Rice Plus salad with lemony tuna and dill

Belinda Jeffery’s cookbooks are filled with the most scrumptious salad recipes. My take on her Sicilian Rice Salad uses “Rice Plus” which is a powerhouse mixture of brown rice, barley, quinoa and seeds that I combine with extra greens for a really satisfying summery meal.

If you are not fussed on tuna, this salad would work equally well with chunks of moist roasted chicken.  Plus, it makes the most wonderful leftovers – crunchy, lemony, mmmmm!

Preparation   (This needs early preparation at least 2 hours before eating) with actual preparation 30 mins   BUT  … please note you need to have the Rice and the Eggs cooked and cooled prior to assembling this salad.  I like to cook the rice and the eggs in the morning, pop them into the fridge and then they are ready for the evening meal. 

Serves   5 - 6 

Ingredients

1 1/2  cups “Rice Plus” rice cooked per the packet directions.  Then drained, rinsed and placed on a fresh tea-towel covering a wide tray to be left in the fridge a minimum 2 hours.  You could use regular rice if you prefer.     TIPS AND HINTS: If you decide not to use all the cooked rice, pop the extra in a sealed freezer bag, freeze and use later in the week.

4 hard boiled eggs   (I always cook a few extra as the rest are so handy for a quick snack).  Cook these eggs  in advance, remove the shells and pop into the fridge for a minimum 2 hours before assembling salad.

TIPS AND HINTS:  use the 1 large saucepan and lid.  Cook your rice then rinse the pan and later cook the eggs using the same pan to save on washing up.

2 x 180 gram tins Tuna in Oil.   You could use the springwater variety if you prefer.

3 large stalks of celery – sliced  - all ingredients are best sliced ‘chunky bitesize’ for easy eating

3 large spring onions – roots removed.  Stalks sliced

6 lettuce leaves. Washed, dried and torn / chopped

½ cucumber. Cut into quarters long ways -  then sliced

1 red onion – quartered and then very finely sliced

Handful Black olives – pitted

½ red chilli (seeds removed) and finely chopped.    Optional – leave out or add more.

6 tablespoons of fresh Dill – chopped

3 tablespoons of fresh Basil – roughly torn

Dressing 

When making dressing, stir, taste, adjust with a little more lemon / salt /pepper at a time as needed.

1/2 - 1 small tin anchovies in oil   (mooshed up with a fork) (depends whether you like anchovies)

½ cup (125ml) Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 clove garlic – crushed

1 ½ - 2 lemons.  You need the zest and about 4 tablespoons of juice plus reserve a wedge for presentation.  

Good Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste.   Taste first as the olives and anchovies will add saltiness.

Method

About 30 – 40 minutes before dinner

Remove the rice and cooked eggs you prepared earlier from the fridge.  Allow to ‘de-chill’ a little. Slice the hard boiled eggs into quartered wedges.

Prepare the vegetables for the salad.

Prepare the salad dressing.  TASTE and adjust the balance if needed.

A dash more lemon or balsamic?  Pepper or salt?

About 10 - 15 minutes before dinner

In a large wide salad bowl

Assemble the prepared

Tuna, celery, spring onions, lettuce, cucumber, red onion and olives. Mix together gently.

Heat a very little olive oil in a pan and warm the cooked Rice – just to take the chill off and add a little toasted crunch.  TIP:  Not essential – if short on time, omit this cooking stage

Gently toss the cooked just warmed Rice through the prepared tuna vegetable salad.

Pour  SOME of the salad dressing over Rice salad.  Hold back about quarter of the dressing.

Stir the salad gently. Add the extra dressing if needed. Does not need a swim, just a coating.

Taste and adjust flavours if needed

Add  the quartered hard boiled eggs and chopped Dill and Basil leaves and give a final gentle stir to combine all the lemony flavours. 

Serve.

NOTE    re   Rice Plus Product.

I purchased this product personally, and this is not a paid endorsement. I simply found this to be a great ingredient to use in this salad and I hope you do too.

                                                           Enjoy!   Colleen

Chocolate Pavlova

With Australia Day fast approaching, why not give this twist on a traditional Pavlova a whirl.  Nigella Lawson creatively combined our national food icon with the ultimate ingredient, chocolate.  Topped with mango, blueberries and fresh cream you will have to be quick to get your slice, it won't stay around for very long.

Ingredients

6 large egg whites
300g caster sugar
3 tablespoons of sieves cocoa powder (best quality you can get)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
50g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Topping
Whipped cream and fruit of your choice

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
Line a baking tray with baking paper
Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks, then add sugar a spoonful at a time whilst continuously beating. Continue until all sugar is added and the meringue is stiff and shiny.  You should be able to tip the bowl upside down and no meringue falls out, then it is perfect.
Sprinkle over cocoa, vinegar and chopped chocolate and very gently fold until the cocoa is mixed through evenly.
Mound onto the baking paper and form a fat circle approx. 23cm/9 inches in diameter.
Place in the oven and immediately turn oven down to 150 degrees C, cook for 1 top 1 1/4 hours.
It is ready when the edges look crisp and the dry on top, but when you prod the centre there should be a hint of  "squidginess" beneath your fingers, to quote Nigella.
Turn oven off, leave Pavlova in the oven with the door ajar until cooled completely.

Transfer to cake plate and let your creative whim takeover, but layering on a generous amount of  whipped cream, assorted fruit and chocolate shavings.

Aussie Aussie Aussie

Mamma Marmalade

Duck Confit & Mushroom Tarte Tatin

Serves 4

 

 

This is my adaption of a Stephanie Alexander inspired recipe.

 

1 sheet of frozen butter puff pastry, thawed

4 confit duck marylands

250g swiss brown mushrooms

1 tblspn olive oil

4 eschalots, finely chopped

21/2 tblspn crème fraiche

1 tblspn chopped flat leaf parsley

1 egg lightly beaten

rocket or baby spinach leaves to garnish

 

 

Preheat oven to 220degrees C. Generously grease 21cm square tart pan, preferably non stick (don't use loose-bottomed pans)

Remove skin from duck and set aside on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Pull meat from bones, shred and set aside. Remove mushroom stalks and chop. Cut caps into 5mm slices. Heat oil in fry pan over high heat and cook mushroom caps for 1-2 minutes, tossing constantly. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Add a little more oil to pan if necessary, reduce heat to medium high and cook mushroom stalks and eschalots for 2 minutes. Add crème fraiche and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Stir in duck meat, parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange mushroom slices on base of pan (this layer will be visible when tart is turned out). Top with duck filling, then pastry sheet easing the sheet inside the rim of the pan. Carefully brush pastry with egg (don't let it run down inside the  pan as this may make it hard to remove the cooked tart)

 

 

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Bake for 15 minutes. After the tart has been cooking for 8 minutes, place duck skin in the oven to crisp.

Allow tart to cool for a couple of minutes, then invert onto a platter. Serve tart garnished with leaves and pieces of the crispy duck skin.

• ** you can make this recipe as individual tarts for a dinner party, quantity will depend on the size of your tart pan

 

 

 

  Cutlets