A Greek Inspired Salad

The glorious (if slightly unseasonal) early spring weather we're having is filling me with inspiration right now and sending my imagination off on Mediterranean holidays to hot Greek islands. It was these daydreams, whilst out walking the dogs this morning, that made me begin to crave a Greek salad for lunch.

When we were in Crete last year, we ate amazing salads at many different tavernas and restaurants on the island. Lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and olives, served with feta and drizzled with olive oil. Often, they were accompanied by chunks of rustic bread for mopping up juices.

Thinking about what ingredients I had a home, I realised there were things missing. I had no olives and no bread. What I did have was potatoes and red pepper. So, I thought I'd throw some in and give it a try.

Delicious! 

Mrs Roe's Greek-inspired Salad
Ingredients
4 small potatoes
2 large tomato
1 cucumber, deseeded
1 small red onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 tsp mint
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Pinch sea salt
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil (Greek)
100g feta cheese
Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters. Place in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and cook until just tender (do not over cook). 
2. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, roughly chop the tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and red pepper. Put into a large mixing bowl.
3. In a small bowl (I use a ramekin to do this), mix together the herbs, salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them in a colander and rinse in cold water to cool them. Cut each piece in half, and let them cool thoroughly.
5. When the potatoes are cold, add them to the bowl with the other vegetables. Drizzle over the olive oil and toss gently. Do this by gently agitating the bowl or use your fingers to combine the vegetables and coat them in the oil.
6. Sprinkle over the herb mixture, gently toss again and set aside for about 30 minutes for the flavours to combine.
7. When ready to serve, transfer the salad into a large serving bowl (or divide between two plates) and crumble over the feta cheese. Serve with the lemon wedges, which you can squeeze over the salad for extra zing if you like.

Chilli con Bolognese

The last of the Bolognese sauce became a chilli tonight and it was good. So easy, I think posting a recipe is a bit of a cheat, but you might like to try it, so read on if you do...

You can't beat a good chilli on a cold winter's day.

Mrs Roe's Chilli Bolognese

Ingredients

1/3 Bolognese sauce (here's the recipe)

1 x 400g can kidneys in chilli sauce

1/2 tsp smoked chilli flakes

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce

Method

Easy! Put everything in a pan, mix it all together and heat thoroughly. Simple as that.

We had it with rice, but it would be good with bread, or chips, or as a filling for enchiladas, or a topping for nachos... You get the idea!

I used Encona West Indian Hot Pepper Sauce, because it's what I had in the cupboard. It's good, because it adds a slightly tangy flavour as well as heat. You could use Tabasco, or leave it out completely if you don't want it too hot.

The smoked chilli and paprika give it a lovely flavour, but it can be hard to get hold of them so just use ordinary chilli flakes and paprika if you can't find the smoky stuff. I am on the last precious flakes of smoked chilli (which I bought from a Greek herbs and spices stall on a European market). I am dreading the moment when I run out.

Villetta Pasticcio (or Bolognese Cottage Pie)

We had a LOT of Bolognese sauce left after last night - I reckon we only used about a third of it - so I needed to think of something to use it for today. I decided to do some mashed potato and make a cottage pie. Easy, tasty and perfect for the miserable weather we're having.

Ready to eat!

Mrs Roe's Villetta Pasticcio

Ingredients

1/3 Bolognese sauce (see recipe here)

4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 dsp olive spread or butter

Salt & pepper

50g cheese, grated

Method

1. Spoon the Bolognese sauce into a shallow, heatproof bowl. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Boil the potatoes until done, then mash with the spread until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and spread over the surface of the Bolognese sauce. Don't smooth it out - you need spikes and bumps so it'll crisp up nicely.
3. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top, then place in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes.

I used a good, mature Red Leicester cheese for the topping. You need something strong that melts well, so cheddar would work perfectly.

If you wanted to up your veg intake, you could add some thawed peas to the Bolognese.

Crock Pot Bolognese Sauce

I've been fancying spaghetti bolognese for a while now, so I thought I'd try making the Bolognese sauce in the Crock Pot. One word can sum it up... Success!

This is my own recipe, give it a go and see what you think. I'd love to hear how you get on. It made A LOT of sauce - two generous portions for tea with wholewheat spaghetti, enough for tomorrow's experiment and a cereal bowl full to the brim (will have to think about what to do with that bit). I'd say that you could get maybe seven or eight portions of spaghetti out of it easily.

After about seven hours, lovely rich
and tasty Bolognese sauce.

Mrs Roe's Crock Pot (Slow Cooker) Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, peeled, quartered lengthways and chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 rashers back bacon (smoked, unsmoked... whatever), chopped
500g lean minced beef steak
Beef stock cube
1 dsp oregano
200g mushrooms, chopped
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
Ground black pepper

Method

1. Add the sunflower oil to a frying pan and heat for a bit, then add the onion and fry until beginning to soften. Add the carrots and continue to fry until the onions are starting to colour slightly. Stir in the garlic, then remove from the heat and scrape the mixture into your Crock Pot bowl.
2. Return the frying pan to the heat and add the bacon. Fry until the fat has browned, then add to the veg in the Crock Pot.
3. Now, brown off the mince in the frying pan before adding it to the Crock Pot.
4. Crumble over the stock cube, add the oregano, mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato puree and black pepper. Stir thoroughly to combine.
5. Cook in the Crock Pot on low for 7-8 hours, then turn the dial to the 'keep warm' setting if your Crock Pot has one.
6. Cook some pasta (spaghetti is traditional, obviously), divide between bowls and top with the sauce to serve.

You'll note that, apart from the tomatoes, I didn't add any liquid. It really didn't need anything and the sauce was a lovely, thick and rich consistency.

You could easily add other veg if you wanted to make it go even further - I would have used celery if I'd had any in the fridge.

It could have been improved with some Parmesan over the top of it and maybe some garlic baguette for juice mopping, but it copes perfectly well without these.