Spring Salad Series #2

We’re off to Europe in exactly 10 weeks. It’s no secret that we are completely, 100% obsessed with everything to do with the European culture. The fresh food, old buildings, their train systems, cute bakeries, red wine (lots of red wine), the coop (only a few people would understand this), friendly people and most importantly our family in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Our love for Europe has come to a stage where we are trying to set up camp over there, permanently. This means a lot of research, visas, Italian passports, what do we do with our clothes?! how much money do we need? etc. It has been quite a headache. But so worth it.

Amongst this research, we have been taking our time in the kitchen, cooking and creating beautiful recipes to share with the world. As we have started our Spring Salad Series, this week we had to come up with salad number 2! Feeling a bit sluggish today, we opted for a lighter salad, bringing us back to our European summers.

Hope you enjoy this meal! Make sure to share it with family and close friends, no one likes eating alone.

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Fennel, Celery, Rocket and Sardine Salad with black Sesame

Organic Ingredients

Serves two

Half a fennel

One celery stalk

Two handfuls of rocket

Two small oranges (we picked these from our garden)

One can of sardines in olive oil

One teaspoon of black sesame seeds

Few sprigs of fresh parsley

Two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

Himalayan salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

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Method

 Quite simple, no need for the stove or any other appliances

– Wash fennel and celery thoroughly

– Roughly (julienne) slice the celery and fennel

– Prepare two plates, and place one handful of rocket on each. Then top with the fennel and celery

-Peel the two oranges, and slice into thin circles (we’re not too sure how to explain this but we’re sure you will understand what we mean..). Place oranges onto the plates

– Divide the can of sardines in half and top onto the salads

– Sprinkle with black sesame, EVOO, pepper and salt. Oh and don’t forget the parsley!

– Serve with fresh dark bread (we had ours with some wholemeal organic spelt crackers)

– Bon Appetit!

Spring Salad Series #1

Sautéed Greens with crispy skin Salmon. 

Spring is all about spending time with family and friends on weekends, cooking and eating in the garden. It’s about frolicking amongst the freshly blossomed flowers and drinking rose in the sunshine. It’s also the perfect time to prep yourself for summer. By this we mean, starting to cook with lighter, fresher and more vibrant foods.

How wonderful is spring?

We definitely love it so we thought what a better way of celebrating then introducing a new spring salad every week to share with you all. Salads make up about 2 to 3 of our meals everyday, so you know, we kind of know how to make a bloody good one. 

This recipe is a staple in our diet as we make it on a regular basis. Salmon is one of our favourite foods, and who doesn’t love green veggies?  Oh and cheese is also a winner.

Make this salad and enjoy it with your family outside in the sunshine. We would absolutely love to hear any feedback from you so please don’t be a stranger!

Ingredients 

*Try to opt for organic vegetables if possible. Spring is for detoxing the system so reducing your chemical intake is ideal. 

– 1 broccoli head (and stem)

– 2 handfuls of brussel sprouts

– 1 cup of frozen peas

– 1 leek

– 1 zucchini (ribbons)

– 1/2 an avocado

– 2 Atlantic Salmon fillets with the skin on

– 2 slices of cheddar cheese (optional)

– 1 table spoon of apple cider vinegar

– 1 Lemon

– 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil

– 1 teaspoon of coconut oil

– Pepper and salt to taste

Method

1. Thoroughly wash all vegetables before roughly chopping. Chop all vegetables except the zucchini as you will need to use a peeler to obtain the ‘ribbon effect’.

2. Once vegetables are prepared, heat your coconut oil in a wok and sauté the leek until slightly brown and tender. Meanwhile, squeeze half of your lemon onto the salmon with a pinch of salt and pepper.

3. Once leek is ready, add the remaining vegetables with a dash of water and apple cider vinegar (sauté for a maximum of five minutes as green vegetables should not be cooked for too long as they loose their nutritional value)

4. As your vegetables are cooking, heat up a another pan with some coconut oil for your salmon fillets. Salmon should take about 4 minutes each side depending on how you like it.

5. Once the fish and vegetables are cooked, distribute the greens onto two plates. Top with the salmon, avocado and the cheddar.

6. Finally, a dash of olive oil, some pepper, a tad of apple cider vinegar and parsley (if you have it) will top this dish off perfectly.

Avocado twins turned 21!

So a few weeks ago we had our turn to experience the so called ‘best night of your 20s’, our 21st birthday celebration. Yes the night was definitely one we will cherish in our memories for the rest of our lives. Everything about the night was perfect, exactly the way we had planned even to the specific itty gritty details (apart from us forgetting to buy edamame beans for extra nibbles.. oh well..)

The day of our party, Saturday the 1st of November, started off quite early. With us half asleep in our kitchen at 7am after downing avocado toast, we found ourselves chopping fruit, making our famous banana and oat cookies and prepping veggies for rice paper rolls. Yes we decided to put all the pressure on ourselves to prepare all of the finger food..We believe that if we were to pay big bucks for catering it would have not represented who we really are at heart. That being foodies who love to cook healthy food from scratch.

The early morning rush was crazy, with hands going in every direction and many near panic ‘lets cancel the party’ attacks. We guess we did this to ourselves as we absolutely wanted to make out 10:30 yoga session practice at the Australian Yoga Academy. This therefore only gave us four hours of preparation post yoga…. hence the rush…. but yoga always comes first, obviously.

Food and nibbles we decided to serve on the night went as follows:

– One massive gourmet cheese platter (all sorts of soft and hard cheeses, juicy dates, nuts, cherry tomatoes, chrisp crackers and grapes on the vine)

– Avocado and hummus dips (homemade by our fabulous mother), accompanied with organic round corn chips

– An array of raw carrot, celery, capsicum, cucumber and tomatoes

– Bocconcini and cherry tomato sticks with basal

– Bread ‘tartines’ (only Eeuropeans would understand this description) AKA toast. We had four different toppings..

                   1) Sliced avocado with oregano, pepper and lemon

                   2) Ricotta with smoked salmon and herbs

                   3) Peanut butter, sliced banana and cinnamon

                   4) Sliced fig, crumbled goats cheese, honey and cinnamon

Later in the evening we served rice paper rolls with either chicken or tofu (for the herbivores)

And finally for dessert we simply had broken up lindt chocolate (dark, milk and white), fruit kebabs and our banana and oak cookies. YUMMO.

The food was absolutely spot on and represented us entirely. It was evident people loved it as it all disappeared quite rapidly after the first gutsy person made the move to snitch the a carrot stick and dip it in hummus. After that everyone became sheep whilst realising the food was also for eating and not just for its super good looks.

And of course there is no 21st without unlimited alcohol. We served our guests with a selection of beers, wines, cider and vodka. It seemed to please everyone quite nicely.

As the night went on, the voices became louder and our excitment over the pile of gifts went from a pleasant smile and thank you to an ‘OMG THANKYOU SO MUCH I THINK IM IN LOVE WITH YOU’, then followed the drunk half bear hug slash attempt kiss on the cheek (yes there were many accidental smooches on the lips happening..)

Words from our loved ones were adorable and well spoken. With mums cute ipad notes and our best friends ‘oh god cannot believe you said that in front of my dad’ speeches.

The night went on until people became sleepy and over intoxicated…. and with us birthday girls ending up at a random house party. We had the time of our lives and hope all our loved ones did too.

Stay tuned for more recipes, design and health posts!

Love M + S xxx