Autumnal Quinoa Salad

07-09-2016 Local Black BookAutumn, butternut, Fall, feta, gluten-free, healthy, healthy eating, low carb, lunch, lunch box, packed lunch, paleo, pine nuts, pumpkin, quinoa, recipe, salad, savoury, vegetarian5 Comments

If I’m not all that happy to wave the Summer goodbye, I must admit there are things about Autumn I’m rather excited about.

Besides the fact that my workplace will FINALLY be turning the AC off and I won’t have to wear cashmere to avoid catching a cold in the middle of a heatwave, that is.

Top of my list is the comeback of all sorts of winter squash onto the list of seasonal fruit & veggies!

I love squashes & pumpkins of all kinds, and couldn’t help but pick up one of the first butternuts of the season at my local farmers’ market last week.

It almost ended up into my favourite soup, but a bit of fridge foraging later and this beautiful Autumnal Quinoa Salad was born…

Easy to make, healthy & super tasty, it’s the perfect dish for a light Autumn dinner or a colourful, vitamin-packed lunch!

Autumnal Quinoa Salad with Butternut, Feta & Pine Nuts (serves 2)

Ingredients:

200g quinoa (I got this pretty mixed-coloured one from Waitrose)
300g butternut squash, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp olive oil
50g crumbled feta
20g pine nuts
sea salt, cracked black pepper, oregano

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C (gas mark 6).

2. In a bowl, mix the slices of butternut with the olive oil, a pinch of salt, some black pepper and a generous pinch of oregano. Spread onto an oven-safe dish and bake for 35-45 minutes (or until the edges start caramelising).

3. Bring a big pot of salted water to the boil, then throw in the quinoa and cook for about 20min, then drain.

4. In a dry pan, fry the pine nut kernels until golden.

5. Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl or pile them up onto two plates, top with a little more oregano and serve immediately.

This dish can also be eaten cold, which makes it a brilliant packed lunch option as well!

PIN FOR LATER:

Mexican corn salad

23-06-2016 Local Black Bookcorn, feta, food, gluten-free, healthy, Mexican, prawn, prawns, recipe, salad, street food, Tabasco1 Comment

Nothing says ‘summer’ better than a beautiful, colourful corn salad.

Yellow as the sun, and emblematic of so many cuisines around the world, corn is like a tiny piece of sunshine on a plate.

Having sworn to do everything I can think of to make the (actual) sun come and stay, corn salad has become a staple of mine those past few weeks.

Mexican corn salad | Cake + Whisky

It’s such a simple dish, but the combination of juicy, just charred corn kernels, tart lime and Tabasco dressing and creamy, crumbly feta is trully a magical one.

The version below, inspired by one served in the streets of Mexico, with quick pickled red onion, fiery jalapenos and beautifully sweet grilled prawns, is my favourite… and I’m sure you’ll love it too!

Mexican corn salad | Cake + Whisky

Streetfood Style Mexican Corn Salad with Grilled Prawns (serves 2)

Ingredients: 1 big can of corn (rinced and drained), 250g raw prawns, 1 lime, 1/2 fresh red chilli (finely diced), 1 tbsp garlic (fresh or dried), 1/2 red onion (diced finely), finely diced pickled jalapenos (quantity to taste), crumbled feta, green Tabasco to taste, chopped coriander, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper

1. Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan until it starts smoking. Throw in the corn kernels, and fry until slightly charred.

2. In the meantime, combine the diced red onion, pickled jalapenos, juice of 1/2 a lime and green Tabasco to taste in a big mixing bowl. Add in the grilled corn and the coriander and rectify the seasoning if needed.

3. In a second mixing bowl, combine the juice of 1/2 a lime, fresh red chilli, garlic, salt and pepper. Marinate for 5-10 min, then cook for a few minutes in a grill pan.

4. Sprinkle some crumbled feta on top of the corn salad, top with the prawns, then drizzle with a little big of olive oil and serve immediately.

Tomato & Feta Crumble

05-05-2016 Local Black Bookcooking, crumble, feta, food, oregano, parmesan, recipe, tomato, vegetarian2 Comments

Isn’t it funny how some people stay in your life for a very small amount of time, yet parts of them will stay with you forever?

Now, I know that’s a rather philosophical way to start a recipe blog post.

But the truth is, every time I make a savoury crumble, I can’t help but think of my ex-boyfriend’s stepmother.

We didn’t get along that well, but it doesn’t really matter all that much.

What does matter is that she introduced me to the wonderful thing that is a tomato crumble.

I’ve made countless versions of this dish over the years, but the feta-enhanced recipe below is my favourite to date.

The intense flavor of roasted tomatoes, combined with the slight sourness of the feta and topped with a deliciously cheesy crumb-topping is simply impossible to resist.

Tomato & Feta Crumble (serves 2)

Ingredients: 300g cherry tomatoes (washed & halved), 100g crumbled feta, 1 tbs oregano (fresh or dry), 40g plain flour, 20g soft butter, small chunck of Parmesan (grated), salt, black pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven at 150°C (gas mark 5). Put the halved tomatoes in an oven-safe dish. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper and bake for 20-25 min.

2. Combine the flour, soft butter and grated parmesan in a bowl until you get a sand-like texture. Season with a pinch of salt, some cracked black pepper and oregano.

3. Take the dish out of the oven. Add the crumbled feta to the tomatoes, then sprinkle with a generous pinch of oregano. Top with the crumble and bake for another 25-30 min. Serve immediately.

Have you ever had savoury crumble?

Cake and Whisky

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Autumnal Quinoa Salad

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