Classic Mayonnaise

I’ve never actually tried to make mayonnaise before, always been happy enough with the stuff from a jar but am making an effort and having a go!

So have to admit that my first attempt at this was a complete disaster! It totally curdled and I followed the instructions to try save it totally didn’t work! So I had to start all over again!

First it’s one egg yolk with the mustard, salt, pepper and sugar..

Then it’s a lot of whisking and slow adding of the oil. I did have to add a few drops of vinegar every now and then when it did get too thick..

It started out quite a dark colour but after adding the vinegar it does start to lighten. I had measured out the full quarter of a pint of oil but I didn’t quite use the lot. It was hard to know when it was ready and if I should add all the oil or more oil, but I decided to stop when I felt I had the right consistency, then I added the last of the vinegar and it did lighten a bit more..

It’s not the bright white colour that you expect mayonnaise from a jar to look like, but I don’t think it looks too bad! Does have a nice shine to it!

We were having grilled tuna steak and asparagus for tea and this went all quite nicely with that!!

It is a nice thick mayonnaise and it does have quite a strong flavour from the mustard and vinegar which I enjoyed, it is maybe on the side of too salty but I quite like that!

Would I make this again? Yes, much prefer this to the bottled stuff and was worth the effort!

Tahitian Salad

I thought this was another random sounding made up recipe but I did find some other references to similar ones on Google, some with pineapple and other were Tahitian fish salads which sound interesting. I made this for the three of us to have but for some reason I ended up eating all of it..

So not much to this recipe, simply a case of arranging some salad leaves and pineapple rings on a plate..

Then the cheese is divided between them and topped with chives..

Then finally some coconut over the top and that’s it. I just used dessicated coconut but maybe ideally it should be some fresh stuff.

Well I loved this! The cheese and pineapple combination is pretty good and then the chives and coconut topping may sound odd but I think it all works! I quite happily ate the lot!!

Am not too sure about the Caribbean salad though, surely bananas and cheese is just a bit too weird??

Would I make this again? Yes!

Winter Salad

Salads aren’t usually associated with winter but have to be honest, this summer hasn’t exactly felt like salad weather! No idea what makes this a winter salad anyway!

The only reason I picked this recipe to try today is because I had some cooked beetroot that needed eating!! So beetroot, apple, celery and onion chopped..

That’s all mixed together with some good old salad cream! We did have that in the house often when I was young, my sisters favourite sandwich was cucumber and salad cream!

Anyway as expected the minute I added the salad cream and started mixing it turned a lovely bright pink!

I opted to use the walnuts..

So that’s it! A bright pink winter salad!

We were having steak and sweet potato chips with this salad on this side and was a great dinner! The salad is good, a nice combination of sharp and sweet and the walnuts add a good extra crunch! Overall it’s the best salad I’ve had this summer..

Would I make this again? Yes..

Carrot Salad

I was having one of those days when I am trying to empty the fridge of random things yet make an interesting dinner. Normally when the vegetable drawer is filled with the last stray bits I make a stir fry. So as well as the tomato salad I opted to try this as well..

Like the tomato salad it’s not terribly taxing. First off I grated one large carrot..

Then that’s plonked on top of the last of the lettuce I had in the fridge..

I had made enough french dressing to use on this and the tomato salad, so that’s poured over and then garnished with a little parsley..

Well this was good. It’s nothing fancy but as a carrot based side dish it’s pretty good and we ate the lot!

Would I make this again? Yes I would!

Tomato Salad

I’m not a massive fan of plain old tomatoes but I do use them a lot in cooking, so tonight I thought I’d try this with dinner..

This is actually very like the tomato and onion salad funnily enough! Not much involved except a bit of tomato slicing..

Then a bit of spring onion thrown on the top..

Then I made a french dressing which I now don’t need a recipe for. This time I used a Rioja vinegar which gave it an interesting flavour. Anyway that’s poured over and then left to stand for a bit

Finally it’s topped with some chives, which have started growing again in my garden..

So that’s it! We were having this with the carrot salad, baked mushrooms and some pan fried turkey for dinner and it was good! I sometimes find raw spring onion too strong but the dressing has helped dampen it down a bit and altogether this is great.

Would I make this again? Yup..

Patio Salad

This isn’t a salad I’ve heard of and did wonder if it’s a real recipe! I found a few references to other patio salad recipes and just about every one had a differnt list of ingredients! Anyway I was looking for something quick for dinner and thought this sounded nice..

As far as I’m aware tuna only comes in one size can! I definitely didn’t think 3 olives was enough, we love olives in this house so I more than doubled that..

I diced the potatoes first and then put into boil, then I added the beans for the last few minutes. I didn’t need to cut the beans as they were pretty much already in 4 inch pieces..

Once the potatoes and beans were cooked I put them into a dish..

I only had cherry tomatoes, which I actually think are better for this! So I used about a cup of them and halved before mixing with the potatoes and beans..

Then I put on the tuna and olive mix..

Then I poured over the dressing..

Then I garnished slightly randomly with the chicory..

My daughters face was a picture when she saw this was for tea, but after tasting it she loved it and was another plate scraped clean dinner!! I loved it as well, I had served it with the potatoes and beans still warm which was nice. The flavours altogether are just great and I could’ve quite happily eaten the lot!

Would I make this again? Yes..

Cucumber Salad

Not a very exciting sounding recipe this one but I had half a cucumber in the fridge that needed using and we were having fishcakes for tea so thought this would go well with that..

So not too much involved in this, it’s just chopping a cucumber and then making the dressing!

I opted to leave the skin on the cucumber, and the dressing is simply salt, pepper, mustard, sugar, vinegar and oil. It’s the same french dressing recipe I’ve shared a few times, dead easy and ready in minutes..

Then after 15 minutes it’s sprinkled with a decent amount of parsley…

So that’s it! Served on the side with some fishcakes and broccoli…

Well this is rather lovely! I think you can’t go wrong with a french dressing and I do like it quite sharp so I didn’t add the full 2 tbsps of oil. Does make a simple cucumber much more interetsing!!

Would I make this again? Yes, super easy and delicious..

Golden Slaw

There’s a few coleslaw recipes in this book, which I do find quite surprising. I assume they were added at the reprinting in the 60’s as I really can’t imagine coleslaw being popular in the late 40’s. We were having steak and chips for tea so decided this would go nicely with that..

I tried to cut out the heart of the cabbage but gave up as my knives are rubbish. I opted to pull apart all the leaves and I kept back three smaller leaves to be the bowls and then shredded the rest..

I think I started off with the right amount of Gruyere but I just love it so much that I did eat a good few peices in the slicing process..

Then I added the apple..

Then the mayo mixture..

Finally I spooned into cabbage bowls..

So as a coleslaw this is pretty good. I love that it has Gruyere in it!! It was great with tonight’s steak and chips..

Would I make this again? Yes I would!!

Dressed Cauliflower

I really don’t buy cauliflower very often and when I do it’s either to make cauliflower cheese or tempura! Then when I do make cauliflower cheese I forget how good it is! Can’t beat a good cauliflower cheese! I did make a gratin recipe that pretty much was cauliflower cheese and that was good. So tonight I decided to try this..

First off I boiled a whole cauliflower for about ten minutes until tender..

Then while that was cooling I made the dressing. I’ve posted the french dressing a few times but it’s basically salt, pepper, mustard, sugar, vinegar and oil. I sometime mix it up and use balsamic vinegar or another flavoured vinegar but tonight just kept it simple and used cider vinegar.

Then the recipe suggests bacon, well there was nothing to think about there! Adding crispy bacon can only be a good thing!

That’s all there’s is to this, the dressing is poured over and gently mixed..

Then the bacon is sprinkled over the top..

We were just having this with some pan fried fish, and yet again was a very bland looking dinner! I was also expecting some objections from my daughter when this was put in front of her but she loved this and her plate was scraped clean!

I hadn’t made a lot of dressing, only about 1.5 tablespoons which was just enough, I should maybe have made a touch more. The crispy bacon bits are good and I also think more of them wouldn’t go wrong! Overall this was way better than expected.

Would I make this again? Yes I would!

Stuffed Tomato Salad

A day in the house today so decided to make something a bit different for lunch..

I made a baked stuffed tomato with egg recipe a while ago and it didn’t go particularly well then I made another stuffed tomato recipe made in the oven and that was great. I’ve also made the stuffed beetroot that was actually quite nice! I was just using regular sized salad tomatoes for this..

I was just making this for myself so I used two tomatoes and hard boiled one egg and cooked about one tablespoon of peas, which I cooked in the same water that the egg was boiling in.

I halved the egg and chopped one half to mix with the peas and attempted to slice the other half to use as a garnish.

I opted to use a smoked garlic mayonnaise rather than salad cream..

I did assume it was all to be cold so I had left the egg and peas to cool before mixing.

I gave it a good grind of salt and pepper then stuffed into the tomatoes..

I didn’t have any salad leaves or cress so I just served with my attempt at an egg garnish!!

So this was lunch. Have to say I didn’t love it!! The filling is actually quite nice but i just didn’t really like it combined with the tomato! I ended up eating all the filling and leaving the tomato!

Would I make this again? Doubtful!