The "Exciting World of Salads"

The biggest argument I've ever had with my ex-housemate Natalie was about salad. I'm not exaggerating when I say this, we literally shouted across the table for about 2 hours on the subject, with our other housemate Carmen trying to moderate from the middle. She had started laughing at me for my choice of lunch, what I called a 'broccoli salad'. She claimed that a salad had to have a cold, raw base of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. I argued that she wasn't opening her mind to the "exciting world of salads"– and yes, I believe I used that exact phrase. Salad may have started out as just lettuce tomato and cucumber, I argued, but it has evolved into so much more: think of a waldorf salad, a tricolore salad, or even a pasta salad or potato salad.

Broccoli Salad- the one that started it all

I was recounting the details of The Great Salad Debate of 2009 to my friend the other day, and she mentioned something interesting. Salad stems from the Latin word sal, meaning salt; so the term salad is a completely is a completely loose one anyway. Salad has become a more all-encompassing term for a collection of vegetables (usually) with a dressing in modern times, and thank God. These days, you can have a salad for a main meal, something that would fill you up and keep you going, as opposed to just a bland side to accompany your meat or fish. So many times I will just throw in all of the vegetables I have lying around (some cooked, some not), accompanied by a bit of ham and parmesan and make my most favourite thing, a "Kitchen sink salad" (meaning there's everything in it but the...).

There's nothing quite like sitting out in the sunshine with a good kitchen sink salad to make you the happiest gal in all of Córdoba

Did I just write an insane amount about salad? I believe I did. To make things a little more interesting, here's a group of my favourite salad recipes, ones a bit more interesting than lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.

Broccoli Salad, from Simply Recipes
Cold Pea Salad, from Simply Recipes
Arugula (Rocket) Corn Salad with Bacon, from Simply Recipes
Summer Chickpea Salad, from Jamie Oliver
Strawberry Salad with Speck and Halloumi, from Jamie Oliver
Herbed Couscous Salad, from Chocolate and Zucchini
Summer Tomato Salad, from David Lebovitz
Chicken, Mango, and Chilli Salad, from Nigella Lawson
Chicken Caesar Salad, from BBC GoodFood

Yay salad!

The first boquerones adventure

If you look back a couple of posts, one of the things I decided that I must learn to cook in Spain was boquerones, a small whitebait/anchovy sort of fish that are normally served fried with lemon juice as a typical tapas dish. Well, a last minute decision on a calm weekday evening allowed me to realise this goal.

There they are, accompanied by one of my typical 'kitchen sink salads'. Yummm.

Not bad for a first effort, I'd say. Up until this point, I had never used a deep fryer before in my life, and the idea of it was a little more than intimidating. I had no idea just how much oil would be required, even just to fry the bare minimum– this is not a dish you'll want to be eating everyday! But I wouldn't say that they turned out as well as they possibly could. Next time, an absolute must would be to buy them fresh from the fishmongers. I used a frozen bag this time (I know, naughty naughty) that I got from the local supermarket for a 1,80€; I'm my father's daughter, I can't resist a bargain. Another thing that I shall have to keep in mind is how quickly these little fishies go from not-quite-cooked to very-very-cooked. You want the fish to be crispy on the outside, but still soft and moist on the inside, you definitely don't want them to crisp up and dry out!!

I shall keep you updated on my efforts.