Cucumber and Feta Cheese Salad

Ingredients

275 gm cucumber triangles
60 gm red pepper triangles
60 gm yellow pepper triangles
60 gm green pepper triangles
160gm onion triangles
160gm tomato triangles
16 green olives
16 black olives
12 caper berries
80 gm feta cheese

Dressing

40 ml lemon juice
80 ml olive oil
1 clove garlic
A pinch of oregano
A pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper as required

Method

Make the dressing by blending all the dressing ingredients together and check their seasoning. Toss the cucumber, pepper, onion and tomato in the dressing. Make a base of lettuce in a salad bowl and arrange tossed ingredients on that. Add the black olives, green olives, caper berries and the crumbled feta cheese. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle some oregano and freshly ground pepper and serve.

Organic Green Salad

Ingredients

60 gm iceberg lettuce broken into pieces
5 asparagus with blanched tip
4-5 bulbs water chasenut
5 black olives
5 green olives
5 cherry tomatoes
30 gm feta cheese
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tbsp pesto dressing
50 gm basil leaves
50 gm parsley
30ml olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Red chilli flakes to serve

For Pesto Dressing

To make this dressing mix basil leaves, parsley, olive oil, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and crush them nicely in a blender.

Method

Take 1 tbsp of the pesto dressing and mix it with crispy iceberg lettuce. Arrange it on a plate. Take a bowl and mix asparagus, water chasenut, olives, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and the rest of the pesto dressing. Arrange it over iceberg lettuce on the plate. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over it and serve.

Garlic Mania

Garlic is one of the most versatile flavours in the kitchen. It tastes delicious and is very good for health. Garlic is also known as the ‘stinking rose’, we don’t have to guess why!

Munching on parsley can help one to get rid of the smelly garlic breath. Buy garlic heads that are firm to touch, with no nicks or soft cloves. As garlic ages, it begins to produce green sprouts in the center of each clove. The infant green sprouts can be bitter, so discard them before use.

It’s easy to flavour with garlic by adding peeled whole cloves of garlic to bottles of vinegar for 2 to 3 days before using. To make garlic salt, just bury 3 peeled and pressed garlic cloves in ½ cup of salt. Add fresh ground pepper and ground ginger if you like. Let stand for a few days in a screw- top jar. Remove the garlic and use as desired to flavour soups, salads, meats, etc. You can easily make garlic butter and freeze it to have on hand to melt on broiled meats or to mix into fresh cooled vegetables or spread on bread. Just add mashed garlic cloves to the butter, you can add herbs and salt as well. Form into logs, wrap into plastic and freeze. Slice off as needed.

A very popular way to serve fresh garlic is to take whole heads. This is then served as hors d’oeuvres with bread or as an accompaniment to meat or vegetables. Peel as much of the outer skin as possible, leaving the cloves unpeeled and the head intact. Place heads in a covered casserole or on a piece of heavy aluminium foil. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until cloves are soft and can be squeezed easily out of their skins onto bread or other foods.

Spaghetti with Garlic Mushroom sauce

Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti
6 cloves garlic minced
½ cup olive oil
½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Grated parmesan cheese

Method

Cook spaghetti till tender and set aside on a platter to cool. Sauté the garlic in oil until tender… that is, easily crushable with a spoon but not brown. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Pout over spaghetti and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Potato Pancakes with Mediterranean Vegetables

Ingredients

150 gm refined flour
100 gm potato powder
50 gm milk powder
25 gm baking powder
400 ml milk
1 kg tomatoes cut into quarters
1 cup onion sliced
½ cup leeks sliced
2 bay leaves
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 parsley stalks
100 gm butter
½ cup zucchini sliced
½ each of yellow and red bell pepper sliced
4 mushrooms cut into halves
½ cup baby spinach leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Soak potato powder in 1/3 cup of water for 15 minutes. Add refined flour, milk powder, baking powder and salt to the soaked potato mixture. Make 8 pancakes with the above batter by pouring a ladle full of batter on pre- greased, non- stick frying pan. For the tomatoes, first sauté whole spices in hot oil for half a minute, and keep aside, then sauté onions, carrots and celery for about a minute. Add tomatoes and seasoning. Cook for 20 minutes and blend in an electric blender. Pass through a fine sieve. Now sauté the vegetables in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the sautéed vegetables on top of the pancakes and pour tomato coulis on the side.

Sweet Potato Schnitzels

Ingredients

750 gm Sweet potatoes
100 gm chopped onions
20 gm chopped celery
10 gm chopped garlic
Oregano and salt to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
50 gm flour
100 ml soy milk
150 gm bread crumbs
500 ml oil for frying
Some parsley

Method

Cut the potatoes into ¼ inch slices and steam. After steaming, dry the potatoes completely. Sauté the onions and celery until golden brown. Add garlic, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper and cook for about a minute. Mash the potatoes and mix them well with the above mixture. Make 1cm thick patties from the mixture, dust them with flour, dip in soy milk and coat with breadcrumbs. Shallow fry the patties, till they are golden brown on both the sides. Serve hot.