Inside the Spice House: Summer Salads!

Yes, salads are a quick and simple way to avoid the kitchen heat at this time of year in Cyprus! We know they are healthy because they are full of veggies., salad, herbs, etc. Packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and naturally low in calories, largely low in fat, so, however boring they look and taste they must be good for us…right?
In the Spice House, we aim to make our salads colourful, tasty and exciting! Our perfect base for a salad is:

• a mix of fresh chopped leafy greens such as lettuce / cabbage / kale / spinach / arugula
• baby carrots chopped for crunch and colour
• cucumbers and celery for a cool crunch
• red, orange, yellow bell peppers thinly sliced for snappy crunch
• spring onions finely chopped for a kick
• grape or cherry tomatoes halved for a burst of colour and juicy goodness

We sometimes add chopped avocado for creaminess and fresh chilli for some heat. We always add some fresh or dried fruit for a little sweetness, chopped apple or pear, some cranberries or chopped dried apricot, even some grated frozen peaches. Serve with your favourite dressing.

Generally, summer salads are served as a side to some meat or fish from the BBQ or maybe some cheese along with hard boiled eggs. We can, of course, choose to elevate our salads to the healthiest and most satisfying complete meal in a bowl, with the simple addition of some legumes, beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils as well as some whole grains such as brown rice or quinoa and of course, nuts and seeds giving us a salad bowl laden with vitamins, minerals, protein, high in fibre. In the Spice House we love to top off our salad bowls with a generous sprinkle of one of our signature blends like Dukkha adding a deliciously healthy Middle Eastern blend of nuts, seeds and spices or some Everything but the Bagel seed blend or even our Zaatar, perfect on Feta cheese cubed, then drizzled with a good extra virgin olive oil and liberally sprinkled with the Zaatar. Our call on a tasty, healthy and satisfying Greek salad. Do try it.!

We hope you’ll try these recipes too, our favourite ‘complete meal’ in a bowl salads.

Mediterranean Bean Salad

Ingredients:

• 5 ounce can of cannellini beans, drained and well rinsed
• 15 ounce can of chickpeas drained and well rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomato halves
• 2 small cucumbers halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/4 red onion thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup pickled peppers, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives, halved
• 1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives, halved
• 1 cup assorted colourful bell peppers, diced
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped marinated artichokes, chopped (optional)
• 10 large fresh basil leaves, shredded

Dressing

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tbsp red wine vinegar, or more to taste.
• 2 tsp Spice&Easy Za’atar Blend
• 1 clove garlic, minced.
• salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and taste to adjust any of them to suit you. Add more vinegar if you want a tangier flavour. Set aside.
2. Put the beans in a large salad bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss with enough dressing to coat everything but not drown the salad. We like to marinate the crumbled feta cheese in a little of the dressing before adding to the salad.
3. Chill the salad thoroughly before serving. Note: if making this bean salad ahead of time I like to leave out the tomatoes until you are ready to serve. Tomatoes tend to get mushy in the refrigerator.

Green Salad

This recipe does involve some cooking, so we recommend preparing in advance. Can be serve at room temperature or cold!

Ingredients:

• 100 g / ½ cup quinoa*
• 250 g / 8¾ oz broccoli (½ medium)
• 100 g / 3½ oz asparagus
• 1 medium courgette / zucchini
• 65 g / ½ cup frozen peas or petit pois
• 100 g / 3½ oz mixed salad leaves
• ½ cup of Spice&Easy Dukkha
• 1 small avocado, sliced
• green part of 2 spring onions / scallions, sliced thinly

DRESSING (makes double)

• 80 ml / 1/3 cup olive oil
• flesh and zest half a lemon
• 15 g / ½ oz basil, mint or both
• 1 garlic clove
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Rinse quinoa well and place it in a small pot that you have a lid for. Add a few pinches of salt and 180 ml / ¾ cup of water, cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Once the water boils, decrease the heat to low-medium and let the quinoa simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Switch off the heat and let the quinoa sit (with the lid firmly on) for another 5-10 min to finish off cooking in its own steam. Allow to cool.
2. Divide broccoli into small florets, snap wooden ends off the asparagus and cut zucchini into 0.5 cm / ¼” slices.
3. ROAST: Preheat the oven to 220° C / 428° F. Coat broccoli florets in 2 tsp of olive oil and season. Arrange on a large baking tray. Brush zucchini slices with olive oil on both sides, season and arrange on the same tray. Coat asparagus spears in 1 tsp of oil, season and place on the baking tray. Roast for about 8 minutes, take the asparagus off the tray if ready, carry-on roasting broccoli and zucchini for another 5-7 minutes, until cooked through. Alternatively, you could use a griddle pan if you prefer.
4. If you roasted your vegetables, bring a small pot of water to the boil, cook frozen peas for about 3 minutes, drain and immediately refresh it under a cold tap to preserve the colour.
5. Put all the dressing ingredients in a small blender. Blend until smooth, seasoning to taste.
6. Arrange all the salad elements on a large platter, dress with approximately half of the dressing (keep the rest in the fridge, use up in the next few days) and sprinkle with the Dukkha at the end.
7. Keep cool and enjoy!

You can find our range of hand-blended herbs and spices, online at www.spiceandeasycyprus.com. We offer free local delivery on orders over €15 via Akis Express. For more information, please visit our web site or feel free to call us on +357 99104622.