POTATO SALAD

Today Potato Salad. One of my favourite salads. It is a classic in the United States. I just love it. There are many variations. All of them delicious. Let’s make one.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes

1 stalk of celery

1 clove of garlic

1 shallot (you can also use regular onions)

Some salt to taste

Some freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons mayonnaise sauce

1 teaspoon mustard

First we will prepare the potatoes. Depending on the kind of potatoes you use, you can leave the skin on or not. Use your favourite kind of potatoes. When the skin is not too thick I usually leave the skin on. Cut the potatoes in pieces, not too small pieces. Boil the potatoes in water with a bit of salt. Make sure the potatoes are not overcooked. But you do not want them to be under-cooked either. The time you have to be cooking them will depend on the kind of potatoes you are using. When they are ready, remove them from the water and reserve.

While the potatoes are being boiled, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. Chop the shallot, the celery and the garlic. It is a good idea to add the leaves of the celery.

When the potatoes are cool, add the vegetables. Then add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add some herbs. The ones you prefer. You can add some dill, thyme, rosemary…

Then add the mayonnaise sauce and the mustard. Mix well. Do not add too much mayonnaise sauce. At least I prefer it like that.

Once you have it prepared, cover it and store in in the fridge. Refrigerate it for two hours at least. Then, it will be ready to serve.

It is healthy. It is the perfect side. The perfect salad. Enjoy!

**more pics**

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD

This is a delicious salad. With an Indian touch. I love it. Let’s make it.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon chopped shallots

1 tablespoon chopped celery

1 tablespoon blenched almonds

1 tablespoon raisins

1 tablespoon chopped apple

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 chicken breast (boiled) or 1 10 oz can chunk chicken breast

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise sauce

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Some salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

As always, we will prepare the ingredients first. Cut the vegetables in little pieces. If you want to boil the chicken, clean it first removing all the fat you can. Then just boil it in water till the chicken is cooked. But if you use the canned food, remove the water completely. Of course, it is better to use fresh chicken, but the option of canned chicken can be helpuf when you are in a hurry.

Then mix everything except the mayonnaise sauce, the lemon juice and the salt and pepper. Once it is mixed, add the mayonnaise sauce little by little. You can always add more if you want, but if you add all of it at the beginning you may have a salad with a lot of mayonnaise. We do not want that. The last thing is adding salt and pepper to your taste. Mix well and let it cool in the fridge for a couple of hours at least.

A really good salad. A perfect side to serve with a main dish. And as it needs to be refrigerated for some time, you can make in advance and you will have it ready before hand. I think I’ll prepare it right now. Enjoy!

**more pics**

TUNA SALAD

A wonderful salad. Very popular in the USA. One of those simple dishes that I love from the cooking in the USA. Simple but delicious. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

3 5 oz cans of tuna in water, drained

A little piece of a green apple, the part with the skin

3 tablespoons chopped celery

3 tablespoons chopped onion

1 clove or garlic, chopped

Some mayonnaise sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

First open the tuna cans and drain them. With a fork “break” the tuna, but not too much. Put it in a bowl. Add the apple, diced. Add the celery, the onion and the garlic too. Mix well and add mayonnaise little by little till you get exactly the tuna salad you want. Do not add too much. Add salt and pepper to taste and then put the bowl in the fridge.

If you like it, you can add some mustard.

Serve cold. Perfect as a side. Enjoy!

**more pics**

ARAGONESE SALAD

A salad for today. A salad from my land. A salad from Aragón. Especially good for the summer. But good for all seasons too. Let’s make it.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 potato
1 tomato
1 clove of garlic
Some fresh lettuce
2 green onions
2 tablespoons chopped pickles
1 tablespoon capers
1 cup bonito del norte (high quality tuna from Spain, from a can) or albacore tuna
½ cup Spanish olives
Some freshly ground black pepper
Some Spanish extra virgin olive oil
Some red wine vinegar
Some salt to taste

First we will have to boil the egg and the potato. Once they are done, let them cool.
Then prepare the vegetables. Cut the tomato, the green onions, the lettuce the pickles and the garlic. Instead of pickles you can use regular cucumbers, of course.
Season your salad with the olive oil and the vinegar. Add some salt and pepper.
Mix everything well with the bonito del norte. I am normally careful when I do this because I do not want to break those beautiful pieces of bonito.
Taste it and if you do not have to add more salt, your salad will be ready. Really good for the summer. Fresh and delicious. Enjoy!

**more pics**

ANCHOVY AND PICKLE SALAD

A very easy salad for today. Easy and delicious. Perfect as an appetizer. If you like anchovies and pickle, you will love this salad. Let’s start.

Ingredients:

1 can (2 ounces) anchovies in extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons roasted chopped red pepper
1 teaspoon capers
12 pitted black olives
12 pitted green olives
A piece of dill pickle
Some garlic (fresh or dried)
Some extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients:

It will not take us long to prepare our Anchovy and Pickle Salad. We just have to cut the anchovies, the roasted red pepper, the dill pickle and the olives in little pieces. Then we will put all that in a bowl. The next thing is adding the capers and the garlic. You can use fresh garlic, previously chopped, or dried garlic grounded at the very moment of serving. Finally, we will add some extra virgin olive oil.
Really delicious. Enjoy!

**more pics**

TZATZIKI SAUCE

We will make a delicious sauce today. A sauce from the Mediterranean. Something delicious and easy to make. Perfect for gyros, kebabs, falafels…
Let’s cook.

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 Greek yogurt
½ teaspoon mint leaves
½ teaspoon dill herb
1 teaspoon lemon juice

First we will prepare the cucumber. After peeling it, we will grate have of it, and we will cube the other half. Make the cubes very small. Then we will chop the garlic.
Now we will put the oil in a bowl. Then we will add the yogurt and we will mix. We will add the cucumber and the garlic. Then we will add the mint and the herb. We will mix well. Finally we will add the lemon juice.
We can add some drops of extra virgin olive oil. And it will be ready to be served or to be used with your choice of gyros, falafels, etc. Enjoy!

**more pics**

ESCALIVADA

A typical dish from Catalonia, in Spain. A wonderful vegetarian dish. Roasted vegetables served, of course, with olive oil. An explosion of flavor.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 onion
1 tomato
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Some salt to taste
Some extra virgin olive oil

First we will prepare our oven. It has to be preheated to 400ºF. We will rub all the vegetables, except the tomato, with some oil. Then we will put these vegetables on an oven tray and we will take it to the oven. We will put the tomato inside the oven 25 minutes later. The vegetables must be in the oven for about 50-55 minutes. Then we will remove the vegetables from the oven and we will wrap the eggplant, the peppers and the onion with a newspaper or a paper bag. We do not need to do this with the tomato. Now we will let the vegetables outside the oven for about 20 minutes. The reason for wrapping the vegetables with paper is to make it easier to peel them afterwards. And this is what we will have to do once the vegetables are not too hot. We will peel the skin of the vegetables now. While we do this, we can cut the vegetables in strips. We will do the same with the tomato. Then we will the garlic. We will season it with salt and we will add some extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and serve.
It is better to serve the Escalivada once it is ready. Do not prepare it the day before.
Just enjoy it!

**more pics**

HUMMUS

More Mediterranean food. And today we will prepare a delicious Hummus. A delicacy for everyone, not only for vegetarians. Chickpeas could not taste better. This is one of those recipes that, despite being so simple, gives us a lot of pleasure. Chickpeas, olive and sesame oil, lemon, spices… Let’s make it.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tablespoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon hot paprika
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon parsley or cilantro
Some pita bread

We will start with the chickpeas. First, as I use a can of chickpeas, I will rinse and drain the chickpeas. Do this properly. Instead of using a can of chickpeas, you can also cook some chickpeas, but then the process will be longer because you will have to soak them overnight first and then cook them.
Once we have the chickpeas ready, we will put them in a food processor. We will add the garlic, which will be slightly chopped. We will also add the extra virgin olive oil, the sesame oil, the lemon juice, the cumin and the hot paprika.
You can use tahini instead of sesame oil but I prefer sesame oil. You can add more garlic too. Remember that you can adapt the recipe to your taste.
We will turn on the food processor. We must get a soft mixture. We might have to add more olive oil, or if you like your Hummus strong, you can add more sesame oil.
Once you have your Hummus ready, serve it with some sweet paprika, parsley or cilantro and pita bread. Some drops of extra virgin olive oil will be a good idea now.
Enjoy!

**more pics**

COUSCOUS SALAD

A delicacy. And something very easy to make indeed. Healthy, good for vegetarians. A perfect accompaniment to other dishes.
Now that you can find precooked couscous very easily, nobody has an excuse not to cook it. If you have not tried it, you will love it. If you have tried it before, you know what I am talking about.

Ingredients:

1 cup precooked couscous
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Ras El Hanout
¼ cup chopped onion or green onion
¼ cup chopped squash
¼ cup frozen corn
¼ cup chopped carrot
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup chopped lettuce
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped tomato
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves
½ teaspoon chopped basil leaves

First we will prepare the vegetables. We will cut them in little pieces. Then we will sauté onions, carrots and green pepper in a pan. Five minutes later we will add the squash, the corn, the garlic, the salt and the black pepper. In the meantime, we can prepare the couscous. We will heat the water with some drops of oil in it. When it is hot, remove from the fire and add the couscous. Let the couscous absorb the water and add the Ras El Hanout, a Moroccan mixture of spices. If you cannot find it, you can use a good curry powder. Mix well. Now we will add the squash, the corn and the garlic to the pan. A couple of minutes later we will add the rest of the ingredients: the tomato, the lettuce, the salt, the lemon juice, the mint and the basil. We cook it for two more minutes and remove the pan from the stove. Then we will mix everything with the couscous. If we need it, we can add more olive oil and lemon juice before serving. This is a different salad. I like to eat it a bit warm but I know that some people will like it cold also. Anyway, enjoy it.

**more pics**

RUSSIAN SALAD

This is a Spanish dish, despite its name. I do not think that Russians know this salad but who knows!
You can find Russian Salad in every Spanish bar. It is one of those everyday tapas. When I talk about Spanish bars I should make clear that they are different from what, for example, an American bar is. Spanish bars, the bars I am talking about, are tapas bars. Places where you can drink some beer or some wine and eat some delicious tapas.
And one of those tapas is Russian Salad. The typical Spanish bar is not one of those pretentious Tapas Bars you find outside Spain. Anyway, let us prepare some Russian Salad.

Ingredients:

Basically a Russian Salad is sort of an American Potato Salad but with more ingredients. You can use fresh vegetables or frozen ones. The frozen vegetable bags you can buy at supermarkets are quite good to start with. None the less I will tell you the ingredients for a fresh Russian Salad.

1 cubed boiled potato
1 cubed boiled carrot
¼ cup cooked corn
¼ cup cooked green beans
¼ cup cooked butter beans
¼ cup green onions
¼ cup chopped lettuce
2 tablespoons roasted chopped red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped dill pickle
1 tablespoon chopped tomato
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 chopped hard-boiled egg
1 3-ounce tuna can
Some salt
Some mayonnaise sauce


Those are some ingredients you can use in your Russian Salad. In Spain people always use green peas but I do not use them because my wife does not like them much. In fact I should say that she hates green peas. What a pity! Tomato and beans are not used either. You can add some green olives, celery… You know you are the boss in the kitchen.Preparing Russian Salad is very easy. You just have to boil the vegetables that need to be boiled, that is to say, potatoes, carrots, corn and beans. Of course, if your vegetables are fresh and not frozen, it will take longer. Bear that in mind. The important thing is that all those vegetables are well boiled. Once you have your vegetables ready, drain them and then mix them with the tuna, the egg, the pickle, the red pepper, the green onions, the garlic and the lettuce. Mix well, add some salt to taste and finally mix with some mayonnaise sauce. Do not put too much sauce. We do not want it to be too oily so if this is your first Russian salad, add the mayonnaise little by little. Cool your Russian Salad for some time in the fridge and then it will be ready to eat.

**more pics**