Colourful festive salads

November 30, 2006

With Christmas hurtling towards us like a meteorite, it’s time to start thinking of some festive-looking dishes for the silly season. Lots of people are organising their pre-Christmas soirees, so today’s recipes are a couple of simple salads that will look good on the buffet table.

I seem to have had my nose in the tapas trough fairly frequently in the past month. A tapas bar is a great place to do lunch with the girls, or to feed the inner person when the nibbles served at a Christmas drinks party have been a little on the elusive side.

One of my favourite tapas places in Melbourne, Bar Lourinha, has been serving a delicious broad bean and mint salad recently. The chef Matt McConnell, who did a lot of homework in Spain and Portugal before opening his new restaurant just a few months ago, agrees double-shelling the beans is a bit of a labour of love, but thanks to family demand for my version of the salad in its developmental stage, I got rather adept at prepping my beans. Of course, you can substitute frozen broad beans and avoid half the job.

One man’s tapas is another man’s mezze,  and tabouleh, a cracked wheat salad, is a popular Middle Eastern appetiser. I’ve given this dish a double twist as I know there are a lot of people who are gluten intolerant. Instead of using burghul, the South American grain quinoa can be substituted. Plus beetroot and roasted pepper ramp up the colour.

A quick primer on quinoa - pronounced keen-wah and sometimes called vegetarian caviar – it needs rinsing before cooking to wash off the bitter coating called saponin. Cook till the grains are transparent and the spiral germ begins to unwind. It really does start to look like caviar,

One salad is green, the other has a jewel-like mix of red and green. Very Yuletide. Quantities are for four serves. Just multiply the basic dishes as required.

Broad Bean and Mint Salad

1kg fresh broad beans (or one bag frozen broad beans)
1 cup torn fresh mint leaves (keep a few whole ones for garnish)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tabs white wine vinegar
4 tabs olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small white onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon small capers, chopped

Shell the beans by peeling down one edge of the pod with a potato peeler. Empty out the beans. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, tip in the beans (fresh or frozen), bring back to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Drain and plunge into iced water. When cold, pinch one end off the bean skin and squeeze out the bean. Place in a bowl with the mint. Combine the other ingredients, pour over and mix well. Place in a serving dish, garnishing with a few whole mint leaves.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup rinsed quinoa
2 cups salted water or chicken stock

Cook together for 15 minutes then drain quinoa.

1 large bunch baby beetroot
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
1 red pepper

Preheat oven to 190C. Peel the beetroot on a large doube layer of foil and sprinkle with vinegar, oil and salt.  Fold to completely enclose. Place in a roasting dish with the red pepper alongside and bake for 40 minutes. Place the pepper in a plastic bag and after 10 minutes peel, deseed and chop it into small strips or squares. Chop the cooled beetroot into small chunks.

Make a dressing of:

Juice of 1 large lemon
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed

Sprinkle dressing through the quinoa. Just before serving, add in the beetroot and red pepper, saving a little for garnish. Add

1 cup chopped Italian parsley

Garnish with reserved beetroot and red pepper.

Weblinks:

• Broad beans with Puy lentils
• Quinoa with tomatoes and leeks
• Lemon-scented quinoa salad
• More about quinoa

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