love one pot/one bowl meals because they are quick to prepare and also create minimal dishes. When the weather is cold I make a lot of casseroles in our slow cooker, but here the weather is warming up so a salad is more desirable.
Serves 2 as a complete meal
2 small chicken breast or thigh fillets (or one large breast fillet) sliced into strips about 8 small spears of fresh asparagus
5-6 medium sized fresh radish 4-6 cos lettuce leaves
handful of fresh mint
handful of young radish leaves or baby spinach
½ cup of peas (preferably fresh but frozen is alright)
Dressing
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon organic brown rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon
sea/mineral salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Combine the dressing ingredients and set aside for the flavours to blend
Put about 2cm of water in the bottom of a saucepan with a steamer insert. Bring the water to the boil and put the chicken in the steamer. Season with sea/mineral salt. While the chicken is steaming prepare the vegetables for the salad. Put the vegetable salad ingredients onto the serving platter first. Scatter the steamed chicken on top and then drizzle with the dressing.
If you have younger children who don't eat full salads yet you can give them a 'deconstructed' version. My daughter is 5 and when I make a salad for the rest of us I use most of the same ingredients to make a salad picture for her. Ideas have included: funny faces, animal faces, house & sun scene and words. She loves it and has now started moving the pieces into her own pictures as she eats them.
Mince in Lettuce Wraps
This can be a great way to use the larger outside leaves off a lettuce that are sometimes not so suitable for chopping for salads. The idea is a grain-free burrito with the lettuce on the outside rather than shredded in the middle.
Mince
1 onion finely chopped (red or brown)
400- 500gm lean mince (preferably organic)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric about 1 teaspoon sea/mineral
salt (to taste)
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
handful of fresh parsley chopped
(you can also add about 1/2 teaspoon ground kelp for a nutrient boost - the mince hides the flavour of it)
6-8 large iceburg lettuce leaves with not too much thick, white stalk section at the base end
1 carrot grated
thick greek full-fat organic yoghurt to serve
Heat a cast iron pan to medium heat. Melt a knob of butter in the pan and cook the onion for a couple of minutes to take off the strong flavour. Add the mince and cook over a medium heat until just cooked through (do not 'brown it on a high heat - although this adds flavour it also adds carcinogens and free radicals). Add the tomato paste, spices, garlic and salt to taste. Add the parsley and kelp just before serving.
To serve: Place a large iceburg lettuce leaf on a plate like you would a burrito wrap. The stalk/base end will be the top and you will fold up the softer top edge and sides. Put a couple of spoonfuls of mince in the middle of the leaf and towards the base end. Scatter over grated carrot and spoon over the greek yoghurt. Fold the top leaf edge in over the filling and then fold the sides in so that you have an open end package.
You can also add additional salad ingredients if you wish such as avocado, capsicum etc
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