With many hoping to lose a few pounds this January after filing up on festive treats over Christmas, here are some delicious recipes from www.bordbia.ie
Organic salad with roasted vegetables, salad leaves, and cheese
This makes a perfect lunch with some crusty bread.
Ingredients: one to two aubergines; eight unpeeled garlic cloves; three tablespoons of olive oil; two red peppers, halved and deseeded; two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar; four scallions, finely sliced; eight to ten black olives; salt and black pepper; salad leaves; 200g cheese.
Method: slice the aubergines lengthwise and mix with six of the garlic cloves and the oil. Spread out on a baking sheet. Season well. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes. Grill the peppers until well blackened. Cover with a tea towel and leave to cool. Then remove the skins and cut into strips. Whisk the vinegar with the remaining oil in a large bowl. Peel and chop the remaining garlic and add to the bowl. Mix in the aubergines, peppers, scallions, and olives. Taste for seasoning. Tear up the salad leaves, arrange on a large platter, top with aubergine mixture, and sprinkle with cheese.
Serve with crusty bread.
Chicken salad with cashew
nuts and mango dressing
Ingredients: four chicken breasts, cooked and sliced, or cold roast chicken; handful of salad leaves per person; one sliced mango; a handful of seedless black grapes; 50g cashew nuts.
Dressing: one chopped and peeled mango; three to four chopped scallions; a handful of basil leaves; one tablespoon of rice vinegar; four tablespoons of olive oil; salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar.
Method: the best way to roast a whole chicken is with lots of garlic cloves, a few sprigs of rosemary, and lemon wedges stuffed into the cavity, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook until the juices run clear. Then an hour or two later, take the meat off the bone and make the salad. If you haven't time to roast a chicken then you can just grill a few chicken breasts, slice them up, and make the salad.
To make the dressing: add all the dressing ingredients to the processor, give it a quick whizz, taste for seasoning.
Serving suggestions: coat the salad leaves in a little of the dressing, arrange the leaves on individual plates or in one large bowl. Add the sliced mango, grapes, nuts, and chicken. Drizzle over the dressing and serve with some nice bread.
