Recipe CIV - Rocket Salad

A few days ago, I read something from a Mr Lobstermuncher of Beckenham, Kent, along the lines of "Rocket Salad is rubbish", or words to that effect. Anyhow, I beg to disagree, Mr Lobstermuncher. Rocket salad is really tasty, but that means doing something with it. I have often wondered why kids don't want to eat veggies and salad - if they're so dull and lifeless, I wouldn't want to eat them either. I mean, you wouldn't have ever drunk tonic on its own unless you had spent some time convalescing in the 19th century, so that's why people add vodka or gin. The same goes for salads. Most leaf salads are quite bitter if you do nothing to them. Here's a little suggestion using ingredients nearly everyone has in their kitchens, or are easy to obtain.

Ingredients:

Some rocket salad

Some olive oil

Some balsamic vinegar

(Oil : Balsamic ratio = 3 : 2)

1-2 tsp brown sugar in a bowl

20-30 raisins or sultanas

4-5 hazelnuts

Some ground black pepper

2 cloves of garlic (cut into pieces)

Some grated slices of hard cheese like Cheddar, Parmesan, Manchego, Leicester, etc...

Instructions:

Take the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, the pepper and garlic, and pour them in the bowl with the sugar. Give them a gentle swirl with a spoon until it's all mixed up.

Take your hazelnuts and crush them with your finger, sprinkling half into the bowl with the salad, and half into the oil and vinegar mix. Cut up half of the sultanas and put them in the oil and the whole ones in the salad. Mix up the salad, then taste the oil mixture and add more of what you think (maybe sugar, maybe oil or vinegar), then pour it all over the rocket salad and toss until all the leaves are saturated.

Finally, add the cheese on top and serve with your main course!

Cherry tomatoes go very well with this dish, as do Mozzarella, basil, chives and a lot of other ingredients. If someone says, "But I don't like .....," just remember that when it's mixed up with other ingredients, it probably tastes fine. But you're going to put people off for life if you serve certain things on their own!

Recipe XXVI - Steamed Brussels Sprouts in a Parmesan and Pepper Sauce

Certain vegetables just look miserable sitting there on the plate, staring at you for love, wanting some much-needed attention. Brussels sprouts are the most vilified vegetable in the entire history of cooking, seemingly only brought out once a year at Christmas by the British then boiled to a horrible sludgy mess and dumped on the plate because that's what you do at Christmas. I beg to differ. Certain vegetables ARE dull, yes, but they have ample taste and texture if you just give them some love.

Ingredients:
One bagful of Brussels sprouts
200g Parmesan cheese
1 pot of crème fraîche



Instructions:
Peel the sprouts and put them in the steaming part of a saucepan. Don't put the cross in the bottom - it doesn't do anything to the sprouts' self esteem. Steam for about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut up or grate some Parmesan (or Cheddar, or Manchego or such like) and put it in a small saucepan with some ground pepper and the crème fraîche. Heat slowly, making sure all the cheese melts.



Pour over the sprouts on the plate.



I had mine with some sautéed chicken breasts, but the star of the show is the sprout.



I'll have a few more appearances by these wonderful vegetables nearer to Christmas.