Junglefrog Cooking » tomatoes

Lamb’s lettuce salad with feta and tomatoes

Simone (junglefrog) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:52:36 +0000

Quick and healthy..

O god no… I can hear you think… not yet another salad!! Yes, sorry, it is another salad.. Isn’t January the official salad month? The month where half the nation wants to lose a little here and a little there so turns to ‘boring’ salads? Now let me correct that immediately; salads are amazing, salads are so versatile you could eat salads for the rest of your life and never have the same one twice.

True, when I was growing up, my conception of salads was also quite boring; iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, throw in a boiled egg for good measure, make a dressing from one of those little bags they sell in the supermarket (it’s called salad dressing, add 2 tbsp of mayo and 3 tbsp of water and voila, you have a dressing) and if you go really wild you might add a few pieces of ham. That was my salad growing up. That was – I fear – the only salad mum ever used to make.

Essential; a good homemade dressing!

When I left the house to go study as a nurse (yes, yes… that’s how my working life started!) at the age of 19 we had to live in a ‘sisterflat’ where all girls had there own tiny room (2 by 3 meters) and a kitchen that wasn’t worth mentioning. The only cooking equipment we had was an electrical plate and that’s all we had to prepare a healthy meal. Ofcourse the idea was that all girls would eat the hospital fodder.. Something we weren’t all that keen on, so we did try to cook a little bit. For years I was under the solid impression that salad was the above described uninspired meal.

There are still a lot of people out there who have the same strange ideas about salads. Let me tell you people; salads are amazing! I never eat iceberg lettuce anymore; it’s banned where-ever we can. It’s boring and tasteless and why bother if there are so many different and tasty varieties out there that are preferable in any given situation?

This salad came together from random ingredients I had in the fridge and needed to use. It’s simple and the delicious dressing makes this salad a winner, any time of the year. I’ve used a special sweet muscat vinegar for this dressing that was kindly given to me by Didi from Made In Spain (she has some amazing Spanish articles in her webshop, check it out) and it really complemented the dressing and the salad!

Lamb’s lettuce with feta

Print recipe

Serves:	1
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	None
Total time:	10 minutes
Dietary:	Vegetarian
Meal type:	Lunch, Salad
Misc:	Serve Cold
Region:	Worldwide
By author:	Simone van den Berg

Ingredients

100g lamb's lettuce
50g feta
1 small handful tablespoon sunflower seeds (roasted)
3 tomatoes (cut into quarters)
croutons (from 1-2 slices of stale bread)
1-2 tablespoon grated parmesan
1-2 tablespoon Olive oil

Dressing

2 tablespoons homemade ketchup with bellpeppers
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse grain mustard
1 tablespoon sweet muscat vinegar

Directions


Cut the tomatoes, wash the salad and roast the sunflower seeds. Make the croutons by cutting the bread into small cubes, put these in a bowl with some olive oil and grate some parmesan cheese on top of it. Mix and then roast these in a hot frying pan until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a kitchen towel

Arrange all the separate ingredients together on a plate and put all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl or small jar. Shake or stir well to combine, taste and add seasoning where needed

sprinkle some of the dressing on top of your salad and enjoy!

Red lentil soup – antipakjes avond.. & living leaner

Simone (junglefrog) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:05 +0000

Am I seeing two little feet popping in the frame??

Where to start… You are now probably wondering what on earth is antipakjes avond and I am thinking how on earth do I explain this.. Karin Luiten, author of the cookbook on how to cook without mixes and packages (Koken zonder pakjes en zakjes) send a group of us a mail asking to participate this week in cooking without prepacked foods and mixes. Not sure how it is in your part of the world, but here convenience cooking seems to have grown dramatically over the last couple of years. Before we had maybe a few mixes, one for macaroni, one for spaghetti, one for mushroom sauce and a few others I can’t (and won’t remember).

These days there are tons of pre-mixes to choose from; you name a dish and there is a package with all the herbs, spices and sometimes even vegetables (in their dried form) in it. You have mixes for korma chicken, hokkien mie, mashed potatoes… well, you get the picture…

Red lentil, chickpea and chilli soup

Apart from the fact that all those packages are expensive, what you should really question yourself is; what is in it? Have you ever read one of the ingredient labels on those boxes? You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff they put in that should not be in our foods. Unpronounceable. And we eat it. Without complaining. Day in and day out. I have to confess that Tom and I, at one point in our lives, also pretty much cooked out of packs every night. We went into the supermarket, got ourselves a pre-cut mix of vegetables, a mix with spices and sauce and some meat and we were good to go. Now that we cook a lot more, we use less packages every day. In fact; we don’t really like the taste of them anymore.

Most of them are too salty and make the food all taste the same basically. A couple of months ago we tried one of our favorites from years back; It’s called Hokkien Mie and it is a box which has a package for sauce, a package for spices and a package of noodles. O and a package with some cashews in it. So the only thing you need to buy is chicken and a package of Asian greens, pre-cut and ready to throw in the pan. Mix it all together and you have a meal.

Fresh coriander/cilantro

What can I say; we totally hated it. We didn’t even finish our plates and we looked at eachother. How did we even like stuff like that before??

So this week is all about cooking from scratch and cooking with fresh ingredients, wherever possible. I was planning on doing one dish every day but not sure if I am able to make that happen but I’ll give it a try.

This dish also fits perfectly into the living leaner challenge from my dear friend Mona. (she has some pretty cool recipes under 10 euro’s on her site too) We have been pretty much staying under the 10 euro every day but I just didn’t write it down or take photos everyday. We’ve had a few splurges too… That usually happens in the weekend, I have to confess.

It’s a vegetarian dish so that always wins in terms of cost control. The total cost for this dish for 4 people (we cook it for two days) is roughly € 7,=. And it’s so ‘much’ because I had to buy a whole package of lentils, so those will last me a lot longer. I had cumin seeds, chilli flakes, onion and stock in the cupboard.

I’m eating this tonight with the Donna Hay Challenge recipe for next month… So I’m not gonna spoil the surprise and tell you what that is, but I did want to make sure I tested the recipe this time. No more recipe disasters! Technically; the lentils were in a pack for I sort of guessed that was not the issue..

Red lentil, chickpea and chilli soup

Recipe type: Main

Author: Good Food

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tsp cumin seeds
large pinch of chilli flakes
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
140 gr split red lentils
850 m vegetable stock or water
400 gr can tomatoes, whole or chopped
200 gr chickpeas, rinsed and drained
small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
4 tbsp of Greek yogurt to serve

Instructions

Heat a large saucepan and dry-fry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 min, or until they start to jump around the pan and release their aromas. Add the oil and onion, and cook for 5 mins. Stir in the lentils, stock and tomatoes, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 mins until the lentils have softened.
Whizz the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor until it is a rough purée, pour back into the pan and add the chickpeas. Heat gently, season well and stir in the coriander. Finish with a dollop of yogurt and coriander leaves.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

O and in case you were wondering what all the fuss is with the anti-package evening and why specifically this week? We celebrate Sinterklaas and every year on December 5th it is officially Pakjesavond. The evening that all the kids receive loads of presents from Sinterklaas. It’s a bit like Santa but then different… In any case; the anti-pakjes avond is ofcourse a fun reminder of Sinterklaas this week. Are you still with me or have I lost you completely now? If you want to know more about Sinterklaas I suggest you take a look here or here.

Foto: Fotolia, Pakjes avond!

Bull’s blood salad with halloumi

Simone (junglefrog) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:00:15 +0000

Salad with bull's blood leaves and halloumi

As I have told you before I have a hard time resisting ingredients which I have not seen before and when they have an imaginative name like ‘Bull’s Blood’… well, there is only one course of action possible as far as I’m concerned and that is to put it in my basket! I was really shopping for pecans to bring with me to Germany as I spend a weekend there with Meeta from the blog ” What’s for Lunch Honey?” and we had a great time! (more on that possibly later) but finding those pecans was just an excuse to go to a shop at my favorite store in Amsterdam. I could really spend hours there just roaming around and the only downside is that I always (always!) come back with things I don’t really need. I do use them so rest assured that nothing will go to waste but still… it’s a struggle sometimes to have everything finished before the expiration date..lol..

Delicious dressing from I like that

The ingredients that went into this salad certainly had no risk of getting old or stale as they were all eaten outside on a gloriously sunny day the same day I bought them. Ofcourse there was my favorite cheese to use in salads which is halloumi. You can see some more halloumi related salads on my blog here, here and here. Key to this salad was another new find and that is a dressing by a company called ‘I like that“. Now to me, with a name like that it just had to be a winner. They have interesting flavor combinations and the company is originally located in South Africa. This dressing is so much more then the boring ones you can find in our regular supermarket. The flavors were intense and the smoked sundried tomatoes really shone through. I paired my bull’s blood leaves (which is essentially just a variety of beetroot leaves) with the crispy bits of fried halloumi, lovely juicy tiny tomberries and on top of that I quickly caramelized some toasted almond slivers with honey and put them on top of the salad.

Absolutely delicious and this will be a winner for me, if I could only find those beetroot leaves in my regular store! I could ofcourse grow them myself. Now there’s a thought for next year!

Salad with bull’s blood leaves, halloumi and tomberries

Print recipe

Serves:	1
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	5 minutes
Total time:	15 minutes
Meal type:	Salad
Region:	Worldwide

Ingredients

2 handfuls bull's blood salad leaves (this is a type of leave from beetroot. Usually from seed)
100g halloumi
50g tomberries (very small yellow variety of tomatoes. Use any other tomato you want!)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon rock chives (the baby chives...)
2 tablespoons almond slivers
dressing of your choice (I used dressing from 'I like that' (smoked sundried tomato vinaigrette))

Directions


Cut slices from the halloumi and cut those again in cubes. I like them medium sized but you can always make them as large or as big as you want. Heat a small layer of sunflower oil in a frying pan and once the oil is hot, quickly fry the halloumi until golden brown. Be careful as it does tend to spatter. Leave to drain on paper towels

Wash the salad leaves and put them on a plate with the tomberries.

Heat a frying pan and toast the almonds quickly until golden. Add a tablespoon of honey and stir making sure all almonds are covered. keep an eye on it, as it will burn easily.

Once the halloumi is slightly cooled, distribute over the salad leaves, add the almonds and the rock chives on top. Sprinkle some of the dressing on top of the salad and enjoy!

Note

I totally loved the combination of flavors in this recipe. The crunch of the halloumi with the sweetness of the almonds works really well and the dressing from "I like that", was just brilliant here. If you're making your own dressing I would go with similar flavors but really it's pretty versatile.

Greek salad

Simone (junglefrog) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:00:26 +0000

Delicious greek salad

Every single time we go to Greece the very first meal I order is a Greek salad. There is nothing better then the taste of those gorgeous tomatoes combined with the salty feta and the juicy cucumbers. Yes, even the cucumbers taste better in Greece! And then enjoying that while the only other sounds are the soft clinging together of the boatmasts in the wind.

Greek tiny restaurant by the harbour

It’s been too long really since we last went to Greece. It will always be one of my favorite countries and fairly close too. With the current economic situation not being all too positive I’m not sure what that will do to the touristic site of the country. Will people still go to Greece or will they all decide it is not a good idea? You never know how situations like this will turn out. A lot of people in Greece are depending on tourism to support them. I’m certainly no expert when it comes to economics so I’ll better stick to what I do know and that is food. Obviously; as I have learned since; the food we get served in the majority of the Greek restaurants is really not the best. Touristic stuff, quickly put together. Although that is mostly true about the really busy places you can find really good and fresh food anywhere in Greece if you look a little harder. We’ve had some amazing seafood (I learned to eat fish in Greece after all) gorgeous moussakas and well, the Greek salad of course.

Simple but delicious!

I might not have made it into a traditional Greek salad. I’ve been served raw red onions on top in many cases, but I just don’t like that. I’m not a big fan of raw onions, so I left that out here and just kept to the plan and simple basics that are o so delicious and lightning quick to put together for a healthy lunch!

Greek salad

Print recipe

Serves:	1
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	None
Total time:	10 minutes
Dietary:	Vegetarian
Meal type:	Appetizer, Lunch, Salad
Region:	Greek

Ingredients

4 tomatoes (Make sure you use really good tomatoes. Watery ones will not do here!)
1/2 Cucumber (Seeds removed and sliced)
100g feta (crumbled)
75g kalamata olives
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions


Not much to describe here as it is basically cutting all the vegetables in biteable sizes, toss them together in a bowl, add the crumbled feta and olives, sprinkle with olive oil and pepper and salt and you're ready to go!

Note

Delicious and fresh and just for a minute - makes you feel in Greece again..

Orzo with feta, tomatoes and dill

Simone (junglefrog) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:00:56 +0000

Healthy salad with feta, orzo and tomatoes

Now you probably thought I would continue posting recipes for utterly decadent and unhealthy chocolate cakes, right? But no… sorry to disappoint; it’s time to get healthy again!

Talking of which I have a question for all of you… do you have any really good and really really fast recipes that you use for all those days that real cooking is just not an option?

I’ll explain what I mean. Tom and I really would like to get better in eating healthy and eating sensibly and also losing weight. We have are good moments, but what happens is that at certain points in the week we are too busy and those are the moments it all goes wrong and we end up ordering pizza or snacking on other unhealthy things… Weightloss and healthy eating down the drain. That just annoys me enormously and I know we have ourselves to blame ofcourse.

But how do you do it? To give an example of our current week schedule you can probably see the issue.

Delicious and healthy orzo salad

Tuesday I have a reportage in Friesland, about 2 hours drive from home. I will be back from work at around 8 pm if lucky.

Wednesday I have a wedding to photograph till 7.30. Home around 8.30.

Thursday I’m actually going out for dinner with a friend as it’s her birthday but let’s go with this week. When we are both home late and haven’t eaten anything in between we tend to resort to bad habits. So what I really want to try is to get some really easy and really fast recipes with virtually no cooking involved. Case in point; this recipe for orzo for instance.

Quick, delicious and fairly healthy.

So picture yourself, no grocery shopping possible anymore, so you’d have to do with things you have in the fridge, freezer or cupboard. What are your go to recipes for days where you have 10 minutes to whip up something? Sure we have some real easy pasta and rice and stirfry recipes but I need more variety….

Tell me your secrets on how to keep on track!

Orzo with feta, tomatoes and dill

Print recipe

Serves:	2
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	None
Total time:	10 minutes
Meal type:	Lunch, Salad
Region:	Worldwide
Website:	Epicurious

Delicious quick and fresh recipe which is perfect for a light lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered depending on size)
1/2 cup dill (chopped)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup orzo
1,5 cup feta

Directions


Toss together oil, tomatoes, dill, zest and 1/2 tablespoon each of salt and pepper in a large serving bowl. Let stand at roomtemperature for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook orzo in a pasta pott of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain orzo, leave to cool a little and then toss with the tomato mixture. Add feta and toss again

Note

Originally featured in Gourmet magazine in july 2008.

Junglefrog Cooking » tomatoes

Lamb’s lettuce salad with feta and tomatoes

Lamb’s lettuce with feta

Ingredients

Dressing

Directions

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