A Winter Salad

Let's face it, we've all over indulged during the Christmas period. The warm fuzzy feeling has worn off and we're all left feeling a little regretful and wobbly. Or is it just me? But winter doesn't have to mean stews and roast dinners, there are some beautiful vegetables in season and it's time we remembered them.

Winter Beetroot Salad with a Wholegrain Mustard Dressing and Fresh Spinach

Serves 2

3 Different Beetroot varieties (try to get hold of a Golden Beetroot for its delicate sweetness)

1 Small Packet of Fresh Baby Spinach

1 Small Red Onion

1 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard

1 Garlic Clove, thinly sliced

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp Cider Vinegar

Method

Roast your beetroots and red onion in the oven for 1 hour at 160C.

Let them cool slightly before thinly slicing your beetroots and red onion. 

Mix together in a bowl with the baby spinach.

In a jug or small container, mix your mustard, garlic, cider vinegar. 

Slowly add the olive oil, whilst whisking the mixture.

Pour over your salad and use tongs (or your well washed hands!) to ensure the dressing covers every little leaf.

Recipease

When it comes to food, I am very easily influenced. One moment I'll be detoxing, the next I'll see some salted caramel bites and will have eaten the lot. You might say I've got poor willpower, but I just see it as knowing what I want and taking it. I've been in some serious need of London girlie time for a while, and my go to girlie had been busy with moving house and starting a new job. Finally we had managed to arrange a meet up after work, where we would grab an M&S two for £10 deal and head for her new abode. This was all going swimmingly until, on our way to Marks, we spotted this magnificent sight. 

HELLO. After minimal persuading, we ran for the shop and I stood in awe at the incredible interior. Recipease is a Jamie Oliver project, with branches in Clapham Junction, Brighton and Notting Hill, where you can get high quality, delicious meals to take home for your family, kitchen equipment or to attend a cooking class. At the back of the Clapham branch, a class was taking place and I was itching to jump in. I even suggested that we spent longer than necessary in the back portion on the store so that I could pick up a few tips. Spending a long while oohing and aaahing over the ready made food, incredible selection of chocolate and beautiful equipment, we decided that we would buy dinner here instead. Depsite the fact that neither of our bank accounts would be particularly happy about it. The shop assistant that helped us was so friendly and passionate about what she was doing that I then wanted to work there as well.


So, for dinner we had....

My gorgeous Recipease bag!

Herby Chickpea Salad with Feta and a Chilli Kick.

Savoury Mozzarella Muffins.

Sourdough Baguette.

Roasted Pepper Houmous.

Chocolate Fondants.

Quite a feast indeed. The chickpea salad was the highlight for me - it was beautifully seasoned with just the right amount of heat. The chilli and feta complemented each other perfectly, my tastebuds were thrilled. The houmous was good, but I'm not screaming about it from the rooftops. The muffins were a delight also. Delicate and flavourful with a wonderful texture. As for the sourdough... I'm still not entirely sure what to say about it. It was nothing to write home about and definitely wouldn't match up to the bread at Gail's, but it was sturdy and held our houmous well. 
The chocolate fondants took a little longer than expected to cook and both fell apart on turn out. Disappointing really, as the best part of chocolate fondants is being able to plunge your spoon in and nervously await whether its filling will ooze. Perhaps that was fault at our end with the cooking. Taste-wise, they were to die for. Extremely rich and chocolatey, with just the right amount of sweetness and some cheeky hazlenuts hiding at the top. It was so rich however that I couldn't finish mine. This is an extremely rare feat and I felt really sad leaving just a couple of spoonfuls forlornly on my plate, but I could not eat another bite.
Overall it was well worth spending that little bit extra, and I will definitely be taking a couple of classes there soon. Just as soon as I stop buying food and start saving. Hmm.

Mole

Today I cooked a mexican tradition - Mole. I decided to use chicken, following a recipe from 'Jamie's America' - a really fantastic book by Jamie Oliver, full of incredible and delicious dishes from his journeys from across the pond. Mole is a sauce that comes in many different varieties (black, red, green and so on), and is a great representative dish of Mexico. It's often used for big celebrations such as weddings and can often be eaten as early as 9am, despite its rich and spicy flavour.
This recipe gets it's richness from the large amount of dark chocolate that the recipe involves, along with cocoa powder. Mole is a dish that takes many years to perfect, and so the best way to create it is to follow the recipe of someone else who has already perfected it and then make changes for yourself.
The sauce is great for dipping in juicy meats (everyone loves a bit of juicy meat) or crusty bread. I served my Chicken Mole with a big chunk of crusty bread (for the boys) and a big side garden salad. The salad was made up of gem lettuce, tomato and sweet baby peppers. I doused it in a vinaigrette of my own creation.

This consisted of:
3 tsp garlic olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
Fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper
A splash of lime juice
A drizzle of honey

Very quick and easy.

The Mole dish takes a fair while to cook depending on how many you're serving as you have to boil your chicken thoroughly, and the sauce requires blending (yes, I did get sauce all over the kitchen counter... and myself). The waiting pays off however, and I was left feeling a bit tingly afterwards - not sure whether that was the heat from the chillies or something altogether more erotic.