Cucumber Salad

At the beginning of this month we had Dean's brother and sister-in-law, Kevin and Jo, visiting us from the UK.  Although most days we were out and about and my kitchen didn't get a whole lot of use (apart from the place with the big cold box called a fridge where the wine was kept!! :o), one night we did manage to get a wonderful Coho salmon on the BBQ (pop on over to my blog page and you'll see how we ended up with the salmon), and Jo made this wonderful cucumber salad that was the perfect accompaniment to the moist, flaky fish.  I made it again last night and although we still have about nine fillets of salmon in the freezer this time it went beside a fully loaded burger - just as nice :o)

Cucumber Salad

1 large 'English' cucumber
2-3 Tbs salt
6 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 tsp herbs of choice (today I used parsley, chives and basil)
3 Tbs lemon juice
pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)

• using a mandolin if you have one, slice the cucumber as thinly as possible.
• placing a sieve over a bowl, layer the cucumber slices into the sieve, sprinkling with the salt between each layer.
• cool in the refrigerator for an hour until the cucumber slices have softened and released a lot of their liquid.
• rinse the slices really well and pat dry using paper towel;  return to the sieve over the bowl and leave in the fridge until you're ready to use.
• meanwhile, in a bowl or small lidded jar mix together the olive oil, herbs, lemon juice and any salt and pepper (to taste).
• once you're ready to serve, pour away any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl, pat the cucumber slices dry again with paper towel and returning them to the dry bowl, cover with the dressing and mix well.
• serve chilled.

 Cucumber Salad ingredients.

slice the cucumber using a mandolin if you have one.

you want the slices to be as thin as possible.

with a sieve over a bowl, layer the slices, sprinkling salt between each layer

while the cucumber slices are 'marinating' mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl, or what I find easier is to pop them all into a small jar, screw the lid on and....

...shake like mad :o)

you'll be surprised just how much liquid comes out of the slices while they're in the fridge.

after they've been in the fridge for an hour, rinse them thoroughly...

...and pat dry with paper towel; pop them back in the sieve over the bowl, and leave them in the fridge until you're ready to use.

pour away the liquid that have accumulated in the bowl and after patting dry once again, mix the cucumber slices with the dressing.

it was just the perfect light salad to go along with our fully loaded burgers.

Veggie Pasta Salad

I came across this recipe on a wonderful food website that I'm constantly perusing called Tasty Kitchen and just knew that a variation of it would be wonderful alongside some beautiful salmon fillets that we bought.  I know it's the middle of winter and believe me we will be having the rib-sticking, like-momma-used-to-make, warm, winter casseroles and stews also this week, but when you've got deep red pacific salmon on your plate you want something light and simple beside it.  This is perfect - and believe me, it will also be coming back out in the middle of summer next to those barbecue ribs and steaks that my hubby (the BBQ master :o) rustles up outside.

Veggie Pasta Salad
6-8 servings
(adapted from this 'Summer Pasta Salad')

dressing
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs black pepper
3/4 Tbs salt

salad
2 cups dried elbow or penne pasta (to give you approx 4 cups)
1 large tomato
1 green bell pepper
1/2 cup baby carrots
4-5 green onions

• place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar and.....shake, shake, shake :o) - store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use.
• cook the pasta in boiling, salted water as per package instructions.
• meanwhile, chop the tomato, pepper, carrots and green onions to uniform size (I wanted mine fairly small) - these were just the veggies that I had on hand, but use your own favourites.
• when the pasta is cooked, drain and run under cold water to cool and stop it cooking any further.
• in a large bowl, mix together the cooled cooked pasta and veggies until well blended.
• pour about half of the dressing over the pasta and toss well - add more dressing if you want.
• keep covered in the refrigerator.

Veggie Pasta Salad ingredients.

dressing ingredients.

place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar.

pop on the lid and give it a good shake; put in the refrigerator until you want to use it.

cook the dried pasta in boiling water.

run the cooked pasta under cold water to stop it cooking further and cool it down.

chop all the veggies.

mix all the veggies and cold pasta together.

pour some dressing over the pasta and mix well - I couldn't resist spooning out a small bowl of it to eat straight away - I promise the rest went into the refrigerator ready for dinner and left-overs :o)

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

It took me years of trial and error to get the perfect hard-boiled egg (to my taste anyway - I don't like the yolk too dry).  I would usually get them either with runny whites or the other extreme of having that horrible gray line around the yolks - eeekkk!!  I often boil up a batch of these and keep in the fridge in a bowl for all sorts of different, delicious things.  They'll stay good in the fridge for up to a week.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

• place as many or as few fresh eggs as you want into a deep saucepan - try not to pack in too many, you want them to move around a little in the water.
• add cold water to cover the eggs by about 1 inch.
• bring the pan to a 'rolling' boil on high heat.
• when a 'rolling' boil is reached, immediately turn off the heat.
• leave the pan on the heating element for 10-12 minutes (depending on quantity of eggs).  I left them for 10 minutes using 7 eggs.
• quickly cool the eggs down by running under cold water while in a colander and then leave immersed in cold water for 5 minutes to cool completely.

 make sure the water is about 1 inch above eggs.

you want a rolling boil, hard enough to move the eggs around.

immerse the boiled eggs in cold water (I leave the colander inside the saucepan, in the sink just for ease)

of course I had to peel and cut one in half, just to check they looked right.

Then I had to sprinkle a little sea salt and eat it, just to check it tasted right :)

Watermelon Tomato Salad

This is a wonderful summer salad, but even though today is Halloween and the weather is cold and raining, it still works fabulously with the heartwarming butternut squash soup I made earlier.

Watermelon Tomato Salad

1 small seedless watermelon, cubed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, chopped
2 tsp parsley, chopped if fresh (I used dried)
1 Tbs lime juice

• In a large bowl, combine the watermelon, tomato and onion.
• sprinkle over the parsley and lime juice and toss to coat.
• refrigerate until ready to serve.

I didn't have any fresh limes, so I used bottled juice - worked great.

these small watermelons are so sweet - delicious.

mmmmm.....watermelon :)

I used red cherry tomatoes, but yellow grape would give a wonderful contrast too.

I didn't have a small onion, so I only used half of a larger one.

this is also a great accompaniment with a salmon fillet.