Molly's Egg and Bacon Salad

This recipe just rather evolved back in about 1992 we use/used American bacon for this recipe as it does cook nice and crisp we have used pancetta and it is really tasty. We have made it with quail’s eggs to use as a starter for a few dinner parties.

Serves / Makes: 4 servings
Prep-Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Cook-Time: about 10 to 15 minutes, depends on what else you’ve got going on

YOU WILL NEED
4 slices, white bread, or brown or granary, thick sliced with crusts removed
6 eggs, poached or soft/hard boiled
4 slices, back bacon, sliced, you can use streaky bacon
4, little gem lettuces, the leaves separated and rinsed (2 small cos lettuce can be used
½ tablespoon, red wine vinegar
½ tablespoon, olive oil
4 whole, spring onion, washed and finely shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

METHOD
Cut the slices of bread into a ½-inch dice, unless grilling, if grilling, keep the slices whole.
If using soft hard-boiled eggs, then simply quarter them, the ingredients calls for 4 to 6 eggs, however four should be enough, on the other hand six eggs will obviously give six quarters for each portion.
The bacon can now be pan-fried or grilled until crispy, if pan-frying, use just a dot or two of the oil, any fat content will be released into the pan from the bacon, this will also happen if grilling. Either method you choose, keep the bacon fat for frying the bread afterwards.
Once cooked, remove the bacon from the pan and keep warm.
Now add the bread and fry until golden and crispy, it might need a little extra oil to get a golden finish.
If the bacon has been grilled then just brush each slice of bread with the fat from the bacon, and toast, at this time the bread can be diced.
Season the salad leaves with salt and pepper (it’s advisable, when making salads, to sprinkle salt in the bowl and not directly on the leaves, this will stop the salt from falling on to wet leaves and sticking in lumps). Add the red wine vinegar, just enough to coat the leaves, and the olive oil.
Cut the bacon into strips and mix into the leaves, with the spring onions and fried or toasted bread.
Arrange on four plates or offer as one large salad, the hard-boiled egg quarters can now be seasoned with salt and pepper and positioned amongst the salad leaves.
For the poached eggs, re-heat in simmering water for 1 minute before placing on top of the salads.
Serve and Enjoy!

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Baby Cos and Beetroot Salad with Soft Boiled Egg

A light tasty start to any meal a modern variation on egg mayonnaise, I think this recipe came originally from a magazine not sure which one but it certainly is one of our favourites either as a starter or a light lunch salad for 2, Maureen sometimes when she makes it likes to use quail eggs.
Serves / Makes: 4 servings


Prep-Time: 10 minutes

Cook-Time: 15 minutes

YOU WILL NEED;
4 medium, free range eggs or 8 quail eggs
½ cup, mayonnaise
2 teaspoons, Dijon mustard
2 whole, baby cos (romaine) lettuce, the leaves washed and sorted, iced/little gem lettuce is ok to use
4 whole, baby beetroot (beets) cut into 2cm chunks
2 tablespoons, snipped chives
Crusty bread to serve

METHOD;
Place the eggs in a saucepan of cold water over a high heat, bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3½ minutes.
Remove the eggs and cool slightly, peel carefully, then set to one side.
Place the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard in a bowl, then add 1/3 cup (80ml) of boiling water. Whisk to make a loose dressing, adding a little more water, if needed.
Divide the cos lettuce between 4 serving bowls and top with the cooked beetroot, carefully halve the soft-boiled eggs and position them on top of the beetroot, drizzle with the mustard dressing, season with some freshly ground black pepper and garnish with the chopped chives, Serve and Enjoy with fresh crusty bread.

Our Diminutive Balcony Garden 2010

Once again this year we have the same Honeysuckle, which was planted in 2006 along with the variegated Ivy both, are doing very well.

One tub still contains the Geraniums that Maureen planted in 2006 and is one of the biggest geraniums I have seen in one of the large tubs is some mint that we planted in 2006.

Sunday, 07 March 2010

We started from seed this year some Black Eyed Susan (Susie Mixed) and Morning Glory (Heavenly Blue) and if we just had a bit more room we would be trying other things as well, but with the room we have got we are very satisfied with what we have been growing. Again this year we are growing our own salad leaves, radish and tomatoes we have some special toms this year all grown from seed and some peppers; Pepper (sweet) minimix), Pepper (Sweet) Orange Baby and Capsicum Prairie Fire F1.

Sunday, 28 February 2010

In the kitchen we sowed some herbs in a nice little herb planter. The herbs we sowed were Parsley (curled), Oregano, Basil (Genovese), Chives, Chervil (plain), Coriander. Our salad leaves this year will include, Rocket (Arugula) mixed, mixed spicy salad leaves, Lambs Lettuce and Pea Shoot, our radish this year will be a mixture of French Breakfast, Scarlet Globe, Sparkler, White Turnip and Pink Beauty. All these are from Mr. Fothergill’s collection and the salads are all from the collection of Mr. Fothergill’s seed mats a superb way to sow your seeds.

We sowed five each of Morning Glory (Heavenly Blue), Tomato (Moneymaker), Tomato (Tumbling Red), and Tomato (Black Russian). We also sowed the herbs Parsley, Chervil, Coriander, Oregano, Chives, and Basil into the herb planter/pot on the kitchen windowsill.

Sunday, 14 March 2010

We sowed for growing outside Thyme, Parsley (Festival), Capsicum (Prairie Fire F1), Pepper (Sweet) Minimix, Pepper (Sweet) Orange Baby.

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Today we really got on with our planting, we set the grow bag up with three tomato plants one Black Russian and two Moneymaker plants. In two nice little hanging type baskets, we planted two tumbling tom red tomatoes and four black-eyed Susan plants. We also put two tumbling tom red tomatoes in a couple of pots to hang on the trellis.

We then sowed mixed radish (a mix of French Breakfast, Scarlet Globe, Sparkler, White Turnip, and Pink Beauty, lambs lettuce, mixed rocket, and pea shoots which we are really looking forward to harvesting in a few weeks time.

We tidied up the mint as it was taking over the honeysuckle pot and planted a couple of morning glory plants that we had grown from seed. Later this week we shall be sowing our herbs.

Monday, 12 April 2010

Today I got on with planting out the peppers, thyme, parsley and sage we are keeping the Prairie Fire chilli peppers indoors on the window sill along with one each of Pepper (sweet) minimix), Pepper (Sweet) Orange Baby and we have left one Orange Baby out on the balcony in a good size pot hanging on the wall trellis.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The tomato plants are doing really well I do like these Grow rings that we got some of our herb seeds haven’t germinated yet but we live in hope!

The Black-Eyed Susan's are doing well as are the Tumbling Tom Tomatoes and it looks like we shall be able to pick some rocket at the weekend. We are both really enjoying our little garden and we have decided that next year we are going to try a potato sack or barrel.

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Chopped Greek Salad with Chicken

Chill out! This no-cook dinner is perfect for those sweltering summer nights when the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven, seize your ingredients from the fridge or pantry, chop, and put together a tasty salad, it really is that easy.

Hurry, Dinner is served!
Chicken turns this Greek-inspired salad into a substantial main course.
Feel free to substitute other chopped fresh vegetables, such as broccoli or bell peppers, for the tomatoes or cucumber. Use leftover chicken, store-roasted chicken or quickly poach a couple boneless, skinless chicken breasts while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Serve with pita bread and Hummus.

Serves: 4 Time: About 20 to 25 minutes

• 1/3 cup red-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1-teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼-teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups chopped cos (romaine) lettuce
• 2 ½ cups chopped cooked chicken (about 12 ounces; see Tip)
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• ½ cup finely chopped red onion
• ½ cup sliced ripe black olives
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
  

Whisk the vinegar, oil, dill, (or oregano), garlic powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives and feta; toss to coat.

Tip: if you don’t have cooked chicken, poach 1-pound chicken breasts for this recipe. Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a medium skillet or saucepan. Add lightly salted water (or chicken stock) to cover and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 15 minutes.