Add Value to your Salad

It's  July - summer time in the UK and for once it is a hot one
It is also the time of the year for salads and cold food - no more sweating in a hot kitchen over family meals.

You must be joking I hear many of you say - my family wouldn't accept salad as a meal - "It's boring", "It doesn't fill me up" "It's not man food"

Well if you serve a limp bit of lettuce, tasteless tomatoes and bland coleslaw they will be proved right. A salad or as the dictionary says 'a cold collation of food'  doesn't have to be a handful of rocket plonked on the side of a pork chop. It doesn't have to be a processed cheese ploughman's and it doesn't have to be so devoid of protein or carbohydrates that you are  left wondering if you have eaten anything at all.....

Lets challenge the salad to be nutritious, interesting, filling and fun. It is a time to add all sorts of varieties of nuts , seeds and exotic fruits that you never normal buy. It is the time to introduce your children to vegetables and pulses that they would never choose. It doesn't have to be expensive although  one does have to shop around to get the most flavoursome ingredients at good value. Try local markets and look for good salad and vegetables near their sell by date which maybe sold cheaply and can be substituted in many recipes.

Lets look at some  salads that are full meals in themselves ad some that can be served with a simply grilled piece of fish meat.

1..Salad Nicoise
Use as a main course with warm crusty bread on a picnic or on the buffet table
2. Smoked Turkey Plum & Fennel Salad
Again with sourdough rye bread  or just on its own it works well in lunch boxes to take to work
3. Asparagus, potato ,avocado-and rocket-salad
Eat with hummus if you are vegan or otherwise great with peeled prawns or smoked salmon
4.Courgette fennel and giant couscous with mint
Part of 'The Telegraph's' picnic series but also delicious with barbecued meat or fish
5.Spinach feta and pinenut Salad
Ideal for a starter at a diner party - the quickest delicious starter you can make!
6.Thai Style Beef Salad
For the meat eaters instead of  a Sunday roast!
7. Chicken beetroot and walnut salad  
Simply yet tasty - beetroot has many healthy nutrients so a welcome addition to a meal
8. Avocado Mango & Tomato Salad
A favourite- light, tangy and refreshing
9. Greek Salad with sardines
Oily fish is good source of essential fatty acids and is fairly cheap to buy so a good quick cheap lunch dish.
10. Summer Four Grain Salad
Jamie Oliver's great vegetarian dish that uses up many of those ingredients in your cupboard and tastes delicious

We could go on as there are many more out there but I am getting hungry already and hope they add value to your dinner table.

Beetroot and Salmon Tartare

Most of us pick up ready cooked beetroot in vinegar and forget how easy and delicious freshly cooked beetroot can be and how it adds a natural sweetness to a dish. Roasting produces a delicious flavour that compliments many dshes This starter is healthy, light and fabulous served with rye, pumpernickel or sour dough bread and is impressive at dinner parties or just served as a light lunch

Serves 4
4 medium fresh beetroot, trimmed and scrubbed
1½ tsp chives, finely chopped
1½ tsp tarragon, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 drops tabasco sauce
2½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
230g skinless salmon fillet, bones removed, diced
Pea shoots for garnish (optional)
Salt and black pepper


1 Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Place the beetroot in a small roasting pan with 125ml of water. Cover and cook for about 1 hour, until tender when pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool.
2 Peel and dice the beetroot. Transfer to a bowl and add half the chives, tarragon, mustard and shallots. Add half the lemon juice, all the tabasco, and 1½ tbsp oil. Mix well and season to taste. Cover and refrigerate.
3 Combine the salmon and the remaining chives, tarragon and shallots in a bowl. Add the parsley, and the remaining mustard, lemon juice and olive oil, then season to taste. Mix well, cover and chill.
4 To serve, take four 8cm baking rings and place them on your serving plates. Put a quarter of the beetroot tartare in the bottom of each, then top with an even layer of one quarter of the salmon tartare. Pat gently to compress. Remove the rings, and garnish with pea shoots if desired.

By adding the chives and tarragon to the dish you give it great flavour whilst the lemon gives the dish an added freshness. Salmon can be bought fairly cheaply at the momnet. Look out for special offers and freeze it to use at a later date making this dish a cheap and healthy and great for the summer