In this long hot Yorkshire summer, many salads are being eaten. On Saturday, before I learnt about my massive lottery win, I made simple plates of salad for lunch. The salad looked so nice that I decided to photograph it.
As well as enjoying preparing meals, I also like to plate them up nicely. In my view, thoughtful presentation is an important part of any good dining experience. Making good-looking plates of food is a kind of art form that is often taken to ridiculous extremes in five-star restaurants. However, even here in suburbia, it costs nothing to take just a little trouble over the appearance of meals we prepare.
Chunks of blue stilton cheese
Iceberg lettuce
Rocket
A spoonful of tuna with mayo (leftover from Thursday)
A boiled egg
Spoonfuls of Moroccan cous-cous and coleslaw
Slices of cucumber and vine tomatoes
Penne with homemade pesto*
French dressing and mayonnaise
Basil leaves
*On Friday I made my first ever batches of pesto using basil I had grown in an old washing up bowl. I blended it with a handful of parmesan cheese, salt, some toasted pine nuts and a small cup of good quality Greek olive oil. The end result was as delightful as I had hoped. I stirred one portion into a pan of fresh penne. Delicious and so much nicer than pesto from a jar. As you can see I used the leftover penne in Saturday's salad.
Well, I have to say, it looks very tasty. Culinary skills are not my strong point but I do try to make everything from scratch to monitor the sugar and salt intake if nothing else. (Trying to keep Keith on the straight and narrow!)
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea for a meal for Keith. Chopped celery with watercress, one Ryvita and followed by an apple and a strawberry for dessert. Yummy mummy!
DeleteI do a lot of salad in this style in the summer but I have to say they take a lot of work unless you have components pre-prepared.
ReplyDeleteI once bought 5kg of baby spinach at a huge discount (do you know what 5kg of spinach looks like? it's a LOT) I made buckets of spinach pesto and my kids still refer to the pesto glory days. I should do that again.
Your salad looks delicious and I especially love cous cous
I must confess that I did not make the cous-cous from scratch. It was bought at the local discount supermarket.
DeleteThat's not a confession, thats just smart
DeleteAlthough I have not posted anything about food in a while, I do love nicely presented food and even do it just for myself (in spite of hardly ever really cooking when it is just me). Like you, I enjoy salads a lot, and it is great how creative one can be with them; I often use up leftovers from the weekend that would not be enough for a dish on their own but make a salad more substantial.
ReplyDeleteCouscous is so super-fast and super-easy to make (as you probably know) - by the time it probably took you to open the container from the supermarket, you'd have almost made it yourself!
Are you still going to cook now that you're a rich man, or will you employ your personal chef?
Good question but all this money will not change me. I shall still be cooking as it is something I enjoy.
DeleteFresh ingredients and beautifully arranged; the secret to an inviting and delicious meal.
ReplyDeleteNext step...home made pasta? Perfect with the pesto.
Greetings Maria x
We have made homemade pasta before but it seems an awful lot of trouble. We are not Italians you know!
Delete:)
DeleteOne thing I have always said is that we eat too much. But at least what we eat is "good for you" meals. We love salads of all kinds with good homemade bread.
ReplyDeleteWhat is rocket?
Love homemade basil pesto. Good on fish, too. And chicken.
Beautiful presentation, Mr. Pudding
I am not sure what you Yankee Doodle Dandies call rocket. Is it arugula?
DeleteCould be rucola.
Deletea kind of bitter, oddly shaped lettuce?
DeleteYes. It's widely used in England and available in all large supermarkets.
DeleteGoogle says rocket = rucola = arugula
DeleteHow ironic that you had some penne with pesto on your plate....I tried a new recipe yesterday for dinner, penne with pesto and chunks of chicken breast! What a coincidence, huh?
ReplyDeleteBtw...it turned out to be delicious! Even my picky eater husband liked it!
Also, your meal looks fabulous!
DeleteAs he is The Fish Man, I thought that Gregg would only eat fish!
DeleteThat's one thing he DEFINITELY won't eat. Too many fish have been pets over the years.
DeleteYou could write a cookbook. "What to cook when you've got lots of DOSH!" 😀
ReplyDeleteShould Lancashire hotpot be in the book? Eccles cakes? What else do you folk eat over there Christina?
DeleteWell, yes. YP could follow in his son's footsteps. From Bosh to Dosh.
DeleteU
Nice work, Y.P. You could get a job in a fine restaurant, now that the lottery isn't paying off.
ReplyDeleteI will buy the restaurant and call in The Catalyst Bistro. You can be the security guard. You'll have a smart uniform to wear with a peaked cap.
DeleteWhat's the saying? We eat with our eyes before the food ever touches our taste buds? or something like that. I love a nice-looking plate but cannot stand a pretentious one, which is what some chefs do. Just give me lots of colour and texture, nicely served as you have done here, and I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteI have had a few of those over-fancy meals. Like you say -pretentious.
DeleteThat looks very tasty...minus the mayo. I don't use mayo...never have. I don't like it.
ReplyDelete