Cucumber & Olive Salad

Nothing beats a simple salad, especially when the sun is shining and you have a chance to sit and savour a little bit of goodness. In my opinion the dressing is as important as the salad components – it brings the whole plate together and gives everything a satisfying lift. Here the saltiness of the olives paired with the lemon in the dressing keeps everything light and the crunch of the cucumber makes this a joy to eat.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cucumber, cut into thin rounds
• 10 pitted green olives, halved
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1 dsp lemon
• A handful of parsley, finely chopped
• Ground black pepper

Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, oregano, lemon and season with the black pepper.
2. Using the dish you’re serving your salad in, evenly distribute the cucumber, olives and parsley.
3. Drizzle over the oil mixture and serve.

Enjoy 🙂

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Avocado, Mozzarella & Tomato Salad

The real trick with this dish is actually the quality of the products that you purchase. For this particular recipe it isn’t the seasonings that are the winner it’s the main ingredients themselves that make this so delicious. When you pop to your local supermarket add a few extra pennies to the mozzarella you buy, make sure it’s a good quality and not the ‘everyday value’ type (those always have little to no taste). Pick out the best avocado and baby vine or plum tomatoes that actually come on the vine. These particular aspects make this so important to making this dish so delicious as it showcases the most delectable flavours and keep you wanting more.

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 mozzarella, drained
• 8 baby plum or baby vine tomatoes, quartered
• Oregano
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Crushed black pepper

Method:

1. Take a plate or dish you wish to serve with. Evenly distribute the avocado and tomato pieces on the plate.
2. Either slice or tear the mozzarella and spread across the dish.
3. Season with a little sprinkling of oregano, salt and black pepper. Drizzle over a little olive oil and serve.

Enjoy 🙂

Asparagus Soup

So… we had a couple of days of pure heat, proper warm weather and then BAM we’re back to freezing our butts off! Standard British weather if you ask me. Thinking that the little snippet of more spring-like weather would take us nicely into those lighter meals completely turned tables when it started snowing on Monday. Taking advantage of the produce of this time of the month I decided to make a good, hearty soup; something to keep you nice and warm for the wintery weather we are having. I hope you all enjoy it 🙂

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 125g asparagus tips, roughly chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
• 400ml vegetable stock
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 sage leaves
• 2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

1. In a pan, fry the garlic, shallot and sage in the oil for 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper (medium heat).
2. Add the potato and asparagus and fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock, mix well and leave to cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.
4. In a food processor or using a hand blender blitz the soup until smooth, add more water if the consistency is too thick for your liking. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil when serving (optional).

Enjoy!