Salad Days

Caesar salad with chicken is a quick after-work meal. It's everywhere now but, like most food trends, I first discovered it in Sydney. The dressing was perfect and when I came home I looked for a recipe but I couldn't find anything that felt right. I came up with this. Let me know if you have any ideas for improvement. First heat the oven to 180. Use about 100g chicken per person & first brine in 2 cups cold water with 1 tbsp each salt & sugar dissolved, for about 1/2 hour. This keeps the chicken moist when you grill. Meanwhile make your croutons. Cut as much bread as you want -use a French stick or something similar - into chunky cubes. Toss in 3 tbsp garlic infused olive oil. Spread on a baking tray & bake 12-15 mins until golden, stirring occasionally. (If you make too many don't worry, they keep for ages in an airtight container.) Make the dressing. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil & carefully lower 2 eggs into the pan. Cook 45 seconds & remove. Cool just enough to handle & crack yolks into a small bowl discarding the whites. Add 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, pinch of salt, ground pepper & whisk until smooth. Add olive oil whisking until the thickness you want. Up to 1/3 cup. It's is very much based on judgement and I end up with a yellow creamy dressing not as thick as mayonnaise. You can add anchovies to the dressing or separately on the salad. Now back to the chicken. Pat dry & place on a lightly oiled grill tray. Grill chicken about 8 minutes on each side. Test that it's cooked through at the thickest part but that timing works for me. Maybe a little more on the first side. Set the chicken aside to cool & put the water on to poach the eggs. Begin to assemble the salad. Mix torn up leaves of cos lettuce in a bowl first with the dressing, then lay in individual plates. Add croutons, anchovies for those who like them, then slices of the chicken. Pour over any leftover dressing. Poach the eggs & put one on the top of each dish & finish with very thin slices of Parmesan. I use the potato peeler. This salad is not only delicious, it's not nearly as fiddly as it sounds and works for the fussy family. Everyone in our family bar Peter & I have this without something.

For a green salad with a bit of a difference try beans, broccolini & asparagus. Cut the veg how you like them. Steam lightly - to al dente & toss in your best olive oil. Leave to cool slightly then season & toss in a bowl with toasted almonds, diced radishes & a dash of lemon juice.

I love eggs - I may have already mentioned this? Eggs & chicken are perfect in a salad as we have seen above. Try slicing a chicken breast in half horizontally, then saute both pieces in a little olive oil until cooked through. Set aside & add 1/2 cup verjuice to the pan & boil until reduced & syrupy. Return the chicken to the pan & coat with the glaze. Set aside to cool in the pan. Cut an iceberg (or similar crunchy) lettuce into wedges and arrange on a plate. You want chunks of crunchy lettuce. I have a lettuce knife I bought a few years ago & it cuts lettuce without bruising it. Great for shredding. I actually bought it because I was hoping one day to find a recipe for Cobb Salad and many years later I did but that is another story. Slice the chicken thinly against the grain & toss with pan juices then lay on the lettuce with the eggs cut into neat little wedges with your multipurpose egg slicer. Drizzle with aioli - you could make your aioli using verjuice instead of vinegar if you like. Scatter over capers, anchovies, olives, flat leaf parsley and then anything else you find in the fridge that seems suitable. You know I like scattering.

This time of year I usually start making Salad Nicoise too. Well it might not be Nicoise in the true sense, so just call it tuna potato salad. Boil some Red Desiree potatoes in their skins - you can use any waxy potatoes but I like the red skins in this salad - and cut into largish chunks. Leave to cool a little. Line a serving bowl with bite size pieces of cos lettuce then build up the rest of the ingredients in an order that pleases you. Include tinned tuna, boiled eggs (in neat wedges), steamed french beans and/or asparagus, halved cherry tomatoes (I like to use a couple of varieties), anchovies, capers, olives, the cooled potatoes. Drizzle over some vinaigrette - I sometimes use lemon instead of vinegar for this salad.

I have to tell you about the lunch I ate today. Nikau is open again and Peter & I had a relaxing lunch there today. I had scallops on creamed spinach with an amazing lemon salsa. I'm going to play around & see if I can recreate it. If I do I will share with you. It would be delicious with any fish & probably chicken as well. Maybe haloumi. It had chunks of lemon zest & was so sharp that it was only just on the right side of tart which was perfect with the richness of the scallops. It's been a little cool and wet in Wellington so Peter had a warming parsnip and fennel soup - delicious!