Oven Dried Tomatoes, they are incredibly easy, and the slow cooking intensifies the flavour of the tomatoes (and can actually give some flavour to our awful supermarket specimens).  I have simplified the recipe a little over the years, and this is what I do:

Oven Dried Tomatoes

10          Tomatoes  (or about 40 cherry tomatoes)
4 tbsp     Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4             Garlic Cloves
2 tbsp     Chopped Fresh Thyme

Quarter the tomatoes or cut into eight if very large (cut cherry tomatoes in half)
Measure the oil into a small bowl and grate the garlic into the oil (this prevents the garlic charring)
Place the tomatoes in a roasting dish and sprinkle with the thyme.
Drizzle the garlicy oil over the tomatoes and leave in a warm oven for a few hours.*
They are ready when they have a slightly dried texture at the edges.
Store in a jar covered with extra virgin olive oil in the fridge.  (This oil is wonderful in salads)


*Kevin said to put the tomatoes into the oven after cooking the Sunday roast, and that the tomatoes would cook in the residual heat.  I have found that this is not enough to dry the tomatoes, and I roast them in a low (about 100 C) oven for  3 hours.

IT'S COLESLAW JIM BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT!!

I'm in need of something savoury - I have a bit of a sugar headache after the last number of posts!!

I saw Tyler Florence making this coleslaw on his Tyler's Ultimate programme and thought it looked really interesting, an alternative to the usual cabbage and carrot coleslaw.  I love coleslaw (particularly if there is a high carrot to cabbage ratio) but am always on the lookout for unusual, tasty salads.  This salad stands out on a table, the vibrant colour really does deliver on it  promise - it tastes really delicious.  The goats cheese in the dressing is a wonderful sharp contrast to the mild and slightly sweet taste of the squash.  The pecans are crunchy flavour filled morsels scattered through the salad offering both a textural and taste complexity.  The recipe called for some dried cranberries, but I found these to be just too sweet - the squash is sweet enough as it is.  This is my version:

Butternut Squash Coleslaw

150g          creamy goats cheese (not the type with rind)
2 1/2 tbsp  honey
4 tbsp        extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp          cider vinegar
1                lemon  juiced
2                medium squash
1/2 cup      toasted pecan nuts

Mix the cheese, honey, oil, vinegar and lemon juice and adjust to your taste if needed.
Remove the narrow top from the squash (use the bulb portion (with the seeds) for something else)
Peel the squash top and julienne it - the food processor is great for this.
Combine the squash and dressing and nuts.
Season to taste.

Enjoy.

NIGELLA COOKALONG 10

Every month on the Nigella Lawson website there is a "cookalong" whereby one member nominates a recipe for everyone to try, then at the end of the month everyone who has tried it posts their thoughts, tweaks etc.
This months dish was "pasta salad primavera"  - I'm really glad the this dish was nominated, as it had never jumped out at me as one to try.  Firstly orzo pasta is hard to source (and I'm not big on pasta salads), secondly shelling all those broad beans didn't appeal and finally I thought that all those peas and beans might be a bit "samey".

Of course I need not have worried, the fact that the pasta is so tiny negated my pasta salad aversion, there was absolutely no stodginess.  The garlic and lemon zest somehow made all the different types of peas and beans zing.

The original recipe called for 500g of pasta which I knew would be way too much (there is no way I could sell pasta salad to the rest of the family in this cold weather!!) so I went with half portions, I also changed some of the vegetables to suit what was fresh or available in the freezer.

I would recommend this salad (the original recipe can be found on Nigella.com) but feel that it would be more appropriate to summer weather.  I'm not sure that I would bother with the broad beans again, particularly if I was using this salad for a party, the shelling of that amount of beans would be very time consuming - if life is too short to stuff a mushroom, it's certainly too short to shell kilos of broad beans!!!

Another plus for this salad is that it can be made well in advance, which is unusual with salads.  I ate it for lunch the day after I made it -  I just added some broccoli and spinach (from the previous night's dinner) - it was delicious.

My version of:

Pasta Salad Primavera

250g     orzo (puntarelle) pasta
250g     fine asparagus (cut into bite sized pieces)
250g     broad beans (I used frozen)
100g     soya beans (frozen)
100g     fine beans (frozen)(cut into bite sized pieces)
100g     snow peas (cut into bite sized pieces)
2 tbsp   extra virgin olive oil
1           clove of garlic
1           lemon. Juice and Zest.
1 pkt     chives - chopped


Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.  When cooked drain and stir the olive oil, grated garlic and lemon zest through.
Cook the fresh vegetables one at a time until cooked through but with some bite.  When cooked refresh in ice cold water.
Plung the frozen vegetables in boiling water to defrost, then shell the broad beans (or cook then shell if using fresh)
Drain all the cooked beans and peas and add to the pasta.  Dress with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Add extra olive oil if needed.

Of course alter the vegetables to your taste, I would stay with all green though.

Enjoy

MORE PARTY FARE

I had to show you this photo, isn't this the most beautiful lettuce you have ever seen? I bought it with the roots intact, so it lasted for ages which was a good job as I couldn't bare to eat it!!!!

I spotted the lettuce in Lidl (of all places) and was only sorry I didn't buy more.

The salad beside the beauty is a three bean salad based on the Avoca one, this is a wonderful salad to serve at a party as it can be prepared the day before.

This egg noodle and bean sprout salad comes from guess where? Yes that's right Avoca. Texturally this is a great salad, with the soft mouth feel of the noodle and the contrasting crunchiness of the peppers and beansprouts.

This salad makes a great lunch with some chicken or prawns added to it.

Egg Noodle and Bean Sprout Salad

5 tbsp sesame oil

3 garlic cloves (grated)

1 inch ginger (grated)

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 peppers (one yellow and one red)

150g mangetout or sugarsnap peas cut into strips

110g broccoli blanched, refreshed and cut into bite size pieces (tenderstem is great)

6 scallions (spring onions) chopped

40g egg noodles

700g bean sprouts

Heat the sesame oil on a very low flame (be very careful not to burn it). Add the garlic and ginger and saute gently for 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Cook the noodle as instructed on the packet, drain well.

Add the noodles to the sesame oil mixture and all to cool.

Combine all the vegetables and add the noodle mixture to them.

Enjoy.

Three Bean Salad

400g Can of kidney beans, butter beans and chickpeas (or your favourite combination)

3 scallions (spring onions) finely chopped

2 peppers - 1 red and 1 orange

1 tbsp dijon mustard

3 garlic cloves, grated

125ml olive oil

lemon juice

Make up your dressing by combining the mustard, grated garlic, oil and lemon juice (to taste) in a jar and shake well. Season well.

Drain and rinse all the cans of beans, and add them to a dish with the scallions and peppers. Add the dressing and mix well. Taste and season as needed.

Enjoy!

HAPPY DAYS 2

A couple more salads from my sisters party. These are from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook (I have tweaked them a bit), and are regulars.

The potato salad is flavoured with mint, which is quite an unexpected combination (at least I thought so the first time I tasted it!). Also because it mixes french dressing, yogurt and mayonnaise it doesn't have that claggy texture that some potato salads have.

The second salad is their famous broccoli, feta and hazelnut salad, again plenty of taste for very little work!

I always make a jam jar of french dressing before I start these salads, working in proportions and by taste. I measured it out this time in order to blog it, but make your own favourite.

FRENCH DRESSING

250ml extra virgin olive oil

75 ml white wine or cider vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp honey

10ml fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper

Mix all the above together in a jar and shake (like Tom Cruise in Cocktail!)

Alter to taste - add more oil or lemon juice as you wish.

POTATO SALAD

1 packet (900g) baby potatoes

75ml french dressing

3tbsp mayonnaise

4 tbsp greek yogurt

large bunch mint, chopped finely

salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes (I add the stems from the mint to the pot) until tender, then drain and while still hot cut into bite sized pieces. Discard the mint stems, then add the french dressing allow to cool (I usually allow them to cool overnight).

When at room temperature add the yogurt, mayo and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in a pretty bowl.

BROCCOLI, FETA AND HAZELNUT SALAD

100g toasted hazelnuts

400g bite-sized broccoli florets

150g feta cheese - cubed (or just use what comes in a packet)

250g cherry tomatoes

200ml french dressing

Gently toss all the ingredients together, season to taste (you probably won't need salt as the feta will provide plenty.

Enjoy

HAPPY DAYS

There is nothing I like more than a party, particularly a family party catered by my sisters and myself, and even more particularly a party catered by us but in one of their houses (so I escape clean up duties!!!!)

My sister had a wonderful party yesterday, it had all the important ingredients: great company, great craic, plentiful vino and of course wonderful food.

When deciding on the menu for one of these parties, I always like to make a good selection of salads to complement the meat element of the spread. The salads (as well as the deserts!) are my favorite part of the meal, and I always like to prepare some old reliables, and some from the groaning list of "to try" recipes I have accumulated, and finally at least one experimental one.

The photo shows one of the old reliables a beetroot salad and an experimental one. I had tried a lovely couscous salad in the Avoca Cafe and this is my interpretation of it.

The day went very well, all the guests seemed to enjoy themselves, and a good number went home with goodie bags!!!

I'll blog about some of the deserts later on, there was my sister's pavlova and chocolate roulade, there was a fantastic cheesecake (wish I had taken some of it home for breakfast!!) a chocolate torte and Nigella's barabdos cream.

BEETROOT SALAD

2 packets of vacuum packed ready cooked beetroot

300ml greek yogurt

1 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp slivered almonds

Dice the beetroot (ware gloves if you don't fancy pink fingers!)

Combine all the ingredients, season well with salt and pepper and serve.

Easy or what!

COUSCOUS SALAD

1 Cup Couscous

1/2 Cup sultanas

1 Red pepper

1 Orange pepper

2 Sticks celery

1/2 Red onion (finely diced)

1/2 Cup olive oil

1/4 Cup cider vinegar

1 Bunch coriander (chopped finely)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp curry powder

Soak the sultanas in the vinegar for no more than 15 minutes.

Cook the couscous according to the packet instructions.

De-seed the peppers and cut into bite size cubes.

Slice the celery thinly.

Warm the spices in a frying pan (until they release their aroma) about 3 minutes.

Add the sultanas and vinegar to the pan, and then pour this mixture over the couscous.

Add the fresh coriander, onion, peppers and celery.

Season well with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Enjoy.