Tarragon Green Bean Salad

EAT YOUR GREENS, THEY"RE GOOD FOR YOU!

This is a delicious fresh green bean salad, great for summer, goes well with barbecued meats and can be served either warm or at room temperature. It's easy to prepare and the flavours of chervil, french tarragon and the crunchy fresh beans are a good combination.

Tarragon green bean salad - The Age, Sunday Life Magazine

550g green beans, topped

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp capers, chopped

1/2 bunch chervil, coarsely chopped

1/2 bunch French tarragon laves (left whole if small, otherwise chopped)

100ml extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

sea salt and cracked black pepper

4 tbsp white-wine vinegar

Cook beans in lightly salted water for 4 minutes. Drain. Mix remaining ingredients, except vinegar, in a large bowl. Add beans and toss to combine. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Serves 4

Thai Beef Salad

Thai beef salad is an extremely popular thai recipe and is commonly served in Thai restaurants. This salad recipe is perfect for a refreshing summer lunch or enjoyed as part of a banquet. The recipe is simple, healthy, fresh and has genuine thai flavours. One of the additions I have made to this recipe which is definitely not in keeping with traditional thai beef salad recipes but more a western addition, is the good old fashioned shredded iceberg lettuce. Yes I know it's not traditionally thai, but hey I think it works.

Thai Beef Salad - adapted from 'Encyclopedia of Asian Food' by Charmaine Solomon
500g lean rump or fillet teak
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon pounded coriander root and stem
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon palm or brown sugar
3 teaspoons Maggi seasoning

2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 lemon grass stalks (white part only) finely sliced
2 small red chillies

1 seedless cucumber finely sliced into batons
100g bean shoots
10 snow peas sliced finely on an angle
1/2 a small spanish red onion sliced finely
8 ice berg lettuce leaves finely shredded
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, lightly crushed
20 fresh mint leaves

Serves 2 as a light lunch main or
4 to 6 as part of a banquet

Grill the steak over coals or under a preheated grill until medium-rare. Allow to cool.

Combine crushed garlic with pounded coriander and stir in the pepper, palm sugar, Maggi seasoning, lime juice and fish sauce. Stir to dissolve sugar. Slice the chillies finely removing the seeds if preferred. Combine seasonings with the sliced red onion, lemon grass, cucumber, bean shoots, snow peas, shredded lettuce, mint, thinly sliced beef and half the peanuts. Toss lightly and serve.
Decorate with remaining peanuts.

Kafta mishwee (Kafta on skewers) with Tabouleh

Two of Lebanon's most famous and loved dishes...Kafta and Tabouleh.

Across the Middle East there are many different versions of Kafta also called Kofte, Kufte, Kofta etc. Each country has there own version of this recipe and method of cooking it. The most popular way to make Kafta though, is to mould minced lamb around skewers and cook them on an open grill. Once you have the basic Kafta mince recipe down pat, it can be quiet versatile and used for many other Middle Eastern dishes such as baked kafta, filled kafta or as a tasty and simple snack you can spread a thin layer of kafta mince over a split piece of Lebanese bread and bake it at 180 deg. celsius in an oven or under a grill for 4 -5 minutes.

Along side grilled Kafta, Tabouleh is a must. Tabouleh is a very popular Lebanese salad which is beautifully fresh, light and versatile. Tabouleh is fantastic as part of a mezza selection, alongside many meat and chicken dishes or simply on its own.

Kafta mishwee (Kafta on skewers) - Moorish by Greg & Lucy Malouf

500g lamb minced twice

1 onion, grated

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried mint or 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Ras al Hanout (optional)

1 teaspoon sea salt

olive oil for cooking

Serves 4

Mix together all the ingredients, except for the olive oil, in a large mixing bowl. Knead well to a sticky paste. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When ready to cook, preheat bbq grill plate to its highest temperature.

If using wooden skewers, soak them for 10mins in cold water to stop them from burning.

Wet your hands, take a handful of the mince and shape tightly around the skewer to make a long sausage, about 10cm long and 3cm in diameter. Keep going until you have used all the mixture. Alternatively if you don't wish to use skewers you can make smaller kafta's the size of chipolata's(as pictured).

Brush each kafta lightly with olive oil and grill on the bbq grill plate. They will take anywhere between 5 and 8 minutes, depending on how well done you like them.

Serve Kafta's with warm Arabic bread, a good blob of Tzatziki and Tabouleh salad (see recipe below).

Tabouleh -Alba's Lebanese Kitchen by Alba Amad

1/4 cup (40g) fine burghul

5 cups finely chopped flat leaf parsley

5 tomato's, finely chopped (to make 2 cups)

8 spring onions, finely chopped (to make 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint

150ml lemon juice

150ml olive oil (you may not need this much, add gradually and check as you go)

1/2 teaspoon ground all spice

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Serves 6 as part of a mezza selection

Wash burghul well, place in a bowl and add enough cold water to cover. Set aside for 30 minutes to soak. Once burgul has soaked, drain well with a seive.

Combine the burghul, parsley, tomato, spring onion and mint in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil, spices and salt and mix thoroughly.

Note - If you are making this salad ahead of time by all means mix the vegetables, herbs and spices but don't mix the lemon juice and oil until the very last moment or the whole salad will become mushy.

Eggplant, goat's cheese and spiced onion salad

Roasted vegetables make for a great winter salad and this is no exception. The combination of roasted eggplant and the intensely spiced onions cooked with cumin and cinnamon give this salad a real Middle Eastern feel. Topping the salad off with goats cheese and mint makes for a fantastic combination of flavours, the mint really giving the salad a freshness and lift. It would be great served with grilled meats (especially lamb) or as part of a mezza.

Eggplant, goats cheese and spiced onion salad - 'Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine'

Salad

2 (about 760gm) eggplant

1 tbls extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve

1tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves

80gm goat's cheese

Spiced onion

2 tbsp olive oil

2 spanish onions cut into wedges

6 cloves of garlic, lightly bruised

1 tbsp ginger finely grated

1 tbsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 tsp dried chilli flakes

1/4 cup water

To taste - castor sugar

Pre heat oven to 160c fan forced. Cut eggplant length ways into wedges and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with cumin and roast for 1hr or until tender. Cool to room temperature.

For spiced onion, heat oil in a saucepan, add onion and garlic, season with sea salt and saute over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until softened. Add ginger and remaining spices and cook for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water and simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced. Season to taste with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and castor sugar. Cool to room temperature.

Arrange eggplant on serving plate, spoon over spiced onion (I only used about half the amount of spiced onion as it has quiet an intense spice flavour), torn mint leaves, drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Fattoush

Fattoush is a simple Lebanese bread salad that is light, fresh and traditionally made with lebanese pita bread. A good salad for summer served with grilled fish or meats.

Salad
1 cos lettuce cut into med. strips
2 raddish, finely sliced
1 medium Spanish onion. finely sliced
2 tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1/2 Lebanese cucumbers, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
1 Lebanese pita bread round, toasted and broken into pieces (to toast pita bread brush pita with a little oil and cook in oven at 180 deg. for 10min or until crisp).

Dressing
60ml olive oil
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of sumac (sumac is a lebanese spice blend which can be found at middle eastern shops)
sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste.

To make dressing combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well. Dressing can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge until required.

For the salad combine all ingredients in a large bowl, add dressing and toss to combine. Leave the salad for a few minutes before serving to allow the dressing to soak into the pita bread.

Serves 4