Spring is here! (salad)
Printed From: Foods of the World Forum
Category: Oceania and the Pacific Islands
Forum Name: Australia and New Zealand
Forum Discription: Australia and New Zealand
URL: http://foodsoftheworld.ActiveBoards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=845
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 19:33
Topic: Spring is here! (salad)
Posted By: kiwi
Subject: Spring is here! (salad)
Date Posted: 28 September 2010 at 17:45
So spring is here, the clocks have been put forward for daylight savings, and long warm evenings are on the way. I normally cook much lighter meals in the summer, and often eat meals warm or cold rather than hot, or at least make sure there is a large cold component. here is a nice and easy chicken salad I made the other day. I rarely eat chicken but this is a good way to use it! I quickly fry chicken pieces in chili infused oil, with sparing amounts of turmeric, chili, garlic and paprika, being careful not to overdo it and dry things out. then, using the leftover pan juices, I add some butter and more garlic, and fry up some croutons:  croutons take ages to get as crunchy as I like them without burning, so I'll wash all my greens now - various types of lettuce, spinach and rocket from the garden.  I like to build my salads on the plate instead of just tossing the things together, to ensure a good distribution of tastes through the dish, but I'm a little OCD like that. I'm also chucking in avocado and sun dried tomato (fresh tomatoes are still very dear here). Assembly time:  finished:  Dressing was my balsamic vinaigrette for those that wanted it. And some breads fresh out of the oven to serve with, a beer bread:  and a crusty sourdough loaf  ------------- kai time! |
Replies:
Posted By: TasunkaWitko
Date Posted: 28 September 2010 at 21:39
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very nice, kiwi - we do a similar salad in the spring and summer here, using grilled chicken with mediterranean herbs and flavours. like you, we prefer to assemble them a plate at a time, or set up an assembly line where people start with a bed of greens and then add whatever toppings they desire. i'd like to give this version a try with the eastern flavours.
the breads looks great as well! did you do the sourdough in your bread machine? ------------- If you are a visitor and like what you see, please http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/registration_rules.asp?FID=0" rel="nofollow - click here and join the discussions in our community! |
Posted By: kiwi
Date Posted: 28 September 2010 at 21:51
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that sourdough loaf was, yes. sometimes I do it in the oven.
------------- kai time! |
Posted By: kiwi
Date Posted: 29 September 2010 at 05:08
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the seeds you see there are pumpkin seeds that got a little over toasted - that bread caught the heat for a couple minutes too many I'd say. Still good, though. ------------- kai time! |
Posted By: Hoser
Date Posted: 29 September 2010 at 05:57
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Nice post Kiwi....you must be looking forward to the season I'm sure. Do you do a lot of outdoor cooking as well?
------------- Go ahead...play with your food! |
Posted By: kiwi
Date Posted: 29 September 2010 at 14:05
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Yes but a BBQ here isn't what you call a BBQ there :) We use direct fired, normally gas rather than charcoal or wood, and normally uncovered and cooked FAST. Most BBQs have at least half of the area taken up by a large iron hot plate, which is probably used more than the grill plate. My favourite ever meal is BBQed breakfast on a crisp summers morning of the sort you can kinda tell is going to get stinking hot later in the day. Bacon, eggs, fried onion, grilled tomato and rosemary, fry the bread in the bacon juice, avocado, fresh orange juice and good coffee. Hard to beat. I do a lot of that, and a lot of backcountry cooking when out in the bush. I'm a pretty good campfire cook (not as good as my old man though, he's a pro) but most of my backcountry cooking is done on my multifuel burner, which leaves me free to build a nice fire for light / warmth without worrying about preparing it for cooking. I guess the other outdoor cooking would be my little hot smoker, but that isn't used all that often, just whenever I get a hankering for smoked fish or shoot a fish best cooked that way. Kiwis barely ever coldsmoke anything. It actually feels like the season is already here. I've just moved up from the south, so I'm used to cold etc. Here it's currently doing the tropical thing, sunny, hot and humid, get a heavy downpour every afternoon, then suddenly sunny and humid again. Interesting change. ------------- kai time! |