Radish Salad

Recently I have been having some devastating and furious dreams; in the dream I am always angry or sad.  But I have to say my dreams are more exciting and interesting than my real life.  Last  night I had another devastating dream: it was about my father. 

My father was gone, I don't know where he went, so I was just waiting him anxiously.  Finally he came back with new wife and their kid, and he apologized,  he forgot about us (me and my brother). I burst into tears and said desperately,  You would not forget your son. How can you just forget me?!” 

When I woke up the sadness filled me.  In fact, I'm the only child of my parents, and my father loves me more than my Mom.  Chinese people believe dreams are opposite to real life.  So it must be that I miss him.  Chinese don't like to express love by words, in contrast to Westerners who say 'I love you' to each other all the time.  We are so shy and like to hide our emotions.  After I lived in the U.S. for a while I got used to friend's hugs.  I always feel a warm heart from them.  Last year when I back to Shanghai to visit family, I gave my father a hug in the airport.   He seemed a little surprised and hurried to leave (the taxi was waiting).  I still cannot say I miss you, I love you, dad on MSN when I chat with him, but I'm writing it here,  I know he can feel it.

I was thinking maybe I should eat some light and cool food for dinner to make my dreams sweet and peaceful.

The radishes that are common here we call cherry radishes.  This crisp and refreshing salad is a popular dish, it's really light and sweet and sour  - almost everyone's favorite. 

Radish Salad

serves 4 
radishes 300g
salt   1tsp
sugar  45g
lemon juice 1tbsp
rice vinegar 1tbsp   
sesame oil 2tsp
fresh dill 

1. wash and cut off the two ends
2. slice the radish
3. mix sugar, salt, rice vinegar, lemon juice and sesame oil，then pour over the radishes.   Mix well, put into a container, and chill at least two hours in the refrigerator.
4. Take out the radishes from the refrigerator, spent some time putting them in a nice shape on the plates, and put some fresh dill on as decoration.

I hope everyone has sweet dreams now!

chargrilled asparagus, courgettes and halloumi salad

This is another distinguished, colorful, and satisfying  salad.

The original recipe called for manouri cheese; I could not find that,  so I substituted halloumi. When we were in Paris we enjoyed a lot of cheese (it is said France has 365 type of cheese) but I never tried halloumi.  It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled.   Halloumi keeps better and is fresher and more flavoursome when wrapped with mint leaves.

Cypriots like eating halloumi with watermelon in the warm months. That sounds very intriguing:  I need to try that whenever summer time comes around here.

chargrilled asparagus, courgettes and halloumi salad

Adapted from Ottolenghi :the cookbook
Serves 4

Ingrediants:

350g cherry tomatoes
140ml olive oil
coarse sea salt and black pepper
24 asparagus spears
2 courgettes
200g halloumi, sliced 2cm thick
25g baby spinch
for the basil oil:
75ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
25g basil leaves
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper 

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 170c. mix the tomatoes with three tablespoons of oil and season. spread them out, on a baking tray lined with parchment, and roast for 50 minutes, until semi-dried. set aside to cool.

Trim the woody bases off the asparagus and blanch in boiling water for four minutes. drain, refresh in cold water until all vestiges of heat have gone, drain, then transfer to a bowl and toss with two tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper.

Slice the courgettes very thinly lengthwise and mix with a tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper.
place a ridged griddle pan on a high heat and leave for a few minutes until very hot. grill the courgettes and asparagus, turning after a minute - you want nice char marks on all sides. remove and leave to cool.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the manouri for three minutes a side, until golden. drain on kitchen paper. (or chargrill the cheese on the griddle for two minutes a side.)
to make the basil oil, blitz all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Arrange the rocket, vegetables and cheese in layers on a flat serving plate - build up the salad while showing all the individual components. drizzle with as much basil oil as you like (save the rest for another dish) and serve. 

Etti’s Herb Salad

I like to use herbs for cooking, but it's not common practice in Chinese dishes.  I remember when my dad stayed with us in the US he complained that I used to many herbs in my cooking. 

This is a really brave recipe; it puts six kinds of herbs together, so I didn't try it until I had tried a lot of other Ottolenghi' s recipes.  In the end,this fresh and healthy salad was worth the extensive preparation work (picking through, washing, and drying the herbs).  

Etti’s Herb Salad

Adapted from Ottolenghi :the cookbook
Serves 4 

Ingrediants:

35g coriander leaves

40g flat leaf parsley leaves

20g dill leaves

35g tarragon leaves

30g basil leaves

40g rocket leaves

50g unsalted butter

100g unskinned almonds

1/2 tsp course sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Direction:

Gently immerse the herbs leaves in cold water, being careful not to bruise them. Drain in a colander and then in a salad spinner (or by spreading them over a dry cloth)

Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the almonds, salt and pepper. Saute for 5-6 minutes over a low to moderate heat until the almonds are golden. Transfer to a colander to drain – making sure that you keep the butter that’s left in the pan. Leave it somewhere warm so as it doesn’t set. Once the almonds are cool enough to touch, chop them roughly.

To assemble the salad, place the herbs in a large bowl. Add the almonds, cooking butter, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss together gently and season to taste before serving.