February 2014 - Salmon Escalopes with Dill & Avocado Salad

Eeek, I just realised that I haven't posted this month. There has been a distinct lack of cooking in my house for most of the month. It has been a bit of a food disaster actually and, to be honest, I feel pretty lousy for it. I thought that since it is the last day of the month and I cannot sleep I better get this post done. Although please don't expect too much as it is 2 am....

I ended up making this recipe because it was easy, healthy and from all appearance of the recipe tasty and it was all three.

Salmon Escalopes with Dill & Avocado Salad 

1/4 c olive oil

Zest 1 lemon, (I used limes as the cost of lemons is daylight robbery and they are imported)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove

4 x 200 g skinless salmon fillets 

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Salad: 

2 Lebanese cucumbers, halved, sliced 

1 avocado, halved, sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked

1/2 bunch dill, fronds picked 

Combine olive oil, zest and garlic, season. Slice salmon on 45 degree angle into 1 cm thick slices. Coat in marinade and leave for 15 min. 

Pre-heat bbq to high, combine evoo, vinegar & lemon juice. Season well & set aside. 

Combine all ingredients for salad. 

Brush bbq with olive oil and cook salmon for 30 sec each side (I did about 1 minute each side as I prefer it cooked through). 

Toss salad with dressing and serve with salmon. 

*Don't use all the dressing, it makes a ridiculous amount. 

January 2014 - Turkey & avocado salad with cranberry dressing

Well not doing so well on the posting more resolution this month am I? Then again I haven't really been doing much creative cooking-wise either. I have been cooking a bit but quite a bit of it has been pre-prepared or pre-marinated stuff. I discovered that the marinated split chickens from Woolworths are very good done on the weber bbq. 

I made this salad a couple of nights ago. It was easy and tasty. I used some leftover chicken in place of the turkey. It was supposed to have sourdough croutons but I didn't have any bread so I didn't worry about it. I think it was filling enough without them. 

Turkey & avocado salad with cranberry dressing

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp cranberry sauce

2 celery stalks, shaved

120g mixed baby salad leaves (I used cos lettuce and alfalfa spouts)

400 g cooked turkey meat, shredded 

1/4 c slivered almonds, toasted (I didn't have any so used some pepitas) 

1 avocado, sliced

Whisk oil, vinegar and cranberry sauce together. 

Mix all other ingredients together and drizzle dressing over. 

Cooks Club - Spicy Mushroom & Tomato salad

Another entry for the taste.com.au Cooks Club. I really loved this salad. It was perfectly filling with just some scotch fillet steak. 

I had some tomatoes that are in between cherry & regular size and they have such a rich tomato flavour. I put them on the bbq to char them up a bit. It gave such fabulous flavour. I didn't have any fresh chilli but I do have a chilli infused olive oil so I used some of that in the dressing. The other half of the oil I used a garlic infused olive oil mainly because I am not keen on the flavour of raw garlic in things. It gave a lovely garlic flavour with a bit of a kick at the end. I think that it would have also been good if the mushrooms had been grilled but it was still really good with the fresh mushrooms. I would definitely make this again. 

Bake Club - Young Coconut & Berry Slushies

I mentioned in my previous post about the challenges over on taste.com.au. The Bake Club challenge for this month is to make anything from the coconut desserts recipe collection. It is really hot and really dry here at the moment. Not as hot as it is in Melbourne though, where the Australian Open  tennis is on, I can't imagine how people are playing tennis in the heat down there. 

I decided it would be nice to make something that didn't involve turning the oven on. I remember looking the Young Coconut & Berry Slushies recipe several times in the issue of delicious magazine and since it is part of this collection I decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. It has just the right amount of tart and sweet. I didn't wait for it to be too slushie and I just ate it with a spoon. It was so lovely and cooling. I will definitely make it again. 

Cooks Club - Watermelon, rockmelon and feta salad

Cooks Club has started up again over on taste.com.au. This month's recipe collection is salad recipes which is just perfect for this time of year. It has been so hot and dry lately that I have been having a lot of salads. 

I had put some chicken drumsticks in a honey soy garlic and ginger marinade but needed something to go with it. I searched through the collection and came across this recipe which I had most things or could substitute. I purchased a large rockmelon and half a watermelon recently so I thought that this would be a good recipe to use a little bit of it up. I really enjoyed it. I used some feta since that is what I had and I don't really like goat's cheese that much anyway. I didn't have mint either but have grown some lemon basil this year, it isn't very prolific but I put a few leaves around. It has such a lovely lemony taste to it. Nest time I think I would put in some olives and cherry tomatoes.