Tuesday, July 31, 2007

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!

24 comments:

  1. Very healthy. We called it lambs lettuce here. It's lovely. I love rocket too.

    You going to Melbourne? :( :)

    Have a great holiday! Eat all the tim tams you can! :D Oh, oh...and Vietnamese and yum char and Malaysian and seafood.....mmmmm, drooling.

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  2. hmmm the salads look great. rather than having raw veggies which is a bit boring you can have them cooked with some spices, you know the Indian way:)

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  3. Ooh! I love the colorful bell peppers in there,my favorite.YUM!!

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  4. What an interesting variation. ;-) Blueberries indeed!

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  5. Hi W&S! what a torment a diet is! , but if that's what you have to do, I guess you have to make the best of it. I'm not big on salads, chomping on cold, raw vegetables isn't my thing, so I like that you have pan fried some of the veggies. The dressing sounds good too. So if I were to go on a diet (God forbid!) this salad would be right down my alley!

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  6. Your salad looks absolutely beautiful!

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  7. j'aime beaucoup le détournement sans scrupules de recettes traditionnelles !!! Très bien joué, bravo

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  8. salad all the week??? ohhhhhhh no i can't hehehehhee.... looks great by added egg and tuna, yummmmmm

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  9. hey, salad looks so yum & colorful, how did u know i just harvested red peppers from my kitchen garden this am :) thanks for introducing me to cow food err Mache ;) liked the dressing as well, a La wok n spoon ;)

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  10. wow, I have to try this, Yumm, sweet chilli dressing with salad.

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  11. Salade Niçoise is one of my alltime favorite things to order out. you can often judge a place by that! the sweet chili dressing sounds to die for! major drool on this one, YUM!

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  12. There's nothing boring with this salad - it looks delicious!

    I agree that salad everyday is a big challenge. :

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  13. Judy: So it’s “lamb’s lettuce” not “cow’s”! Hehe! And yep, we’re going to Melbourne…in winter…though the weather is probably the same as it is here at the moment! Thank you and yes, I’ll be stuffing myself silly with all the food ;-)

    Sharmi: I would have my husband complaining that the veggies are too spicy then – him and his baby-tastebuds!

    Asha: I prefer the yellow and red ones to green.

    Lyrical Lemongrass: The blueberries were actually quite nice with the sweet chilli sauce! I was surprised too.

    Oh for the love of food: I’m not big on chomping on raw veggies either! But I’m surviving so far! At least I can eat like crazy when I go home ;-)

    Amy: Thanks!

    Claude-Olivier: Merci! Au moins c’est mieux que de manger des crudités!

    Lia : Hehe – salad and a couple of muffins today! Shhhh!

    Richa: Wow, that’s great that you have home grown peppers! Enjoy them! I’m sure they taste better than store-bought ones.

    Everything4Sweets: I love sweet chilli sauce and try to eat it with everything!

    Aria: You know, I haven’t had the real Salade Niçoise for ages!

    Patricia: Thanks! The challenge is nearly over!

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  14. interesting version of salad nicoise, especially the sweet chilli dressing ! :) Looks like a pretty dinner for me. Wish I could go Melbourne too.(So that I can attend the chocolate school :P) You are so lucky!

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  15. The tuna and egg version "looks" much better, as in less bland-looking, though I know the full-veg version is healthy and light.

    I thought you were supposed to move back to Aus, now it becomes just a holiday? You should spend more days in Malaysia and eat all the good yummy food!

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  16. I love Salad Nicoise, and your plate looks so yummy! Have a great trip! :)

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  17. How do you pronounce that big italian salad...the platter looks tempting and so does the tuna....you should not only enjoy ur trip to malaysia but also post some recipes of that country...i heard their food is spicy like Indian food.....have a great trip @_@, we will miss you!

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  18. You're right - Nuesslisalat (mache) is wonderful! I discovered it when I moved to Switzerland.
    Love the fact that you used blueberries in your salad, W&S.

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  19. Mandy: There’s a chocolate school in Melbourne??

    Tigerfish: You know, we were supposed to move back to Melbourne….but think we’re moving to the UK instead …once I get all my visa issues sorted out!! My Hubs just got a job there so unfortunately we can’t stay that long in Melbourne :-(

    EastMeetsWestKitchen: Thanks!

    Padma: The Niçoise is pronounced as “Nisoise”. And yes, Malaysian food is very spicy and is heavily influenced by Indian food – there’s also lots of Indian food with Malaysian influences as well in Malaysia ! Unfortunately, we’re only in Malaysia for 3 days I think – the rest of the time we’ll be in Melbourne!

    Argus: Yes – Nuesslisalat! I didn’t even look on the packet to see what the German name was!

    WanderingC: Great minds think alike!

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  20. Juste idéal! J'aime les salades complètes, saines et hautes en couleurs & saveurs!

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  21. $ha: Merci! Mais ça sera la dernière salade! J'en ai marre des salades!
    ;-)

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  22. I love salad. This looks really good. I have to try this dish too. Thanks, By the way, how is Melbourne? I was on holidays too and just got back. I missed the Tim Tam program; too bad for me. I love that stuff. Yum:)

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  23. Khun Ying: Melbourne was great!! Too bad the holiday was way too short!!

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