One of the things I love most about summer is summer food! I really enjoy the speed and simplicity of combining fresh ingredients and flavours to conjure up healthy, nourishing dishes that bring back memories of summer holidays and time spent with friends and family. Here are three of my favourites. They’re simple to prepare, allowing you a few moments of mindfulness as your combine the ingredients and a feast of the eyes as well as the tastebuds. They’re also very adaptable, depending on what you’ve got in the fridge!
Chickpea, carrot & pomegranate
This is an edited version of Signe Johansen’s recipe in her brilliant book Solo, the Joy of Cooking for One. It’s a fantastic book filled with delicious, simple recipes for one (although easily scalable) which I heavily rely upon! Unfortunately it’s currently out of print, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for it in second hand bookshops.
For the salad
- 1 large carrot
- 1 can or jar of chickpeas
- 1 pomegranate (whole or pre-prepared)
- Handful of whole almonds
- Bunch of parsley
For the dressing
- 1 lime, juiced
- 4 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil
- Black pepper
- Salt
- ½ tsp ground cumin
How to make it
- Coarsely grate the carrot, chop the parsley, including the stalks and roughly chop the almonds
- Drain the chickpeas and deseed the pomegranate
- Throw all of the above into a bowl
- Make the dressing by adding all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisking together until combined. Add as many grinds of black pepper as you like (lots, in my case)
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Pour over the salad and mix to combine
Variations
- I don’t eat raw onion or garlic, so it doesn't feature in my version of this recipe. Signe’s recipe calls for a small shallot, finely sliced and soaked in ice cold water for a few minutes before being added
- I’ve made this with haricot beans with equal success
- Finely diced apple is nice instead of pomegranate
- Pumpkin seeds, chopped peanuts, hazelnuts… most nuts or seeds will work in the place of almonds
- If the dressing is too sour for your tastes, try adding a drizzle of pomegranate molasses or agave nectar
- I find cold pressed rapeseed is a perfectly good (and much cheaper) alternative to extra virgin olive oil, but you can - of course - use it if you prefer.
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Add a pinch of chilli flakes to the dressing if you want some spice!
Quick pickled veggies
There are probably thousands of recipes for quick pickles. This is the one I fall back on when I want something more interesting than chopped cucumber!
For the salad
- ½ cucumber
- 6-8 radishes
- 1 medium carrot
- ¼ red of white cabbage
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
For the pickle
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- Pinch of sugar, to taste
How to make it
- Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, remove and discard the seeds (see below for another idea). Chop into bite sized pieces. You can salt, rinse and drain the cucumber if you wish, but I don’t bother.
- Slice the radishes into rounds, or chop them into pieces similar in size to your cucumber
- Peel the carrot and finely slice
- Finely slice the cabbage
- Place all of the above ingredients in a large bowl
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the salad
- Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top
- Leave to stand for an hour or so if you can, so that the pickle can soak into the vegetables
Variations
- I use the pickle to marinade whole button mushrooms. They need to soak overnight to pick up the flavour properly
- Whole fennel or cumin seeds work really well with the pickle flavours, especially if you’re just using carrots
Tomato, herb and cheese
I love tomatoes and would happily eat this every single day! I don’t bother with basil. I’ve had no success growing it and I find the supermarket stuff often tastes unpleasant.
For the salad
- A mixture of tomatoes - cherry, mini plum, vine, etc - as many as you like
- A small bunch of flat leaf parsley
- A small bunch of chives
- Salt and pepper
- 30g Feta
- Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
How to make it
- This is easy! Slice the tomatoes, depending on their size. Cherry tomatoes can be halved, larger tomatoes sliced into rounds.
- Finely chop the herbs, including the stalk on the parsley
- Place the tomatoes and the herbs in a serving bowl, season with salt and pepper and gently mix to combine
- Crumble the cheese over the top and finish with a drizzle of olive oil
Variations
- Chop the tomatoes into smallish dice and scoop it up with chunks of bread
- Change the herbs. Try oregano, tarragon or mint.
- Chopped coriander and lightly crushed coriander seeds is good too
- As cheese and tomato is such a classic combination, any cheese works with this dish.
- Replace the cheese with chopped nuts or pumpkin seeds
- A drizzle of raspberry vinegar instead of (or as well as) the oil is sooo good!
Do let me know if you try any of these recipes or if you have your own favourite that I should try!
Love from Tracy x