Tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers

This was a real 'what is in the cupboard that I can cook quickly for lunch' recipe.

I had hungry children due home in an hour and no time to run to a grocery shop. A search through the pantry cupboard revealed a tin of tuna in brine, one tin of pink salmon and a tin of sweet corn. Put all that together and you get the above - tuna, salmon and sweet corn burgers. The children had theirs as burgers on a bread roll with some lettuce and tomato. I had mine with an avocado and orange salad. Just delightful, and the leftovers went well for lunch the next day.

Pork and prawn salad with green curry dressing

I would eat some kind of casserole or stew everything day during colder weather if I could. I blame my Dad for this, because he makes an excellent casserole, and I enjoyed many of them in my younger days. The other people in my house tend to get a bit sick of this kind of comfort' food, especially the man of the house. He has been know to refer to this type of food as 'sloppy.' 'Wash his mouth out,' I say!

Clearly the above dish is not a casserole or stew. It is my attempt at keeping the peace at the dinner table.
It was destined to be a pork and prawn green curry with spinach - read 'sloppy' - that I turned into a salad instead. Clever, aren't I! It wasn't too hard, tasted great and got me some smiles around the table.

Zucchini, carrot and pine nut salad with a tangy dressing

I've met quite a few people who have a pathological aversion
to zucchini/courgette - the man of the house being one of these. Usually this is because their mothers or grandmothers served it up as a boiled, over-cooked mush when they were young.

Boiled zucchini is not an appetising dish, no matter how you might flavour it.

If you want your family to eat zucchini, try this recipe out. It is fresh, crunchy and tastes really good. Serve as an accompaniment to grilled meat, fish or as a side dish with pasta.

Fresh peach, rocket and goat's cheese salad

It's high season for stone fruit at the moment. Peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries are in abundance.

It is a novelty for me to have these fruits in the middle of the year. In Australia, the stone fruit season is at Christmas time. When the first plums and cherries hit the shelves of the supermarket, you know that Christmas is not far away.

Walking into a fruit shop in summer in Australia, you are hit with the wonderful smell of ripe stone fruits and mangoes. And a Christmas lunch table in our house usually has a large bowl of yummy ripe stone fruit.

But in Austria, stone fruit heralds the start of the warmer weather; although this year it did take a little longer than usual for things to warm up.

Spring here brings the beautiful blooms of the soon-to-be fruit. It's almost as if the trees burst with happiness after the long, cold winter and say, 'soon you'll be warm and able to eat fresh fruit again!" The white and pale pink blossoms are one of my favourite things about spring here. Where we live in Australia we don't really have spring, so it is nice to experience it here.

Here is a simple salad recipe using ripe peaches, although nectarines would work equally well. A word of warning though, don't use really-ripe or over-ripe peaches for this recipe, as they will turn to mush when you try to remove the seed. Use fruit that is just soft.

Haloumi, avocado and lemon salad

Quite a few salads have been made in my kitchen lately.

Perhaps I am trying to encourage the weather to turn more 'summer-like' as we've had a lot of rain, wind and generally depressing 'Autumn-like' conditions for the past month.

This Haloumi salad is packed with lots of texture and strongly-flavoured ingredients. Instead of just squeezing some lemon juice over the top, I peeled the lemon, removed the seeds, sliced finely and then added this as an ingredient to the salad. If you think this may be too strong for you, just juice the lemon instead of using the flesh. And because the lemon flesh is in the salad, I only dressed this salad with olive oil and some salt and pepper. That's it.

Again, there's lots of texture here; the chewy and crunchy Haloumi, the squishy avocado, the tart lemon flesh and the fragrant fresh mint. I really liked this combination. And it is so 'summery' and pretty to look at too.

Serve as a side dish to roast chicken or seafood.

Falafel, lentil and celery salad

Quick and crunchy salad - chock full of texture and taste. This took 10 minutes to throw together. We had it with some simply-grilled pork steaks.

I love crunch and texture in food, especially in salads. The celery in this salad is super-crunchy, then there's the chewy falafel and the squishy lentils and ripe tomatoes.



I made a dressing with red wine vinegar, just because I really like it, but I think it really brings out the flavours of other ingredients. If you don't like the tartness of this type of vinegar, use plain white vinegar or cider vinegar, or add a little water to the dressing to reduce the tartness. Some lemon juice and olive oil would be good as a dressing too. This salad would also be great with some fresh parsley tossed through.

Rocket, avocado and cashew salad

Salad time! We ate this great salad with crumbed fish. It was so great; lots of texture and flavour.

I dressed this salad very simply with a squeeze of lemon, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Chickpea salad with yoghurt lime dressing

Little salad recipe for you today. I've used mostly pantry ingredients for this one, with a little ripe avocado and some basil from the window garden on top.

There are some lovely, fresh flavours here, and it is filling with the chick peas.

This salad would be great for a bbq, and as a side to grilled chicken or other meats. Or you could just have it by itself with some crusty bread.

Warm potato salad

Potatoes are a way of life here in Austria. Potato salad (Kartoffelsalat) is served in a vast majority of restaurants and cafes. Most recipes here involve peeled potatoes that are sliced while still warm and then soaked in a vinegar dressing. The salad is then cooled and generally served cold. This salad is a tradition accompaniment to schnitzel. I really like it, as I find it lighter than the Aussie-type potato salad with a creamy dressing.

That said, here is my recipe for a warm potato salad, which can be served as a side dish grilled meats or fish. This is a good dish for a BBQ or feeding a crowd, as you can make it is advance and store. We had this salad for dinner on Saturday night, accompanying baked chicken breast and a rocket and asparagus salad.

You can adapt this recipe as you like and depending on what you have in the pantry or fridge. In this recipe, I have used chorizo sausage, corn kernels, fresh parsley, roasted almonds and a dressing of natural yoghurt, mayonnaise and lemon juice. But you could used other types of nuts such as pine nuts, sliced cooked bacon or ham, finely chopped gherkins or capsicum or sliced eschallots.

I think it is better to make the salad the day before and let the dressing soak into the potatoes. I am also somewhat of a 'lazy' potato salad-maker. I do not peel my potatoes. I like the taste of the skin and the texture it gives the salad. But if you want to peel the potatoes, go right ahead.

Quinoa and roasted pumpkin salad

I'll admit it, I am a slow adapter of new things; products, technology etc. I am one of those people who say, 'Oh yes, sounds good, I'll wait a couple of years until I try or buy.' I am even a little slow trying out new food ingredients. For example, I ate quinoa (pronounced kin-wah) for the first time two weeks ago.

I know that this new food has been around for a few years, and I have heard lots about it, read recipes about it and heard friends talk about using it, but it was not for me until two weeks ago. I decided to give quinoa a go after talking to my Mum, who has used it to make a version of fried rice (minus the rice of course).  

Our first taste of quinoa was as a plain side dish accompanying a chicken curry. The verdict from the family was good and yummy. The next recipe we tried was this roasted pumpkin salad. I made a chilli and green olive dressing, and sprinkled some fresh-cracked walnuts over the top. The textures were wonderful, squishy and crunchy, and nutty and creamy.

I find that quinoa doesn't sit in your stomach as heavily as some other carbohydrates, such as rice or pasta. Therefore, I will be adding quinoa as a regular ingredient to my cooking repertoire. Give it a try if you haven't already. 

What you'll need

Serves four to six people as a side dish

For the salad

Half a medium butternut (or whatever variety you have) pumpkin, skinned, deseeded and cut into rough 2cm cubes. I had about 2 cups-full of pumpkin to cook.

250g quinoa, cooked according to packet instructions

Vegetable oil for roasting

Salt and pepper

For the dressing

2 tablespoons green olive paste or tapenade

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 small red or yellow chillis, finely chopped

To serve

1/2 cup roughly-chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon fresh, finely-chopped oregano leaves

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Line a baking tin with a piece of baking paper. Place the pumpkin in a roasting tin. Drizzle pumpkin and vegetable oil (about 1 tablespoon) and season well with salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the pumpkin.

Roast until pumpkin is just soft and golden. (about 20 minutes). Remove tin from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, place the cooked quinoa and the cool pumpkin. Mix carefully, so that the pumpkin maintains its shape.

Make the dressing and season to taste. Pour over the salad.  Mix very gently to coat. Sprinkle with herbs and nuts and serve immediately.

This salad is a great accompaniment to chicken or fish. You could serve it as a main dish with some other salads or vegetable dishes. It would also be great to serve a large dish of this at a BBQ.

Haloumi, chorizo and roasted capsicum salad

 

This salad was a part of the meal we ate last night with our cousin. It accompanied rib-eye steaks with chimichurri sauce. Obviously I am becoming Austrian, as the salad contains meat and cheese. But not just any cheese - haloumi - fried Greek/Cypriot cheese, what joy!

This salad would be great to serve at a bbq or you could serve it as a stand-alone dish for lunch with some crunchy bread and a glass of cold white wine. It is a big, hearty salad; nothing diet about this dish. But there is plenty of taste and texture.

I roasted my own capsicum for this recipe, but you could just buy some at the shops if you like.

What you'll need

*This salad serves six to eight people as a side dish.

For the salad

4 capsicums, roasted, skin removed and roughly chopped into slices OR 200g shop-bought roasted capsicum, roughly chopped. I used red and yellow capsicum.

3 chorizo sausages, thinly sliced

400g haloumi cheese, thickly sliced

1/2 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced

700g tinned, white beans, rinsed

For the dressing

1/4 cup olive oil

5 tbl balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

What to do

Heat a large frying pan on high heat. Place the cheese into the pan and fry until brown and crispy, turn and repeat on the other side. Once cooked, you can chop the haloumi into smaller, bite-sized pieces or leave it larger.

Heat another frying pan on medium heat and cook the chorizo until brown and fragrant. Drain on some paper towel to remove the oil.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, pour over the dressing and mix well to combine.

Serve immediately while still warm.  

Fresh beetroot, goat's cheese, walnut and prosciutto salad

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be given some fresh beetroot from my cousin Melanie's garden. Danke  Melanie! It got me thinking about how I would eat it. 

I decided to simply simmer the beetroot until it was tender, and toss into a salad with rocket, walnuts, goat's cheese and some crispy prosciutto. This was so good; the tender beetroot with its sweetness and vibrant ruby colour, the soft and tart goat's cheese, crunchy walnuts and crispy prosciutto and rocket. This is texture heaven. If you can't get a hold of any fresh beetroot, you could substitute for tinned, whole baby beetroot.

*The ingredients picture below and the recipe includes avocado, which I had intended to put in my 
salad, but I completely forgot. 

Roasted sweet potato salad with mozzarella and balsamic dressing

Sweet potato is a staple food in our house. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for most households here in Vienna. So I really have to hunt for these golden treasures. Luckily I have one supermarket within walking distance that always has sweet potato in stock, and I can also find it at a local food market.

Last year, we held an 'Aussie BBQ' in Vienna for some family members, and we served roasted sweet potato and pumpkin as a part of the menu. Most of our guests have never eaten either sweet potato or pumpkin, which I found quite amusing. It was nice to introduce these 'new' foods to our family.

Today was definitely BBQ weather, another hot day, and we spent the day at our local pool, with most of the population of Vienna!

I think this salad is light enough for hot weather, but it is also filling. You could serve this salad by itself for a light lunch or dinner, or as a side salad. We ate it with pan-fried salmon fillet and green cous cous.

Anything in the fridge salad

I could eat salad at every meal. It is so diverse and you can make so many different variations with so few ingredients. I love a mix of crunchy, soft, squishy, rough and slippery ingredients.

I really like the crunch of salad leaves. Any kind will do, I'm not fussy; it can be plain old iceberg, baby spinach, rocket, lamb's lettuce or raw cabbage. I like nuts and cheese in my salad when it is a stand-alone meal (not a side salad to something else). I like tomatoes, lots of different kinds, but I prefer them at room temperature; I feel they loose their flavour in the fridge.

My other favourite ingredients are cucumber (without skin please), grated carrots, sliced meats, tuna or smoked salmon and sometimes a bit of fruit. Grated apple is lovely, pieces of orange or seedless mandarin are so refreshing, and berries are super-yummy. And of course, there has to be a great tangy dressing and bread to mop it up at the end.

This is a 'anything in the fridge' salad, as I never make it the same twice. It is always made with whatever is in the fridge. I like the variety of this and it is a good way of using up whatever needs to be used.

Honey-roasted pumpkin and carrot salad

I really like pumpkin. Unfortunately, the pumpkin farmers in the country where I now live either feed their pumpkins to the pigs or use the seeds to make pumpkin seed oil. So I don't get to eat it much.

Luckily for me though, there must be other people in Vienna who also like pumpkin, as I am seeing it at the markets more and more. Usually pumpkin only appears here in the Autumn (Sept - Nov), but I found one in my local grocer yesterday. Here is how we ate it.