Turkey cafe salad

Serves 4

• 400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 200g fine green beans, top and tailed
• 250g green salad such as rocket or watercress
• 300g cooked turkey meat, shredded
• 100g feta cheese

  Cheese

  Add to eggs for omelettes, grate onto soups or salads.

  • Parmesan often goes rock hard or becomes horribly sweaty. Ideally, all cheese should be stored in a cool, airy place at a temperature of 46-50F/8-10C. However, most of us put it straight into the fridge. This is fine providing the cheese is kept loosely wrapped in its own airtight container so it isn’t tainted by other foods.
  • Store it in the salad drawer, which is not quite as cold as the rest of the fridge and use a micro plane for grating.
  , crumbled
• 6 dried figs, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons black olives, pitted
• 2 tablespoons pistachios

  Nuts

  Add crunch to your cooking!!!

  • Almonds are used in Moroccan tagine dishes as well as in Indian cooking or for garnish for scented rice and curry dishes. They also work well with apples, apricots, lemon, orange, vanilla and chocolate. Ground almonds are great in biscuits and cakes.
  • Walnuts – add crunch to salad and are good in stuffing’s. Have a bowl of walnuts at Christmas for people to enjoy with a glass of port
  , shelled

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  Olive oil

  Usually the darker green the oil, the richer the flavour.

  • Extra virgin olive oil is good for drizzling on salads and should never be heated as this destroys the fine properties
  • Lighter olive oil is good for adding to bread, or to flavour a salad or marinade for chicken, meat, fish or vegetables. Lighter olive oil can be gently heated and added to marinades and baking.
• 1 tablespoon red wine or balsamic vinegar

  Balsamic vinegar

  Perfect for salad dressings and italian dishes

  • A teaspoon or two of balsamic vinegar can wake up the flavour in a bland soup, stew or sauce.
  • A sprinkle of balsamic vinegar on fresh sliced strawberries or raspberries with a bit of sugar really brings out the flavour of the fruit.
  • Heat sweetens balsamic vinegar and boils out acidity. If you want to mellow the flavour, heat it.
• A pinch of salt

  Salt

  Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.

  Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.

• Freshly ground black pepper

  Black peppercorns

  Best used as a condiment.

  They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.

  • Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
  • Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
  • Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

  Mustard

  Worth keeping a few different types.

  • French mustard or Dijon is creamy and can be used in dressings, marinades or adding to sauces.
  • English is good for roast beef, steak, gammon or sizzling sausages.
  • Wholegrain is used in chutney’s and pickles
• 1 teaspoon horseradish sauce
• dash of water or dry white wine