Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon

The plan was to eat vegetables all week, leading up to our 10 day holiday in Melbourne (and 2 days in Malaysia!) but you know, I just can’t do it!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the last person to be diet obsessed but dieting was a small price to pay. Much better than having to hear those “oh, you’ve put on weight…you look so much better now, rather than before when you were too thin” comments from my family! (I do love my family dearly!)

The only problem is that I’m sooo very very bored with salads. Plus I think all this vegetable eating is zapping me of any creativity that I had in the kitchen.

Anyway, back to the salad eating.

The Salade Niçoise is named after its origins: Nice (that’s Neece as in Fleece not Nyce) in the south of France. There are of course uncountable versions (mine included) of this salad but the basic ingredients of a Salade Niçoise include green beans, tomatoes, olives, boiled eggs and tuna. I call any salad with boiled eggs and tuna a Salade Niçoise ;-)

I was a little bored with raw vegetables so I lightly pan fried courgette, red and yellow capsicum and mushrooms for the salad. I also added one of my favourite “salady” vegetables: Mache.

Mache is one vegetable that I had never heard of or seen in Australia. Wikipedia lists its English name as “corn salad” (??). I was introduced to the mache in France and absolutely loved it. However when I first saw mache, I asked the Hubs what it was, and his reply was “some kind of salad that cows eat”! Guess that makes us cows!

I also didn’t add any tomatoes to the salad, but instead added blueberries (they’re in season!). Yes, I know, that’s a bit weird but I’m trying to make Hubs eat more blueberries (high in antioxidants).

The salad was initially just plain vegetables.

Then I thought, if I eat that, I’ll be hungry in 1 hour and end up in a bad mood, and be scouring the kitchen on the search for any hint of chocolate! So, I added the tuna and eggs!

Ingredients for Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon
1 courgette (lightly pan fried)
½ a red & ½ a yellow capsicum (lightly pan fried)
4 mushrooms (lightly pan fried)
2 large handfuls of mache
½ onion
¾ cup blueberries
200g canned tuna (enough for Hubs and me. I love canned tuna!)
2 boiled eggs

Sweet chilli dressing for Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon
(this makes enough for 2)
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp water
½ tsp sesame oil

And there you have it, another exciting salad night at Wok n’ Spoon’s!

To beet or not to beet?

That is not the question.

The question is but how to make the humble salad more interesting?

And unfortunately, the answer my friend, is definitely not blowing in the wind. I’ve been eating salads for the most part of 3 weeks now and I’m bored bored bored.

My pants aren’t any looser, my muffin top isn’t any smaller and I’m heading for a great big chocolate binge! I spent 10 minutes in the chocolate aisle at the supermarket today, trying to decide if I wanted Lindt with whole hazelnuts or Lindt with chili, before telling myself that I had dried cranberries at home that I could snack on instead. Yes, I know, dried cranberries are also loaded with sugar, however providing I don’t eat 3 packets, dried cranberries are still better than chocolate!

Anyway, I’ve been cruising the streets foodie blogs looking for the perfect lover for my left over rocket, and I’ve found it in Argus’ World. (Thank you Argus!)

Beetroot.

I bought cooked beetroot (I’m too lazy to deal with raw beetroot) and the delicate sweetness was an ideal match for my peppery rocket. Topped with smoked salmon and a scattering of sunflower seeds and it was heaven on my taste buds.

Add to that a light drizzle (or a heavy downpour in my case) of a creamy Asian flavoured dressing and I was once again inspired to chow down on salads for the next 3 weeks….um…ok…maybe 3 weeks is exaggerating, but at least for the next week!

Salad ingredients for 2
Rocket (about 2 big handfuls)
4 beetroots (cooked) sliced
sunflower seeds
150-200g smoked salmon


Garlicky creamy Asian salad dressing (adapted from CooksRecipes)
1 tbs mayonnaise
1/2 tbs soy sauce
3/4 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sesame seed oil
2 tsp water (omit if you like a thicker dressing)
2 tsp minced garlic lightly fried in olive oil

Mix the mayonnaise, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, sesame seed oil and water well until the sugar is no longer grainy. Lightly fry the garlic in oil. Drain the oil then add the garlic to the dressing. This makes roughly ¼ cup of dressing.

Then, drown your salad in the dressing!

Ok, I know, eating salad drenched in dressing sort of defeats the purpose but I can’t just eat plain salad!

Ginger Tuna Patties with Wakame Salad and Wasabi

I think the lack of sugar and fat in my food has been robbing me of any little creativity that I had in the kitchen, plus I’m still stuck in wakame land! On top of that, I love canned tuna so what better to make then tuna patties to sit on top of yet more wakame!

Making tuna patties is pretty basic and I’m sure everyone’s tried them at least once. Here’s what I used:

Tuna Patties
2 eggs
2 x 200g canned tuna
1/4 cup flour
3 stalks green onions diced finely
2 tsp ginger minced
1/4 capsicum
1/3 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients.
Drop spoonfuls onto a heated and oiled frying pan. Flatten the spoonfuls into patties and fry both sides until browned and cooked.

For the salad, I used cucumber, wakame and sesame seeds. I also recycled the salad dressing recipe that I used in my last wakame adventure.

However this time, once the tuna patties and the salad had been assembled, I drizzled a slightly runny wasabi paste over the whole dish! It definitely gave the meal a bit of a kick!

I usually buy wasabi in powder form. A Japanese friend once told me that I should only prepare the paste just before using as the flavour tends to evaporate. For this meal, I made my wasabi paste runnier that I usually have it when I’m eating sushi or sashimi.

Runny wasabi paste
½ tsp wasabi powerpowder
3 tsp water

Mix well and spoon into mouth…hehe..no, drizzle on the tuna patties and salad!

Voila, another healthy meal! (I don’t think I can take this salad eating much longer!)

Wakame salad topped with smoked salmon

Even though it feels like an eternity, it’s only been about 2-and-a-half-weeks since I started trying to eat a little more healthily (is that a word?). Why the healthy eating? No, I’m not one of those women who live perpetually on rice cakes and salad, and for whom “diet” is a lifestyle not some tortuous ritual.

However, I am heading home to Melbourne for a holiday in August and expect to be eating up a storm then! Plus, I’m not willing to incur any of the “oh you look so….healthy” type remarks from my relatives when they see that I have been enjoying all those German beers! (Ok, my relatives are not that tactful. They usually just get right to the point and say “oh, you’ve put on weight”!)

Anyway, it’s definitely been a pain challenge trying to come up with healthy yet interesting meals. All I want to do is eat lots of rice, fried noodles and cookies!

On top of that, I already lacked creativity in the kitchen before the healthy eating thing! Take away the rice, noodles, oil, fat and sugar….it doesn’t leave much for me to play with!

Anyway, luckily, I found a lifesaver: wakame. Wakame is basically a type of edible seaweed. It’s usually the green stuff that’s floating around in your miso soup at Japanese restaurants (well, in Parisian“Japanese” restaurants anyway).

According to Wikipedia, wakame is supposed to be pretty good for you but I just like it for its semi-crunchy consistency, which gives a little texture to boring ol’ salads. Plus, it’s also pretty easy to prepare (extra points there!).

I buy dried unsalted wakame in packets and all I need to do is soak a handful in water for about 3 minutes then drain. My Japanese friends tell me that in Japan, wakame is also sold fresh.

Anyway, here’s what Hubs and I have been eating for 2 days in a row: Wakame salad topped with smoked salmon. Yum.

To prepare the dried wakame, I soaked it in a bowl of water for 3-5 minutes then drained. I then lightly squeezed the wakame with my hands to remove the water. Be careful not to over soak the wakame otherwise it becomes too soft and loses its crunch.

The time that the wakame needs to soak in water tends to depend on the brand. I’ve found that while one brand only took about 1-2 minutes, another brand took 5 minutes.

This is what I used for the salad:
Cucumber
Rocket
Wakame (I used roughly 1/3 a cup of dried unsalted wakame for 2 people)
Cherry tomatoes
Dried cranberries (left over from those cookies!)
Sesame seeds
Smoked salmon (store bought)

For the salad dressing, I just made a simple and commonly used Asian-type dressing:
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
a splash of sesame oil
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp chilli flakes (I love my chilli)


And ta-da – dinner for 2! I found that the sweetness of the dried cranberries went really well with the salty smoked salmon.

Now all I have to do is find something interesting and low-fat to make for the next 4 weeks!