Jennifer Segal’s Big Italian Salad

September 3, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 6

I really don’t think you can get any more classier than a salad of green leaves.

Add a cracking vinaigrette to mop up after a cracking bistecca or an amazing pasta and it’s almost the palette cleanser. The sign the first parts of the meal have come to an end and it’s time to open a new red, pause and talk about the cheese options on hand.

Sometimes though, things call for a salad as big as the main.

Something bold and comforting in itself.

Not just for mopping.

This salad is a great example.

It’s moorish. The second half of a pasta lunch.

It’s a meal in and of itself.

Don’t be confused. It isn’t classy.

More meaty, sans the meat.

Though it’s a lovely salad when the time calls for it.

(Sidenote! This is my 600th recipe on Robby Dog Cooks. Time flies when you’re having fun!)

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette

1 c loosely packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 c loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/3 c red wine vinegar
3/4 c extra virgin olive oil
Heaping 3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp honey

For the salad

1 large head romaine lettuce, torn into large, bite-sized pieces
1 large capsicum, chopped
1 c seeded and chopped cucumbers
1 to 2 carrots, peeled into ribbons
Handful grape tomatoes, halved
Handful pitted olives
Feta, crumbled to taste

Method

To make the vinaigrette, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz.
Place all the salad ingredients in a bowl except the feta. Just before serving, add about half the vinaigrette and toss, adding more if need be. Toss in the cheese and season.

Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken LOADED Burger – with thanks to RecipeTinEats

August 20, 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

As we count down the weeks in single digits to the arrival of baby #4 – the first girl in the Beerworth family after Nat of course – Nat and I are carving out more and more time during the week to be together, preparing the house and hopefully, fitting in a late lunch to talk through the logistics and fun coming up.

Last Friday was sunny, we had new plants to pot, the cleaner had almost finished and it was time to regroup and walk-through the slimming running sheet of things to be done.

Enter, this incredible burger (plated on a toasted wholemeal baguette).

I initially chose this recipe – from the always reliable RecipeTinEats – because I needed something I could prepare in advance and then complete on the BBQ with a small outdoor kitchen. The cleaner in the house, remember?

I’m giving almost full credit here to RecipeTinEats. This is a very, very good marinade and pink sauce.

Indeed, Tom – our 12-year old – wants charcoaled chicken wraps for both himself and his friends for an upcoming sleepover to celebrate birthday #13 and I am definitely doing this marinade, minus maybe a chilli or two. Maybe on skewers over charcoal next time, rather than just on the BBQ?*

My addition of bacon, cheese and avocado though, took this burger to the LOADED level.

And nothing ever tastes better than on a toasted baguette.

I don’t eat much fast food though if you told me this was a limited-time burger – let alone their signature dish – I would not have doubted it.

Perfect heat. Perfect crunch. Just bloody wonderful.

Nat and I keep talking about honing in on a signature sandwich for both of us.

I’m a poached chicken and herbed-mayo slaw on a Vienna sort of guy and that is a sandwich I’m going to get right.

In the meantime, I’ll take this burger/baguette.

Bloody great.

(I have adapted this recipe to how we cooked it.)

Ingredients

Peri-Peri Sauce/Marinade

1 – 3 birds eye chillies (I used 3)
1 large red capsicum
5 garlic cloves
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp malt vinegar
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper

Pink Sauce

3 tbsp Peri Peri Sauce (above)
1/2 c whole egg mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream

Burgers

1 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken thighs
8 rashers of bacon
1 avocado
4 slices of cheddar cheese
2 tomatoes
Lettuce of choice
Baguette, cut into fours and sliced horizontally

Method

Place the Peri Peri Sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour 1/2 c into a ziplock bag with the chicken and marinate overnight.
Mix together 3 tbsp of the Peri Peri Sauce together with the Pink Sauce ingredients. Set aside/refrigerate.
Toast the baguettes and fry the bacon.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a fry-pan or BBQ. Add the chicken and cook each side for 4 – 5 minutes until golden brown. Cover and rest for 5 minutes.
To make the burgers/baguette, smother one side of the bread with pink sauce and the other with a quarter of the avocado. Slice the chicken and layer chicken, cheese, tomato and lettuce.
A beer not essentially though recommended!

* Whether you cook the chicken in a skillet or over flames, get as much char on it as you can.

Whole Fish with Roast Capsicum and Chilli Butter

January 17, 2016.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I typed this recipe up a few years back though haven’t made it since.

Next weekend, I will right that wrong.

Using whole ocean trout as your fish – truly the most beautiful fish in the world – and cooked in foil on the BBQ, when fish meets chilli butter and with perhaps some greens and potatoes on the side, something special happens.

Sure, it isn’t quite restaurant fare though it’s certainly bistro fare and it is a great recipe to dip your toe into the ‘cooking whole fish on the BBQ’ trick.

Of course, you could cook the fish in the oven by laying them down on baking paper, cutting two or three slashes into the thick flesh and baking, though I think the BBQ adds to it.

Ingredients

4 whole ocean trout
2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to brush
1 roasted red capsicum (or a jar of chargrilled capsicum, drained)
100gm unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method

Heat the BBQ to medium-hot. Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. By all means, stuff lemon and coriander and garlic and butter and whatever else your grandpa included into the cavity of the fish. Wrap in foil and cook for 10 – 12 minutes, turning once.
Meanwhile, very finely chop the capsicum then place in a small saucepan with the olive oil, butter, lemon zest and juice, coriander, chilli and garlic. Season. Stir over a low heat until butter is melted and well combined. Keep warm.
Serve the fish with the capsicum and chilli butter drizzled on-top.