Vegetable Salad with Mayonnaise

Hi everyone! Today I cooked  this vegetable salad for dinner. This is probably one of my favourite "tapas" and if it's made with homemade mayonnaise, then there's nothing like it! In Spain this dish is known as "ensaladilla" and it is mainly consumed during the summer. I usually prepare this recipe the day before, as it has to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Potatoes and carrots are the base for this salad, however you can remove other ingredients such as tuna in case you don´t like fish. 

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

1 kg. potatoes
3 carrots
150 g. peas
1 tin of tuna or mackerel in olive oil
1 hard-boiled egg
Salt to taste

For the mayonnaise:
300 ml of olive oil (light in colour)
1 fresh egg
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Salt to taste

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy

45 minutes

Method:

Peel, wash and dice the potatoes and the carrots.

Place the diced potatoes, carrots, peas and the egg in a pot with salted water and bring it to the boil. Cook until tender (about 10 minutes)

Drain, refresh under cold water and  leave to cool.

In the meantime place the fresh egg and the lemon juice in a mixing jug, add salt to taste and whisk using a blender. Slowly add the olive oil in a thin uniform stream.

Whisk for about one minute until the oil combines with the other ingredients.

Place the vegetables in a large bowl and add the mackerel.

Add half of the mayonnaise.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly using a fork.

Cover with the rest of the mayonnaise. Decorate with grated hard-boiled egg and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

 Serve cold, decorated with carrot strips, chopped green olives and grated hard boiled egg.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Lamb's Lettuce & Pasta Salad

Hello everyone! Today we are going to cook something simple, delicious and fast . This colourful pasta salad is perfect for lunch or dinner. This dish contains all the nutrients for a complete meal, although it is also a great side dish. Lamb's lettuce is the base for this salad, however any type of lettuce perfectly combines with the rest of the ingredients. Cheese provides flavour and colour, and it is also a great source of calcium. I used five counties cheese for this salad, which includes Cheddar, Red Leicester, Cheshire, Double Gloucester and Derby and the result has been amazing.

Ingredients:

( Serves 2)

100 g. lamb's lettuce
100 g. tricolour spiral pasta
100 g. sweetcorn
1 egg
1 beef tomato
100 g. five counties cheese
Salt
2 tablespoons of wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of  extra virgin olive oil
Basil leaves to decorate

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
15 minutes

Method:

Wash the lettuce and the tomato and drain well.

Place the egg in a small pan with cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook for then minutes.

Place the lettuce on a large dish. Add the pasta to a large pan of boiling, slightly salted water, stir and return to the boil. Cook for ten minutes.

Refresh with cold water and drain well.

Dice the cheese

Place the pasta, the sweetcorn, the sliced tomato and the cheese in the plate with the lettuce.

 

Decorate with the boiled egg and basil leaves. Salt to taste and season with wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Mediterranean Salad

Hi again! Today I prepared a delicious and colourful dish for you. This salad is perfect for a lunch or a dinner. In Spain we usually have salads everyday. Salads are fundamental for a balanced diet. This salad is a complete meal. It contains vegetables, protein and carbohydrate, so you wouldn't need anything else. I really love salads, it's one of my favourite dishes for dinner, specially during spring and summer. This salad is very fast to prepare, in just a few minutes you´ll be enjoying this healthy dish.

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

200 g. round lettuce
1 big tomato
100 g. sweetcorn
green olives
100 g. long grain rice
1 egg
1 slice of Spanish serrano ham
4 seafood sticks
1 teaspoonful of black caviar
3 tablespoons of wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
20 minutes

Method:

Remove stems, wash lettuce and drain well using a colander.

Bring salted water to the boil and add the rice. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Drain the rice in a colander and rinse well.

In the meantime put an egg in salted cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Wash and chop the tomato and dice the seafood sticks.

Put the lettuce and the tomato in a large bowl.

Add the rice, sweetcorn and diced seafood sticks.

Decorate with serrano ham slices and the boiled egg.

Finally add some green olives and a teaspoonful of black caviar.

Salt to taste, season with 3 tablespoons of wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and our salad is ready.

I hope you like it!
See you soon,

María

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Potato Salad

Hi everyone! Today I cooked for you all this special recipe. This potato salad, or  papas aliñás, is a traditional recipe of Cadiz, an amazing city in the south of Spain where I was born. This is a typical summer dish.This healthy salad is full of flavour and it is very easy to prepare. The secret for this salad is to use fresh ingredients, dry parsley is not suitable for this recipe. Fresh parsley contains vitamins K,C and A; iron and folic acid, so it is a rich source of anti- oxidant nutrients. Fresh parsley also provides colour and an excellent flavour to our dish. I'm sure you are going to love this recipe.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)

1500 g. potatoes
4 spring onions
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
200 ml. extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 tablespoons salt

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
1 hour and a half

Method:

Wash the potatoes, put them in a pot with cold water, add a tablespoon of salt and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and cook the potatoes for about 25 minutes.

When the potatoes are done, leave them in the hot water for 30 minutes.

Then drain the potatoes and let them cool down.

Peel and dice the boiled potatoes.

Finely chop the spring onions and the fresh parsley.

Put the diced potatoes in a large bowl. Add the chopped onion and sprinkle with parsley.

Pour the vinegar, salt to taste and finally add the olive oil, stirring thoroughly.

And our salad is ready!

I'm sure you are going to enjoy it!
Hopefully see you soon.

María

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Tomato and Mozarella Salad

Hello everyone! Today I have prepared something easy and fast to cook. In less than five minutes you can enjoy a healthy salad. It is ideal for dinner or as a starter at lunch.

This salad harmoniously combines the vitamins provided by tomatoes and the high amounts of dietary calcium and protein provided by cheese. In Spain we usually add different types of cheese to our salads. For this recipe I have used mozarella, which is a well known Italian soft cheese. You can easily find this delicious cheese at many stores.

Ingredients:

Serves 2

125 g mozarella soft cheese
2 tomatoes
Oregano
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
5 minutes

Method:

Slice the mozarella cheese

Then wash and cut the tomatoes

Place the ingredients on a dish and salt to taste.

Sprinkle with oregano

Finally add a couple of lugs of extra virgin olive oil.

And our salad is ready

I'm sure you'll like it!
See you soon

María

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Coleslaw with Mayonnaise

Hi everyone! My brother has been cooking for you  this delicious homemade coleslaw.
I had not eaten coleslaw for ages, since I was visiting the United States and when I moved to Scotland I began to include it in my diet again.
The word coleslaw comes from the Dutch word "koolsla", meaning cabbage salad.
This is a very healthy and colourful dish. Carrots are high in carotene, an important antioxidant that protects our body. This salad is very easy and fast to cook, just a few minutes and it is ready.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

Half a head of cabbage
3 carrots
Half an onion
Mayonnaise
1 spoonful of yellow mustard
1 teaspoonful of sugar
White wine vinegar
Salt
Ground black pepper

Difficulty and cooking time:

Easy
15 minutes

Preparation:

Finely chop the cabbage and place it in a salad bowl.

 Then peel and wash the carrots

Julienne the carrots, otherwise use a grater.

Put the grated carrots together with the cabbage in the salad bowl.

 Thinly chop the onion

Then place it together with the cabbage and  the grated carrots

Put the mayonnaise in a soup dish and add a spoonful of yellow mustard

 Add a couple of lugs of white wine vinegar

Then add the sugar

Mix well using a spoon

Pour this dressing on the salad bowl

Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Serve immediately or keep it in the fridge.

We hope you like it!
See you soon

Chema & María

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