Ensalada

I made this recipe following the exact steps from Kitchen Club, and honestly, if the ingredients promised to be a flavor bomb, the result was even better than expected. So many flavors that combined perfectly. If anything, the little fried egg would be a dispensable element, but the sauce was delicious and made all the tasters go back for seconds. Presentation-wise it didn't turn out anywhere near as spectacular as the original recipe, but the flavor was up to par.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)

Mango huancaína sauce

• 80 g (2.8 oz) fresh cheese (burgos-style)
• 100 ml (scant ½ cup) evaporated milk
• 60 ml (¼ cup) mango purée
• 3 cracker or soda-style biscuits
• 1 slice of sandwich bread soaked in milk
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• 40 g (1.4 oz) walnuts
• 3 tbsp ají amarillo paste (or to taste)
• ½ tsp cumin
• salt

Tuna tartare

• 300 g (10.5 oz) tuna
• Zest of 1 lime
• 1 tsp shichimi togarashi (I didn't have any and used harissa paste)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce
• 50 ml (3.5 tbsp) olive oil

Rest of the recipe

• 400 g (14 oz) sushi rice
• 2 ripe avocados
• 6 quail eggs
• 2 corn tortillas
• Salt, oil and sesame seeds

Method

1. Start by making the huancaína sauce. Sauté the onion in a pan with a little olive oil over high heat — it should be golden but still crunchy.
2. In a food processor, add the onion and the rest of the ingredients, and blitz until you get a creamy sauce.
3. Adjust the salt. Set aside.
4. Chop the tuna into medium dice and dress it with lime zest, harissa, sesame oil, soy sauce and olive oil. Stir gently and set aside.
5. Cut the avocados into medium dice and dress with salt and olive oil (you can leave the pits in until plating so they don't oxidize, or add a little lime juice).
6. Cut the corn tortillas into strips and fry until crispy but not burnt (they brown pretty quickly and harden as they cool). Set aside.
7. Fry the quail eggs with crispy edges.
8. When it's time to plate, spoon a generous amount of sauce on each plate, then place the sushi rice on top without packing it down, add the dressed avocado, the tuna tartare, and finish with the quail egg and the corn tortilla strips.
9. Garnish with fresh spring onion and sesame seeds.

PiC Tips

• You can easily find ají amarillo paste at Latin grocery stores. Same goes for mango purée, which they usually have frozen (a great option if it's not mango season or you can't find ripe ones).
• I haven't included how I made the sushi rice because I used the rice cooker and then cheated a bit by using a powdered mix that already comes with the salt, sugar and vinegar. I brought mine from Japan, but you can probably find something similar at Asian grocery stores.
• Remember to freeze the fish for at least 24 hours to avoid anisakis problems.

Just because summer is over doesn't mean we have to say goodbye to salads. Today, a super simple and quick recipe for a tasty, healthy chickpea salad. Since we're using pre-cooked chickpeas, it takes no more than 5 minutes to put together, so there's no excuse. Enjoy!

What do we need?

• 1 can of cooked chickpeas
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 1 small can of corn
• Mustard
• Herbes de Provence
• Salt and pepper
• Oil and vinegar

How do we make it?

1. First, drain the canned chickpeas and rinse them with cold water to get rid of that characteristic canned taste. Place them in a large bowl.
2. Dice the tomatoes and onion and add them to the bowl with the chickpeas.
3. Add the corn.
4. In a glass jar, make a vinaigrette. The usual ratio is three parts oil to one part vinegar. For this salad, you can pour about two finger-widths of oil into the jar, a third of that in vinegar, 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of herbes de Provence, and a pinch of salt. Close the jar tightly and shake vigorously until the mixture has emulsified. Taste and adjust with whatever ingredient suits your liking.

Tips:

– As with all salads, more than a recipe, this is a suggestion. Feel free to add other ingredients or seasonings you have in the fridge.

Cicadas singing, getting into a car that's 46°C (115°F), sweating like a pig, and not being able to open more windows at night because your house simply doesn't have any — clear signs that summer has arrived and with a vengeance. So, faced with this heat, we're going to fight back with cool, refreshing meals to survive the summer season. Kicking off salad season, today we're bringing you a spinach salad. It's such a simple recipe that you couldn't even call it a recipe — just a suggested combination of ingredients to inspire your next salads.

What do we need?

• 1 bowl of fresh, washed spinach
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 cucumber
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes
• Poppy seeds
• Feta-style cheese
• Oil
• Vinegar
• Salt

How do we make it?

1. Slice the cucumber into rounds, julienne the onion, dice the tomatoes, and pile everything on top of the fresh spinach leaves (if they're very large, tear them with your hands). Add as much feta cheese as you like, crumbled by hand.
2. Finally, sprinkle on the poppy seeds and dress to taste.

Tips:

– You can whip up a vinaigrette by mixing 1 part vinegar with 3 parts oil and a pinch of salt. Pop it into a jar that seals tightly, shake it vigorously to emulsify, and it's ready to dress your salad. You can add any spice, herb, mustard, or whatever else you can think of to a vinaigrette.

– Watch out with the sun-dried tomatoes because they pack so much flavor that sometimes you can skip the salt altogether.

Between one thing and another, this delicious recipe seemed to have been forgotten. Luckily, now that we’re getting back into our routine, our weekly posts will too. This recipe, although it sounds fancy and complicated, is really just a salad with slightly unusual ingredients that will delight anyone who tries it.

What do we need?

(serves 4)

• 2 ripe mangoes

• 150 g (5.3 oz) duck ham

• Arugula

• Pine nuts

• Oil, salt, and vinegar

How do we make it?

• Lightly toast the pine nuts in a hot pan, without oil.

• Peel and slice the mangoes into thin layers.

• Build the mille-feuilles by alternating mango slices with duck ham and arugula.

• Prepare a vinaigrette to taste and drizzle it on top right before serving.

• Sprinkle a few toasted pine nuts over each mille-feuille.

Tips:

• For a more budget-friendly version, you can swap the duck ham for serrano ham and the pine nuts for toasted hazelnuts.

• Fruit in salads adds a sweet, fresh touch, so feel free to throw mango, pineapple, apple… into your everyday salads.

[English version] SALAD WITH MANGO AND DUCK HAM Ingredients (serving 4):

• 2 large mangos

• 150 g duck ham

• rocket salad

• pine nuts

• olive oil, vinegar and salt

• Grill the pine nuts in a saucepan.

• Peel and cut into thin slices the mangos.

• Create the individual salads by alternating layers of mango, rocket salad and duck ham.

• Make a vinaigrette and pour it over the salad before serving.

• Add some pine nuts.

  Tips:- For the economic version of this recipe, use cured (pork) ham instead of duck ham and hazelnuts instead of pine nuts.- You can use mango or any other fruit for your ordinary salads, the taste will be fresh and sweet!

Taking advantage of the fact that it’s not too cold yet, though it’s clearly true that Winter is Coming, here’s a simple recipe you can put together for any family gathering, get-together with friends, or just an everyday meal — you can even make it the day before.

What do we need?

(serves 4-6)

•   2-3 large potatoes
  

•   3-4 sausages
  

•   1 onion
  

•   2 tomatoes
  

•   3-4 pickles
  

How do we make it?

• Boil the potatoes with the skin on, washed.

• Poke the potatoes with a “pincho catador” (a fork or any utensil that lets you check if the potatoes are done). Once they’re ready, take them out, peel, chop into pieces and set aside.

• In a frying pan with a splash of oil, cook the sausages and then cut them into chunks. Set aside once done.

• Meanwhile, slice an onion into strips and dice the tomatoes.

• Mix everything in a large salad bowl and add the mostanesa sauce (mayonnaise and mustard in a 4-to-1 ratio).

• Finally, let it chill in the fridge.

Tips:

• Palstelera loves sweet-and-sour pickles, so the tip is obvious — go with sweet-and-sour pickles.
• The mayo-to-mustard ratio is just a guideline. It depends on the kind of mustard you’re using and whether you like the flavor milder or with more kick.

A summer wouldn’t really be summer without this dish. In my family this salad has been around for as long as I can remember, and it feels like an old friend — you might go a while without seeing it, but just thinking about it brings a smile to your face and makes you want to enjoy its company. The first time I offered it to Cesmm, he frowned at the whole pineapple thing, but once he got past those first doubts he became yet another addict of this delicious salad.

What do we need?

(serves 4)

•   1 whole chicken
  

•   1 can of pineapple, or fresh pineapple (even better)
  

•   1 head of lettuce
  

•   Mayonnaise
  

How do we make it?

• First, boil the chicken in a pot with water and salt. Let it cook for a good while (2 hours) until you can see it’s well done and the meat practically falls off the thigh bone on its own.

• Once the chicken is cooked and has cooled down a bit, shred it with your hands into medium-sized pieces (just right for a bite).

• Wash the lettuce and slice it into very thin strips (julienne).

• Separately, cut the pineapple slices (or fresh pineapple) into small pieces.

• Build your salad by laying down a layer of lettuce, then pineapple, then chicken. Repeat the process, pressing down well with your hands so it packs together tightly.

• Finally, add a layer of mayonnaise on top and let it rest in the fridge.

Tips:

• It doesn’t matter if there are leftovers — once it’s “rested” the salad is just as good, or even better.
• Don’t throw away the broth from boiling the chicken; you can use it for rice, soup, etc.
• You can sprinkle some chopped walnuts or hazelnuts on top of the mayonnaise. They add the perfect finishing touch.

*[English version] CHICKEN & PINEAPPLE SALAD

• **Ingredients:- 1 whole chicken

• 1 lettuce

• Fresh pineapple or canned pineapple

• Mayonnaise

• Place chicken in a large pot and add water to cover. Add some salt, cover pot and bring to boil. Cook for about 2 hours or until chicken meat is falling off the bone.

• When chicken is boiled and cooled shred chicken using your fingers.

• Wash lettuce and chop finely.

• Dice pineapple.

• Place the ingredients by layers: lettuce, pineapple and chicken. Repeat the order and press with your hands.

• Add some mayonnaise on the top.

  Tips:- If there is some salad left, no problem, it will be even better the day after!

• Don’t discard the water from boiled chicken, you can use it to cook rice, soup, etc.

• You can add some chopped nuts or hazelnuts on the top. Simply delicious!

Comments

Marisa (2012-08-07 08:24:55):

What lovely photos! I know this dish — although I don’t plate it as nicely, I chop the lettuce really, really finely and press the layers down as I go.

silvia (2012-08-07 21:39:01):

I’m getting hungry, and it looks so refreshing!! I tried it at Fuentes and I can confirm it was really tasty… maybe I’ll make it tomorrow for lunch…

zordor (2012-08-10 01:55:25):

Without a doubt this recipe is one of the crown jewels of our family wisdom, hehe. For me the best part is that one chicken yields a tooon of salad, it’s super refreshing, and you can make it the day before, for the next day, or even the day after that — just pull it out of the fridge and eat! A really refreshing dish, one of the best things going for summer.

Ociore (2012-08-30 17:23:25):

Oh, if you only knew that your brother revealed this secret family recipe of yours to me years ago, when I was just starting out with my blog (in London)… XD The truth is, looking at the photos, the salad looks amazing! By the way, congrats on your blog!! :) Greetings from Heidiland. ;)

Antz (2012-08-31 09:54:24):

Like Ces, I was wary of the whole pineapple thing… but after trying it last night, I have to say I’ve been converted to the pineapple world!! A 10/10 combo!!! :D

La Enana (2012-09-14 22:54:08):

Mmmmmmh I love this salad!!!!!!! :) I like to top mine with some lightly crushed hazelnuts!!

20 low-calorie salad recipes - Me Siento Guapa (2014-01-07 16:01:33):

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