I know it’s Tuesday, but I had little logistic problems when trying to post this yesterday…..

This week, tips on simple (yet tasty!) meals for one (can always double, triple the quantities and have some people over!) that do not take a lot of time to prepare and are affordable.

Light course for the evening, after a long day at work…
Provence Salad
Ingredients for 1-2 people: 1 small green salad, 50g of potatoes, ¼ green pepper, ¼ red pepper, 2 tomatoes, 2 spring onions, 2 eggs, 50g of fresh green beans, 25 g of green olives (better if filled with anchovies if preferred), 150g of filet of dorada, 1 full soup spoon of olive oil. For the sauce: 1 soup spoon of wine vinegar, ½ teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 5 soup spoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of chopped basil, salt and pepper.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
1. Wash the potatoes (do not peel them), the peppers, the tomatoes and the green beans. Rinse the spring onions.
2. Boil the potatoes and the beans for 20 minutes. Boil the eggs separately at the same time for 15 minutes.
3. Wash the salad, remove any additional water and use the outer leaves to cover the serving plate in which you will be serving the salad. Cut the rest of the salad into thin slices.
4. Boil water and blanche the tomatoes and the peppers for 1 minute. Peel them, remove the seeds and cut the tomatoes in cubes and the peppers in thin slices. Refrigerate for the time being.
5. Peel (by hand) the skin off the potatoes, cut them into medallions. Peel off the egg shells and cut the eggs in 4.
6. Put the olive oil in a frying pan and brown the dorada filet for approximately 4 minutes on each side. Crumble the filet into small pieces and keep it on the fridge.
7. Prepare the vinaigrette: in a big bowl, mix the vinegar, the lemon juice, the olive oil, salt and pepper and basil.
8. Peel the spring onions (if needed) and cut then in slices.
9. In a big bowl, put the thinly sliced salad, the tomatoes, the peppers, the potatoes, the green beans, the onions, half of the vinaigrette and mix everything gently. Pour this mixture onto the big salad leaves on the serving plate.
10. Sprinkle the fish, the hard boiled eggs and the olives on top. Serve the remainder of the sauce aside.


A very refreshing kiwi and strawberry mousse full of vitamins to remind us that Spring approaches…
Ingredients for 1-2 people: 4 kiwis, 50g of strawberries, 15cl of liquid fresh cream, concentrated jelly (in the form of 2 transparent rectangles), 2 nice fresh mint leaves.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Refrigeration: 1-2h
1. Peel the kiwis, cut them in quarters and use a mixer to mash them into a puree.
2. Wash the strawberries thoroughly, remove the heads. Keep two aside and cut the others in slices.
3. Wet the plastic cups for mousse with cold water (you can find them in Migros des Cygnes), and cover the bottom and the sides with the slices of the strawberries.
4. Put the jelly in lukewarm water.
5. Thicken the fresh cream and add it to the mashed kiwis. Remove the jelly from the water (which should now have softened) and add them to the kiwis/cream mixture. Fill the mousse cups up to the top (use a knife to even). Put them in the fridge.
6. Before serving, quickly run the plastic part of the cups under hot water, and turn them over on a desert plate. For decoration, use the 2 strawberries you have kept aside and the fresh mint leaves.

Bon appetit!

If you would like more tips on how to cook certain things, just share your thoughts and I will gladly help you (don’t be shy!).

Iolly
IollyFeb 21, 2006 @ 20:50