Melon salad with honey and ginger

Last days of summer. I can even feel the autumn breath and this feeling inspires me. I love autumn - no more crazy hot days, plenty of fruits and veges, my figs in the garden are almost ready and sky at night is full of stars ...
Melons are in season now too. I'm not a big fan of ginger and I don't like honey at all, but in this salad they make quite a beautiful composition. Recipe adapted from Gourmet traveller magazine.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)
175 gm (½ cup)  honey
2 tbsp finely chopped glacé ginger
1 vanilla bean, split
500 gm watermelon
500 gm  rockmelon
500 gm  honeydew melon
To serve: vanilla ice-cream

1. Combine honey, ginger and vanilla bean and ½ cup water in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat for 8 minutes or until reduced by half. Cool to room temperature.
2. Peel melons and remove seeds, then cut into 3cm cubes. Combine melon and syrup and stand for 30 minutes to marinate. Serve melon salad with scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

Beetroot, avocado & goats cheese salad with pine nuts

Easy and really tasty salad. You can roast the beetroot ahead or use cooked from supermarket. Just quickly put all the ingredients together before serving.

Serves 4
4 medium sized beetroot
2 avocados, peeled
50 g pine nuts
200g goats cheese, crumbled
50g rocket leaves
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Half a clove of garlic, minced
A good pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

To cook the beetroot wrap them in tinfoil, place on an oven tray and bake for about an hour at 190C or until tender.  Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then peel and slice.

Toast the pine nuts over a medium heat, until golden brown.

In a large bowl whisk together the Dijon mustard, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.

When you are ready to serve the salad, arrange the beetroot and avocado slices over the rocket leaves, drizzle with dressing, then add the goats cheese crumbles. Finally scatter each plate with the toasted pine nuts and serve immediately.

Warm beetroot, orange & haloumi salad

This vegetarian salad mixes salty haloumi with the sweetness of beetroot and orange.

Ingredients (serves 4)
3 medium beetroot, ends trimmed
3 oranges, peeled, white pith removed
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
150g baby spinach leaves
1 x 250g pkt haloumi, drained, thinly sliced crossways

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Wrap each beetroot in foil. Place in a roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour or until the beetroot is tender when pierced with a skewer. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool. Wearing gloves to avoid staining your hands, peel the beetroot and cut into wedges.

Meanwhile, holding the oranges over a bowl to catch any juice, use a sharp knife to cut along either side of the white membrane to remove the segments. Use your hands to squeeze the remaining juice from the flesh into the bowl (you will need 80ml/1/3 cup juice). Add the oil and whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the beetroot, orange segments and spinach in a large bowl. Divide among serving plates.

Cook the haloumi in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden.

Top the salad with the haloumi. Drizzle over the dressing to serve.

Simple & delicious: Figs, goats cheese & honey

Recently, I was really surprised, when I found a few ripe figs in our garden. That's a quite unusual for this time, but what a pleasure to enjoy this simple light salad for lunch!

So, there's no recipe, just a couple figs drizzled with liquid honey and 3-4 tablespoons of fresh goats cheese on top of it. So simple, so good!

I'm desperately waiting for rest of our fig harvest. So many ideas in my head.

Grilled halloumi and watermelon salad

Halloumi cheese is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is unique salty hard cheese made of goat and sheep's milk that comes to life when grilled or pan fried. Teamed with watermelon, it is a sweet-salty treat that works as an appetizer, side dish or light and beautiful summer salad.

Ingredients:
1/2 large seedless watermelon
handful of fresh mint
handful of salad mix (optional)
250 gr. halloumi cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch tall strips
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a non-stick grill pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Pat Halloumi slices with paper towels to dry them, and brush each slice lightly with olive oil on one side.

Place cheese in grill pan, oil-side down, and heat for 1-2 minutes or until golden. Brush top side with oil, flip, and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Dice the watermelon into one-inch cubes or make a cute balls using a melon-baller. Toss cheese with watermelon, salad mix and mint. Season with freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Spinach, pumpkin and feta salad

Simply, delicious and easy to made salad for pumpkin lovers. Light lunch just in 5 minutes.  It's really handy if your have some leftovers of roasted pumpkin. I don't have the exact proportions,  so just add pumpkin and feta to your taste.

For 1 serving:
Handful of fresh baby spinach,
100 gr. roasted butternut pumpkin,
100 gr. feta cheese (or  fresh mild goat cheese),
1/4 of small red onion,
1 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp orange juice.

Cut pumpkin and feta on cubes and put them over the spinach leaves, add onion rings and finish with olive oil and orange juice before serving.

Enjoy!

Barbecue Lamb Salad with cucumber, capsicum and orange dressing

Barbecue Lamb Salad with cucumber, capsicum and orange dressing is a refreshing simple summer salad. You can make it with warm or cold barbecue lamb. 

Serves 4
500g lean lamb leg steaks, trimmed of excess fat (or you can use already cooked meat)

Marinade:
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/4 cup sweet sherry
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
3 teaspoon salt reduced Worcestershire or soya sauce

2 cups mixed salad leaves
1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
1 yellow or red capsicum, slised
1/2 red salad onion, sliced

DRESSING
½ orange, for juice and zest
2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Trim any visible fat from lamb and place in a large dish. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over the lamb, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Heat a barbecue, grill pan or non-stick fry pan to high. Remove lamb from marinade and cook to desired effect, for the most tender and moist cut its best still pink inside, about 3-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness.

Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered loosely with foil. Slice thinly.

Arrange salad leaves in a bowl with the cucumber, capsicum and onion and top with sliced lamb. Shake together the dressing ingredients in a screw top jar and pour over the salad.



Enjoy!