Asian glazed salmon with sesame roast vegetables and quick pickled cucumbers

This “warmish” salad has become something of an unintentional fixture in my current cooking repertoire. I love how the soy sauce and miso salty-umami flavours cut through the richness of the fish – a far cry from my first experiences of eating salmon baked in a bed of puff pastry. Despite the fact salmon is definitely a rich meat, this makes it the perfect vehicle for the pickled cucumbers and loads of vegetables for freshness.

Because this salad is best served lukewarm/room temperature, it is easy to prepare in advance if hosting a group for lunch or casual summer dinner. I often pick up the fresh salmon tails or cut pieces from my supermarket as they are often on special despite only being packed that day – in which case I buy enough for four servings and make enough for lunches later. There are certainly a few components to this dish, however I think it would be a shame not to include them all as they work so well together.

fig, prosciutto and goat’s cheese salad

I’ve decided that one of my new projects is to create aesthetically pleasing as possible salads. Mainly because my waist measurement is crying out for me to do so in lieu of perfecting the creamiest possible fudge, but also in part because summer is over, and there are only so many more sunny days for thrown together meals like this are completely called and craved for.

Figs are in season, and this is the ultimate dish to saladbrate it (I simultaneously want to delete that/forget I ever typed it whilst also cackling softly at my poor attempt at being punny). While I’m the first to wrinkle my nose at pineapple on a pizza, I had no hesitation in rushing to the farmers’ market to nab a box of fresh figs before they sold out (usually before 0930! which quite frankly, is country town madness). I can eat all of the elements of this salad quite pleasurably on their own, but they came together beautifully for an easy Sunday lunch.

Plated individually, this would be a great starter for a March dinner party. Dried figs could also be used if fresh are tricky/expensive to source – I would poach them in a little honey and water in advance to plump them up and forego the honey drizzle.

Ripe’s raw broccoli salad

Simple, crowd-pleasing, prep in advance when hosting many people, bring to pot lucks, pack for lunch, etc. This is turning into some kind of I-will-convert-you-to-broccoli series, because I promise this salad wins everyone over.

Taken from Ripe Recipes: A Fresh Batch

Ingredients:

• 375ml mayonnaise (I use Bestfoods)
• 3 tbsp apple cider/white wine vinegar
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1 cup dried cranberries, or the seeds of 1 fresh deseeded pomegranate
• 70g toasted pinenuts
• 70g pumpkin seeds, toasted
• 1 red onion, peeled, halved and finely sliced
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayo and vinegar.
2. Add the remaining ingredients except for the nuts/seeds and stir to combine.
3. Cover with clingfilm to marinade for at least 2 hours but ideally overnight (I tend to make this the morning of occasions).
4. Transfer to serving dish, sprinkle with the freshly toasted seeds to serve, top with more salt, pepper and microgreens (sweet basil) for aesthetic purposes.