Salads to kickstart the year
If recent indulgences have left you feeling that it’s time for moderation, these recipes from Sarah Tuck will fit the bill perfectly.
Happy New Yeeeeeeear! I hope you are reading this while relaxing, having safely enjoyed a rollicking good time to herald the arrival of 2018.
If, like me, you use the excuse of Christmas and New Year festivities to throw moderation out the window, you might now be thinking that the start of the year could be a good time to try to get a little bit back on track.
I don’t mean in a New Year’s resolution, all-or-nothing manner, but more a move in the right direction to get your eating choices under control, without sacrificing taste, texture or satisfaction.
For me these two salads fit the bill perfectly.
The first is a Mexican beef salad with quinoa – packed with rocket, avocado, corn, tomatoes and red pepper.
The steaks are brushed with a little spiked oil before pan frying (or grilling on the barbecue if that suits better), while the dressing is a little naughty and nice with a hit of lime and sweet smoked paprika.
These luscious layers of flavour and texture are finished off with fragrant fresh coriander and crunchy pumpkin seeds – there is definitely no feeling of deprivation involved here.
The second salad brings udon (or you could use soba) noodles together with prawns, avocado, blanched broccoli and asparagus and raw carrot with a light sesame mayo – so again you have a super-pleasing (and slightly addictive) layered combination of textures and flavours.
Whichever you choose, you can feel good about loading up on some healthy fresh summer vegetables and starting 2018 right.
Mexican beef salad with quinoa and smoky paprika dressing
Serves 4
Dressing
❚ 2 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise or natural yoghurt
❚ 1 small garlic clove, crushed
❚ Juice and zest of 1 lime
❚ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
Salad
❚ 2 tablespoons plus olive oil
❚ 1 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce
teaspoon
❚ 250g beef steak (I used flat iron steaks)
❚ 2 corn cobs
❚ cup pumpkin seeds
12 ⁄ cups cooked quinoa or brown
❚ rice
❚ 5 cups wild rocket
❚ 2 small avocados, sliced
❚ 1 red pepper, halved and sliced
❚ 12 small ripe tomatoes, halved
❚ cup coriander leaves to garnish sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mix 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the hot sauce and brush all over the steaks. Leave to sit for 20 minutes. While the steaks are resting whisk all of the dressing ingredients together with 1 tablespoon of water.
Cook the steaks in a hot pan for 3 minutes each side (or longer if you are using thicker steaks), then leave to rest. Cook the corn in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and leave to cool, then slice the kernels off in strips.
While the corn is cooling fry the pumpkin seeds with teaspoon of olive oil until golden.
When you are ready to serve, angle slice the steaks across the grain into 1cm thick strips. Layer the rocket and quinoa onto a serving plate with the steak, corn, avocado, red pepper and tomatoes.
Season with salt and pepper, drizzle over dressing and garnish with coriander and toasted pumpkin seeds to serve.
Prawn noodle salad with asparagus and avocado
Serves 4
Dressing
❚ 2 tablespoons Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise
❚ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
❚ 1 teaspoon soy sauce
❚ 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
Salad
❚ 250g udon noodles, cooked to packet instructions, drained
❚ 16 asparagus spears, (or green beans) chopped into 5cm pieces
❚ head broccoli, chopped into small florets
❚ 16 cooked prawns
❚ 1 large carrot, grated
❚ 1 large avocado, cut into 2cm pieces
❚ cup micro greens to garnish (optional)
❚ 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds to garnish
For the dressing whisk all of the ingredients together with 2 teaspoons water and store in a sealed container until ready to use.
Bring a pot of water to boil and drop in the asparagus spears and broccoli for 2 minutes. Drain well in a sieve and refresh under cold running water then drain again and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Toss cooked noodles with broccoli, asparagus, prawns, carrot and avocado. Pour over dressing and gently combine.
Divide between 4 serving plates (or a single serving platter) and garnish with micro greens and black sesame seeds to serve.