Three Bean and Asparagus Salad

Sorry about the slightly iffy picture of this Three Bean and Asparagus salad; I made it last weekend when DS, DDIL and Gorgeous Granddaughter came round for lunch; everything else was already on the table so I didn’t have time to faff about. I was originally planning to do a cold lunch because I was expecting it to be warm and sunny – proper summer weather; needless to say it was cool and showery…grrr!

Anyway, we had the salad along with a Nut Roast Wellington and some of our crop of new potatoes from the garden cooked with olive oil and rosemary. Our potatoes have done really well this year – I think they enjoyed all the rain we had in May and June, unlike my tomatoes, poor things, which are looking as sick as a pig. Heigh-ho…you can’t have everything.

We’re having a heatwave for the next few days, apparently; it's about 4pm and I’m sitting here in the gloom with the shutters and windows closed to keep the heat out. It’s 29°C – ghastly! I might have to put my thinking cap on and come up with a few more salads to keep us cool.

150g fine green beans
125g fine asparagus
125g edamame beans
150g baby broad beans
100g feta
40g hazelnuts

1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp walnut oil
1 tsp lemon juice
ground black pepper

Roast the hazelnuts in the oven at 200C for five minutes then set aside to cool.

Put all the dressing ingredients into a small jam jar and shake like billy-o until emulsified.

Cook the green beans and asparagus together in boiling water for 1 minute; drain and run under cold water then drain well.

Cook the edamame beans and broad beans together for three minutes; drain and refresh in cold water then drain well.

Arrange the green beans and asparagus on a shallow serving dish followed by the edamame and broad beans.

Crumble the feta over the top and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.

Drizzle over the dressing and serve immediately.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Potato, Three Bean and Sesame Salad

I feel I should warn you I’m typing this with one eye on the telly watching Andy Murray playing Ivo Karlovic at Wimbledon; if I wander off into incoherency at least you’ll know why!

I thought you might like to see a pic of some of our ‘Swift’ potatoes which we dug up two days ago. The rest of the veg patch is still a bit hit and miss but at least the spuds have enjoyed the rain. Despite the recent awful weather we seem to be having three days of summer at the moment (I hope this isn’t all we get!) so a potato salad seemed like a good idea yesterday.

This one is based on a recipe by Michel Roux I saw mentioned on a messageboard, but I changed it around slightly; I was doubtful about the sesame dressing, but I thought this Michel bloke can cook a bit and probably knows what he’s about (ha!) so I decided to go with it. Good call…the dressing was fabulous; sweet, sharp and tangy all at once.

(Incidentally, Andy has just beaten Karlovic in four sets...good man!)

400g new potatoes

100g frozen edamame beans
100g frozen baby broad beans
100g fine green beans
½ a red onion, finely sliced
small handful fresh coriander leaves

2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
juice of 2 lemons
black pepper

Chop the potatoes into bite-size chunks and boil or steam until just tender; drain and plunge into cold water then drain again.

Top and tail the green beans and cut into thirds. Put all three types of bean in half an inch of boiling water in a small pan, bring them back to the boil and simmer for three minutes. Drain, plunge into cold water and drain again.

Put the potatoes, beans, red onion and half the coriander leaves in a large bowl. Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl, drizzle over the salad and mix gently with your hands so as not to break the potatoes.

Scatter the remaining coriander leaves over the salad before serving.

Served 2 for dinner with some left to have on the side with a sandwich next day.

Mixed Bean Salad with Tomato Dressing

Well, I’m amazed to be able to say that the weather forecasters were right for once in their lives; the weather has been glorious for the last couple of days so, following on from what I said a couple of weeks back, I had a go at recreating another one of my ‘This is Not from Waitrose’ salads yesterday. I decided to go for the mixed bean variety.

The bean part was easy but the dressing required some thought. I wanted a dressing that was tangy without being citrusy and something that would be thick enough to cling to the beans; I definitely didn’t want to end up with something resembling soup with the beans swimming in a sea of dressing! I decided to go for a tomato and balsamic combo; it took a while to get just the taste I was after but I got there eventually.

Now, I have to tell you that we had this for dinner last night with quiche and new potatoes…and we had to stop ourselves from eating it all – we loved it! There was about two spoonfuls left (!) which we ate alongside our lunchtime salad sandwich today; I’m happy to report that it was just as good after 24 hours in the fridge.

1 tin mixed beans, well-rinsed and drained
100g fine green beans
50g frozen soya beans
½ a Romano red pepper, diced
¼ of a medium red onion, finely chopped
small handful of roughly chopped curly parsley

2 sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 small clove garlic, chopped
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 heaped tsp sun-dried tomato paste
4 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp water
black pepper

Top and tail the green beans and cut into thirds; bring ½ inch of water to the boil in a small saucepan, add the green beans and the soya beans, bring back to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water then drain well again.

Put the mixed beans and the cooled green and soya beans into a bowl, add the diced red pepper, the finely chopped onion and the parsley and mix well.

Put all the dressing ingredients into a blender and blitz until almost smooth.
Stir the dressing into the salad, cover with cling film and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the flavours amalgamate.

Serves 4 or maybe even 6 as part of a barbecue or buffet (or 2 extremely greedy simple veggies!)

Pesto Pasta Salad

Helloooo….I’m back!

Do you ever see something in a supermarket and think “I could make that”? Well, that’s what I did with this pasta salad. I love those little tubs of different salads that you find in the supermarket chiller cabinets but, let’s be honest, they’re a complete rip-off so I thought I’d have a whirl at making a similar one myself. In fact, I might just work my way through the entire range at Waitrose – making my version of my favourites.

I’m not sure we’ll be having a summer this year (we don’t even seem to have had spring yet or maybe I blinked and missed it – this is definitely the wettest drought I’ve ever seen!) but if we ever get a break from the rain this salad is just the sort of thing I’d be happy to have for lunch with a few tomatoes and maybe some rocket, whilst sitting in the garden watching the grass grow.

125g pasta shapes (I used trofie)

125g fine green beans

1tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp pesto

30g pine nuts

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water until al dente; top and tail the beans and cut into thirds, throw them in with the pasta for the last 3-4 minutes of the cooking time. Drain the pasta and beans and rinse well under cold running water to stop the cooking process; drain well then stir in the olive oil followed by the pesto.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan (watch them like a hawk – they burn if you so much as blink!) and sprinkle over the salad before serving.

I prefer this at room temperature rather than fridge cold, the flavour of the pesto really comes through. 

Trofie Liguria

I can't lay any claim to this recipe, it's one of St. Delia's and it's also known as Trofie Liguri. I’ve been meaning to put it on the blog for ages, but unfortunately I kept forgetting to take a picture before we demolished it! This is a really good after-work meal that can be on the table in 20 minutes.

Although Delia suggests using pesto from the chiller cabinet I can almost guarantee it won't be vegetarian so I always use Sacla Organic which is one of the few widely available pestos that’s veggie. I'd love to make my own but basil just refuses to grow for me and the quality of fresh basil is so hit and miss that I've given up on it for the time being; at least a jar is reliable.**


I’ve mentioned this recipe a couple of times on food messageboards and it always seems to elicit one of two responses; either “Pasta and potatoes....? No thanks!” or  “Oooh, pasta and potatoes….sounds lovely!” The idea of putting two carbs together really seems to polarise opinion and maybe it’s a bit like the Marmite slogan says, you either love it or hate it. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it though, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

175g trofie pasta
75g salad potatoes
75g fine green beans*
2 tbsp Sacla organic pesto

grated parmesan-style cheese   

 

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the pasta, give it a quick stir and let it bubble for 10 minutes. While the pasta is cooking slice the potatoes to the thickness of a £1 coin then top and tail the beans and chop them into thirds.

When the 10 minutes are up add the potatoes and beans to the pan; bring back to the boil and cook for exactly 8 minutes then drain the contents of the saucepan, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water.

Tip the potatoes, beans and pasta back into the saucepan along with the reserved water and the pesto. Stir carefully to give everything a nice coating of pesto.

Serve  immediately in warmed pasta bowls with plenty of parmesan-style cheese for sprinkling.

Serves 2.

*I’ve also made this with broccoli or peas instead of green beans. It’s equally as good.
**Update: I finally took the plunge and made my own pesto - you'll find it here if you fancy a look. It was worth waiting for!