Optimistic Spring Salad!

The sun was out ALL DAY! That warrants a lovely swim and a energy boosting salad I think. I have recently bought Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook called Tender, which has been a real inspiration. I've always loved veg, but Ottolenghi takes them to the next level. And yes! He is a fan of LittlePod! I can't wait to visit his restaurant, I'll keep an eye out for vanilla-based meals - apparently he uses LittlePod in the kitchen.

My spring salad has all the sweetness and freshness that Spring has to offer, with a little chilli kick to help shrug off the last fingers of Winter. Enjoy as a light dinner or perfect packed lunch. I'm doing both!

Optimistic Spring Salad
serves 2

Ingredients:
1 x courgette
1 x carrot
1 x sweet red pepper
1 x smoked mackerel fillet
10 cherry tomatoes
4 freshly picked basil leaves
1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp organic olive oil
1/2 tbsp agave syrup
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 x garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp LittlePod vanilla extract

Instructions:

Top, tail and peel the carrot, and don't put your peeler away! Peel the rest of the carrot into wide ribbons, and do the same to your washed courgette. Quarter the cheery tomatoes, and use scissors to chop the basil leaves into thin strips. Add these all to a large mixing bowl, and crumble in the mackerel fillet. Add the sesame seeds and mix with salad servers.

To make the dressing, combine all the remaining ingredients in a small jug, using a spoon to mix well. Pour this all over your salad, and toss, coating everything in the dressing.

Serve with a fresh white wine, it's that easy! Believe me, this is going to become a favourite.

Vanilla Risotto with Butternut Squash & Button Mushrooms

On Saturday, my culinary eyes were opened! Dave Buchanen, the new LittlePod chef, created a magnificent 6 course taster menu using the LittlePod ingredients and a lot of pazzazz. LittlePod took over the restaurant of the Sid Valley Hotel and fed fans and friends of the company. I took the family along and we all had a lovely time (there was even wine tasting!). Inspired by the vegetarian main course of Roasted Baby Bell Peppers with Butternut Squash Risotto, Parmesan Crisp & Vanilla Glaze, I made my own (simplified and recreatable!) version. Enjoy! To sample some recipes from Dave's pro kitchen, visit his new blog - http://littlepodchef.blogspot.com/ and try out his Mixed Summer Berry & Sambucca Sabayon, another of the courses from the Sid Valley evening, which was amazing.



Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g aborrio risotto rice
2 tsp butter
1 glass white wine
1 tsp LittlePod vanilla paste
(you could use the extract, or the seeds of 1 pod, but I love using the paste! It's the best of both worlds)
1 pint of chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 butternut squash
1 pack button mushrooms
a few basil leaves
pepper & salt (to taste)

Instructions:

Chop (and peel if desired - I like the added texture of the skin) the butternut squash into cubes (I cut mine into approx 1cm squares so they'd be easy to eat and faster to cook), dice the onion and garlic and drizzle with olive oil in a large roasting dish. Place in a mid to high oven, keeping an eye on it. You want them to be soft all the way through and brown. If it's ready before the rice is cooked, just turn the temperature down and keep warm. Add the mushrooms about 5-10 min before the rice is ready. Don't worry if you get the timing wrong! Both elements will be fine keeping warm for a bit.

Once the veg is in the oven, put a large pan (a non-stick frying pan with big sides or a wok would do) over a mid range heat and add 1 tsp of the butter. Once it has melted, add the rice and fry for a minute. You don't want it to go brown, just a bit translucent. Then add the wine and the LittlePod vanilla paste and watch it bubble, stirring well. Once the liquid has all but evaporated, start adding the stock, a ladle at a time, stirring regularly as you don't want it to stick to the bottom of the pan. It should take about 20min for the rice to absorb all the stock and to lose it's bite, test it after 20min and give it some water if it's not soft all the way through. Once it is, turn the heat off, add the extra tsp of butter and let it rest of a minute with a lid on the pan. Trust me, this will make it extra yummy! Add pepper and salt to taste. Remember that stock can be quite salty anyway, so don't go over the top.

To serve, plate up the rice and top with the roasted veg. Chop some basil leaves up and put on top. Some freshly grated/pared parmesan is perfect with it!