🍝 Easy Sardine Pasta

5 Warm Weather Salads To Cook This Week + BONUS Mexican Prawn Avocado Salad Recipe + Good Things

Jul 30, 2023

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday :)

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. The weather has a spring in its step and I am here for it. Big cosy meals are transitioning into light pasta and fabulous salads. This is going to be a MEGA salad season, I just know it. And I have about two dozen salad recipes waiting eagerly to be shared! But first, a little date I had with my youngest son last weekend.

Barbie!

Having never owned nor played with a Barbie growing up, this movie was never on my radar. It was surprising then when my 15 yr old son asked if I wanted to go watch it with him. He never played with Barbie or watched any of the animations as a child as well. He thought it would be fun and so we went. Dressed in pink, with no expectations and no inkling about the storyline, a mother-and-son date night that started with tacos and pizza and progressed to choc-tops and laughs.

We really enjoyed the movie. It was satirical, clever and rife for social commentary. A movie that doesn’t take itself seriously but raises some serious questions. Afterwards, Rish commented on how surprisingly deep it was which started a whole conversation on the social stigma Barbie has faced as a doll over the years. And how the issues faced by women in the real world and the ones faced by the Kens in Barbieland are both valid. Our biggest takeaway from the movie was that one can rise up without pushing someone else down and that everyone should have the freedom to explore who they are and who they want to be. It was a great night and I hope to do it again!

Now onto some delicious food ….

Brand New On The Blog

Sardine Pasta

An Italian-inspired pasta with coastal flavours galore! This easy, quick and delicious Sardine Pasta makes the perfect weeknight dinner. Fresh sardine fillets and spaghetti tossed in a healthy tomato basil sauce spiked with capers and olives. A big bowl of flavour .. enjoyed with a glass of chilled Prosecco in the warm evening breeze in your garden. Yum! Recipe Here»

5 Delicious Salads To Cook This Week

1. Texas Caviar Dip

Cook black-eyed peas from scratch and then make this delicious Texas Caviar. Also known as Cowboy Caviar, it is essentially a cross between a salad and dip with Tex-Mex flavours and a lashing of Tabasco to liven things up. Lots of freshness and crunch and slurpy dressing. A great add-on at every meal and wonderful in tacos or over nachos. Recipe Here »

2. Classic Greek Salad

Fresh, tart, citrus flavours, loads of crunch, creamy feta, sharp olives, sweet juicy tomatoes. 10 minutes to throw together. What’s not to love? Recipe Here »

3. Chickpea Chaat Salad

The most delicious chickpea salad! A true chop-chop salad with loads of fresh veggies, toasted peanuts, creamy chickpeas, herbs and of course that fantastic sweet-sour-salty-spicy dressing inspired by the street foods of India! Slurpworthy indeed. Recipe Here »

4. Watermelon Salad With Pickled Shallots

One of my personal warm-weather faves! Sweet juicy cubes of watermelon, in-season citrus slices (currently crushing on blood orange and Carra Carra orange and tossing them in all my salads!), sharp feta and olives, briny pickled shallots, a balsamic dressing and loads of fresh herbs. Absolutely delicious when chilled! Recipe Here »

5. Raw Broccoli Tabbouli

A whole head of fresh broccoli pulsed to crumbs in the food processor forms the base of this delicious salad. A textural, delicious tabouli with a twist! With quinoa and bonus pops of pomegranate. 10 minutes to make. Yummy vegan goodness! Recipe Here »

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All Good Things …. to cook, watch, read, buy

3D Food Paintings

Side Plates For Summer X Robert Gordon & Jumbled Online

The Bear Season 2 (binged it! Liked it but not as much as season 1, more thoughts later…)

Smoked Aubergine Ragu

Super Green Roasted Potato Salad

Spicy Peanut Noodles With Cucumber

Curried Butter Beans

Cilantro Salad

Nori Teriyaki Tofu Sticks

Mini Lemon Brulee

Honey Whipped Ricotta With Saffron Tomato Garlic Confit

Bonus Recipe

Mexican Prawn Avocado Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g peeled raw prawns
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp flaky salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsps cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tsps Tabasco sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp flaky salt
½ tsp ground cumin
Pinch of black pepper
½ cup, canned and drained black beans
1 red onion, sliced
1 sweetcorn, grilled and kernels removed into a bowl
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 avocados, sliced
1 jalapeno chilli, deseeded and sliced
½ cup fresh coriander, chopped
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Charred lime – to serve

Method

Mix prawns, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt and oregano in a bowl. Heat oil in a large cast iron frying pan on high. Add prawns and cook for a few minutes, tossing constantly until they are opaque, pink and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Prepare the dressing by mixing olive oil, lime juice, Tabasco sauce, garlic, salt and pepper in a lidded glass jar and shaking well.
Add prawns to a shallow serving bowl. Add black beans, onion, sweetcorn kernels, tomatoes and dressing to the bowl, reserving a quarter of the dressing to garnish. Toss and mix well.
Top with sliced avocado, jalapeno, coriander and parmesan. Drizzle the remaining dressing and serve immediately with charred lime.