Rocket salad with parmesan and balsamic vinegar

This really isn’t a recipe, but you will thank me for sharing it with you if you don’t already know about it.

Although you only need three ingredients for this salad, the quality of these three elements is very important.  We use a mature Parmigiano-Reggiano, wild rocket, and a good quality balsamic vinegar – all of which are easily found in your local supermarket.

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Serves 4

Ingredients

• 50g parmesan cheese
• 100g wild rocket leaves
• 4 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Rinse the wild rocket and shake well to dry – place the rocket leaves in a bowl.
2. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and toss the salad leaves.
3. Using a sharp knife cut wedges chips of parmesan into the salad, working your way back from the thin end. It’s important that the chips aren’t too thin.
4. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Other information

Bio-store, which you can find at the market in Belfast’s St. George’s Market on Saturdays, are now carrying some fantastic balsamic vinegar from Modena, with more varieties to come.

Boulangere potatoes

After our superb lunch in Cafe Vaudeville I thought that I would have a go at making the Boulangere potatoes that were such an important part of that main course. This French recipe makes a really tasty side dish.

The type of potato that you use is important. I prefer a waxy variety of this type of side dish as they will hold their shape a little better rather than dissolving into the stock. Charlotte or Maris Peer varieties would be my choice.

Lighter and healthier than the cream-drenched Dauphinoise potatoes (and yes, I love them!), Boulangere potatoes are very similar in that the dish is composed of thinly sliced layers of potato that are cooked in the oven. The difference between the two is the addition of chicken stock. I tried the Knorr Stock-pots in this recipe and I quite like them, I have to admit – they produce a rich, flavoursome stock without the saltiness of stock cubes.

In terms of slicing the potatoes, while a mandolin would be ideal, I like using the “D-shaped” potato peeler – it makes the chore of slicing the potatoes so much easier, and the slices are wafer thin. Obviously, if you have neither, there’s nothing wrong with a good sharp kitchen knife either.

My recipe uses a large casserole dish but you could be very chef-y and use a “tower” to create a cylinder of stacked potatoes, liberally brushing the top with rosemary flavoured olive oil to caramelise the top layer of potato for even more flavour.

Serves 4

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5

Ingredients

• 4-5 largish potatoes – thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 small red onion – finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh rosemary, chooped (optional)
• 1 to 11/2 pints of chicken stock (I used the Knorr stockpots for the stock)
• 25g butter, cubed (and some more or greasing the casserole dish)

Method

1. Peel the potatoes, slice them thinly, and then wash and drain the potato slices in water to remove the excess starch .
2. Mince the onion and the garlic.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 180/360/gas mark 5.
4. Rip a small section from the wrapper of your butter and rub then inner-side around your casserole dish to grease the dish.
5. Now layer the potatoes in the bottom of this dish, and sprinkle some of the onion, garlic and bay leaves on top.
6. Season the top of this layer with a little salt and pepper (and the rosemary, if you’re using it).
7. Continue to layer the potatoes, garlic, bay and onion, finishing with a layer of potato at the top. It’s important that you press each layer down to make the layers of potato as compact as possible.
8. Dot the top of this top layer with the cubes of butter.
9. Now pour on the stock so it comes up level to the top layer of potato.
10. Place the casserole dish in the oven on the highest shelf and leave it there for about an hour. When it’s ready the crust should be a golden brown and the bottom layer tender when prodded with a knife.

Enjoy!