Potato Salad with a lot of Difference...and chicken.

SERVES:4-5                           PREP TIME: 40-50 mins

Summer is well and truly upon us in the Southern Hemisphere and I find myself looking for further variations and inspiration for salads and cold meals. The idea for this came when I was at a friend's house and she was busily making a potato salad for Christmas with...ROAST POTATOES!

I have long struggled with the traditional boiled potato salad, which although my family loves it, the all too likely tendency for mine to go mushy really has put me off. Sometimes it would end up almost like cold mash with mayonnaise and a few other bits added in.

So the idea of roasting the potatoes struck me as a great way of keeping their structure intact as well as it being far less likely they would be overcooked.

I have played around with a number of variations of this recipe - in fact, it is probably nearly always different, although with some basic similarities. Last night's dinner was probably about the best I remember making this, so I thought I'd put it in writing.

By the way, this salad is best served fresh and still a little warm. It is ok the next day, but when it first made, has all the crunch of different ingredients and they haven't melded to the point they are starting to become indistinguishable.

There are three main parts: the roast veges & chicken, the dressing and the crunchy bits...and a few other uncooked bits... So maybe four parts! The great thing is that it is very easy to vary, depending on what you do or don't have. You can leave out the avocado, maybe add in some Kalamata olives, have the onion raw, replace the sweet potato with normal potato and so on. Sometimes I add a couple of cold hard boiled eggs chopped up as well. You can change the chicken for smoked salmon, too. And if you don't like walnuts, leave them out or replace them!

This is to serve 4, or maybe 5. I work it out on using about as much potato and sweet potato per person as you would eat normally....

ROAST VEGES:
2 large potatoes (I like Desiree or similar) cut into ~2cm squares (don't need to peel)
An equal amount of sweet potato cut into ~2cm squares (I do peel this)
1/2 red capsicum cut into 2cm squares
1 red onion sliced vertically
~1tbs olive oil
Salt

Heat oven to 200 deg C. Prepare veges and place on an oven tray (covered in baking paper if you desire). Drizzle and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt as required.

CHICKEN:
Chicken breasts to around 400g weight
~10+ Thyme sprigs
~2-3 tsp lime or lemon juice
Cracked pepper

Place chicken on enough foil to wrap it in. Place thyme leaves around, drizzle with juice and a few grinds of pepper. Wrap it and put it on the tray with the veges, or separately if required. Put them all in the oven for around 30 mins, until the veges are crispy and the chicken is cooked. After they are cooked, stand to cool to room temperature or a bit warmer.

While they are cooking, prepare the rest.

DRESSING:
~1 1/2 tbs mayonnaise
~2-3 large tsp sour cream
1-2 tsp sweet chilli sauce (I use Fountains...sometimes I also use Nandos Peri Peri, medium, but probably need quite a bit less of this, unless you like it really spicy!)
1-2 tsp lime juice

Put this all in a small bowl and mix until well blended.

CRUNCHY STUFF:
1 Chorizo sausage cut in half and sliced thinly
2-3 tbs pepitos
1-2 tbs walnuts
2-3tsp olive oil

Using a small frypan or skillet on a med-med high temperature (about 7 or 8), put the oil and chorizo in (when frypan is heated). As soon as the chorizo is starting to brown, turn down to 4 or 5 and add the pepitos and nuts. Keep them moving and as soon as they are all starting to brown, remove them from the heat. If they are a bit oily, pop them out onto some paper towel on a plate to cool and drain. (Be careful they don't burn if you leave them in the frypan).

OTHER STUFF:
1 Avocado diced
1-2 Tomatoes diced (or 1/2 to 1 punnet mini tomatoes)
1 stick of celery
~70 g Feta cubed
Salad greens, lettuce or baby spinach leaves to serve
Parsley, Mint, or Coriander chopped finely (I used parsley and mint last night...my coriander has been a little strong lately) - about 1-2 tbs all up

When all the cooked ingredients are cool enough, dice the chicken as well and put all the ingredients (except the greens) in a large bowl. Mix well, then add the dressing and mix again (be careful not to destroy you avocado at this point!).

Serve in individual bowls on a layer of salad greens/lettuce/spinach and a glass or two of your favourite cider, outside...because food always tastes better outside.

 Enjoy!!

Greatest Granola with the lot

As the long cold winter finally seems to be leaving us, so does the desire for warm, gooey porridge. In the past, I tried supposedly 'healthy' processed cereals and granolas, but I found that they were either way too sweet or pretty much like eating cardboard. So I decided I would try making it myself.

I found a recipe that sounded quite good, but have since modified and added to it substantially to the point where I think I can call this my own. It is fairly simple, and you can exchange many of the ingredients as you please. It is a very forgiving recipe - you can adjust most things (especially the dry ingredients) to your liking. Lately I have found some' "unstabilised" rolled oats that seem to make it lighter again. Served with plain greek yogurt and maybe a little fresh fruit, even hubby is getting into it.

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
100g (or more) of nuts - I have been using a mixture of almonds and walnuts lately (I really like either slivered or sliced, but any will do. They are easier to eat if broken up a bit)
50g sunflower seeds
50g pepitas
2 tblsp sesame seeds
2 tblsp linseeds
1tblsp chia seeds
3tblsp coconut flakes or shredded
1/2 cup cranberries (if you can find with less sugar, that is great - I have found that Woolworths select have about 1/2 the sugar as Ocean Spray and no other sweeteners)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tblsp cold pressed coconut oil, warmed to liquid
125ml maple syrup or rice malt syrup
2 tblsp honey (optional - maybe add a little more of the other instead)
1 tsp vanilla essence or paste

Method:
Turn oven on to 150 deg C and line two baking trays with paper.

Put all the oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon and turmeric into a large bowl and mix well. Warm the coconut oil to liquid (either a quick zap in the microwave, or sit the bowl in warm water), and add syrup, honey and vanilla and mix well.

Pour liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until it is all coated.
Spread the mixture onto the trays as evenly as possible and pop it into the oven for about 15 mins. After this you can add the coconut (it tends to burn if in for longer), and remix on the tray. You can put the cranberries on at this point also, but they will go quite hard afterwards. Put the trays back in for another 12-15mins (watch it doesn't burn, particularly around the edges). Take out of the oven and place trays on racks to cool, sprinkling evenly with the cranberries. I tend to give it another move around on the tray at this point, otherwise I have found that it has very large chunks which are quite hard to break up when cool.

When it is completely cooled, break it up and put it into an airtight container. Serve with plain yogurt and/or milk, or just eat it as a snack from the container!

Cosy Food - Buckingham Biscuits

The recipe I am sharing here is one that I have never been able to find elsewhere, nor anything like it. I lost my copy a little while back, so was very relieved that my mother still had hers. It was one she used to make regularly for us when I was in my teens - great for those after school snacks as it contains the filling goodness of rolled oats and because it uses one saucepan and is really quick and easy. Successful with teens because it combines these with chocolate. 

Chocolate makes anything delicious, doesn't it?

And I have no idea why they are called Buckingham Biscuits, particularly as it is actually a slice rather than discreet biscuits. 

The original recipe is as follows:

Buckingham Biscuits:

1 ½ cups sugar (I have been using 3/4 cup of sugar quite successfully)

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

125g butter

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 cups rolled oats

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. I usually cook it a little less, as my oven runs a little hot – be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard, although you can always pop individual slices in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them up.

Leave to cool in tray, but slice into smallish fingers before it cools and goes hard. 

Try not to eat it all at once!

Now, here is my latest tweak. I have been experimenting with decreasing the amount of sugar as well as a couple of other exchanges.

I have reduced the sugar to around ¾ cup without losing the chewy toffee-ness. I have also exchanged half the butter (by volume, so ¼ cup of each) for cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil – I suspect you could do a complete exchange. Thirdly, I have experimented a little with some puffed quinoa or just straight quinoa, replacing about ½ cup of the rolled oats, which adds a little more protein and another texture (I think you could easily exchange more). You could also use cacao powder. I have also added a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut sometimes. So the final recipe looks more like this:

Buckingham Biscuits Version 2:

¾ cup sugar

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

¼ cup butter

¼ cup cold pressed coconut oil

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essense

2 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup puffed quinoa

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. Be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard.

Leave to cool in tray, before cutting into slices. I do think this tends to be a little more crumbly than the original, which is probably due to the decreased sugar, but it still tastes great.