Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad with Dill

On Tuesday I arrived back home from a short holiday to Budapest. We had such a wonderful time enjoying delicious Hungarian food, the charming city of Budapest and gorgeous Indian Summer sunshine. I couldn't have wished for more. Once I finish editing 500+ photos, I will post about our trip. There will be many foodie places tips, so stay tuned. To make the waiting easier, here's a quick recipe for my favourite smoked salmon salad. I made this recipe a few times already, and it's always a hit.

I usually use soured cream for the dressing. This time I didn't have any soured cream, so I replaced that with greek yogurt. It's a bit lighter but still very tasty.

Smoked salmon and potato salad with dill

Serves 2

400g baby potatoes

125ml (1/2 cup) greek yogurt (soured cream)

1 small garlic clove, crushed

1tsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 handful fresh dill, chopped

1 spring onion, chopped

170g smoked salmon, torn into small pieces

Wash the potatoes, put them in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt dressing. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and season with salt a pepper. Stir in about half of the dill.

Strain the potatoes and let them sit for a while to cool down. Arrange potatoes and salmon on plates, sprinkle with the remaining dill and spring onion. Finally, spoon over the yogurt dressing and serve.

Mixed Green, Tomato and Feta Salad

Today I made myself the most simple basic salad for late lunch. Um, very late lunch to be honest. At least I think eating at 3.50pm is quite late to call it lunch. But I don't really care about time when I eat. I just eat when I'm hungry. I'm currently home alone, so simple fast dishes are on my menu again. As I've probably mentioned many times before, I'm too lazy to cook just for myself. Luckily it's still summer, even thought it doesn't look like that for most of the time it London, and many vegetables are in season. It's therefore easy to make a quick salad full of nutritions and vitamins.

Also our cherry tomatoes are finally ripe and red. They, however have very little chance to make it into a salad as they are most often eaten immediately after being picked. They are so sweet and juicy that I just can't resist. Although P. prefers his tomatoes less ripe with a hint of sourness and chilled from the fridge. So I always keep some tomatoes in the fridge for a quick snack.

Today's salad doesn't even need any recipe. It's seriously no-fuss salad you can throw together in a couple of minutes. Simply combine your favourite greens with one chopped tomato in a bowl, toss together with some cubed feta and your favourite dressing. Enjoy as it is, or serve with grilled meat.

Mixed green tomato and feta salad

Serves 1

50-70g mixed greens (lettuce, baby spinach, watercress, cilantro)

1 beef tomato, chopped

50g feta cheese, cubed

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium bowl, combine the greens, tomato and feta. To make the dressing mix together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over vegetables and lightly toss.

Mushroom Quinoa Salad

I haven't disappeared! I have just been quite busy...

We had a fab time with our friends who arrived to visit us for a couple of days and got stranded in the UK for almost one more week due to the volcano ash and flight ban. However, two weeks have passed, and I haven't done much. Apartment needs to be cleaned, huge piles of clothes are waiting to be washed. And I'm not talking about you and my blog, that I neglected completely. And my RSS reader shows number 247. It's catch up time! Phew!

P. was in the office yesterday, so I did not have to worry about lunch. I wanted to cook something quick and easy for myself, because cleaning and washing drained most of my energy. The only requirement was to use leftover mushrooms. I bought them the day before at a market and used them to make stuffed baked mushrooms with goat cheese and spinach for dinner.

I was deciding between pasta and quinoa. Quinoa won because P. is not very familiar yet with this still quite new to us grain and I usually make it only for myself. In fact, quinoa is not a true grain, it is a pseudocereal which basically means that it is a broadleaf plant not a grass. True cereals like wheat, rye or barley are grasses. Another examples of pseudocereals are amaranth and buckwheat. I've quite recently discovered quinoa and I really like it.

I had to photograph very quickly, because my stomach was growling...

And I can't forget to thank Bethany who chose my blog to be "Blog of The Month" on her lovely blog Dirty Kitchen Secrets. I was truly pleased and honoured when I found out. Go and check her new blog facelift and mouthwatering recipes!

Mushroom quinoa salad

Serve 1

1/2 cup / 85g quinoa

200ml vegetable stock

1tbsp vegetable or olive oil

1 shallot, finally chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

6 mushrooms, sliced

1-2 springs of fresh thyme

3 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

fresh parsley

1. Rinse the quinoa in plenty of cold water and place in a medium saucepan. Add boiling vegetable stock and bring back to the boil. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes until the stock is absorbed and the quinoa is tender.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan and saute onion for 2-3 minutes, add the garlic a fry for another minute. Add sliced mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Finally, add the thyme leaves. Stir fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

3. In a small bowl, mix the cooked quinoa with olive oil, add mushrooms and tomatoes, mix well. Check the seasoning and add more salt or pepper if you like. Scatter fresh parsley on top and serve.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

Ok a cucumber season already passed but I've bought about 10 cucumbers at a market. The true is that this type of salad is great during summer when it's really hot outside and you don't feel like eating anything warm. But I can eat cucumber salad during all year because it's so versatile in use. It will work as a perfect side dish with barbecue or like a light lunch when served with a crunchy baguette.

Another great thing about this salad is, that it is so easy to make! I've used a white yogurt but it's very tasty with soured cream as well. If you like garlic and you don't need to worry about our breath in the morning don't hesitate to add some.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

Serves 4

(as a side dish)

Ingredients:

2 cucumbers cut lengthways, seeds scraped out and then sliced

1 tsp salt

120 ml yogurt or soured cream

1 tsp dill

1 Put the cucumber in a colander over a large bowl, sprinkle with the salt, mix well and leave for 20 minutes. Discard all released water. This way the cucumber will stay crunchy and the dressing won't taste diluted.

2 Put the drained cucumber in a bowl, add yogurt or soured cream and dill, then season with salt and pepper.