As we shift into autumn, we thought it was a good time to remind you that salads are not just for summer time, and we decided to share this fabulous potato salad recipe from Gillian Veal’s recent publication Cafe Cooking.
So dig up the remaining tatties from your garden patch, or go buy some local ones and get cooking this delicious dish.
Recipe:
The east of Scotland is potato country and we grow loads of them at Cambo so we always have a potato salad on the menu. For salad you want a waxy variety of potato, not the larger floury ones a they won’t hold their shape. This is one of my favourite potato salads. When we have them in the garden, I add a few slices of radish.
Serves 4
500g baby potatoes or any waxy potato
1 tsp turmeric
2 sprigs fresh mint, leaves only, roughly chopped
150g spinach, rocket or mixed leaves, roughly chopped
3 spring onions, sliced lengthways in half, then diagonally into 2cm slices
1 tsp nigella seeds (optional)
3 heaped tbsp pickled red onion
salt and white pepper
for the dressing:
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp runny honey or maple syrup
6 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the potatoes in half and put them in a large pot. Fill the pot three-quarters full with water, plenty of salt and the turmeric, then bring the pot to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender. Drain them in a colander and set them aside to cool.
Put the warm potatoes in a large bowl and add the mint leaves and the spinach, rocket or mixed leaves. Add the sliced spring onions, the nigella seeds, if using, and the pickled red onions.
To make the salad dressing, put the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, mustard and honey or maple syrup into a bowl and whisk it together. Taste and add salt and pepper as you think it needs it, then pour in the olive oil and whisk until the dressing emulsifies.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss everything gently but firmly. Season to taste with salt and white pepper.
Voila! Thank you Gillian.
We hope you enjoy trying this delicious recipe out at home and for more why not grab a copy of Cafe Cooking by Gillian direct from us right here.
https://kitchenpressbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/31-potato-salad-1-scaled.jpg25601967Bosshttps://kitchenpressbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/KP-web-header-2.pngBoss2024-09-04 19:56:202024-09-04 20:07:07Spinach, Turmeric and Mint Potato Salad Recipe
We at KP are looking forward to a long and glorious summer ahead with plenty more opportunities to spend time with friends and family, and of course to cook and eat together again.
For us summer means salads. Fresh, exciting and healthy options often direct from the garden or from local producers. It’s the actual taste of sunshine.
When we think of salads of course we think of Gillian Veal of The Parlour Cafe. Gillian helped define and map our journey into cookbooks way back with our first publication – The Parlour Cafe Cookbook.
Throughout the lockdowns of the last year Gillian continued to express her love of good food and fresh produce through her home delivery Mezze menus which were highly popular and universally well received.
Gillian continues to dedicate a lot of her time to the cafe she runs at Cambo Gardens in Fife, where the focus is on taking fresh, seasonal ingredients direct from the estate’s wonderful gardens and delivering it onto the plate.
We are so excited to be working with Gillian and the team at Gambo Gardens on an amazing new cookbook project about this food journey and this highly creative and organic approach to cooking.
Meanwhile, we thought we would throwback to an inspirational seasonal salad recipe from Gillian’s first book The Parlour Panzanella (Bread Salad) just to whet your appetite for the new book to come and to inspire you on your own personal journey into summer salads.
Enjoy this wonderful salad from The Parlour Cafe Cookbook and over to Gillian now to explain just how you make it.
Parlour Panzanella (Bread Salad)
There are loads of recipes out there for this Italian classic, but this is how we like it. It’s a brilliant dish for using up old bread and other leftovers – try adding some torn up buffalo mozzarella, or some sliced and cooked spicy Tuscan sausage. We roast our own peppers and use our own tomato sauce, but if you are pushed for time you can use shop bought.
Ingredients
1 ciabatta loaf (approx 270g) or any other rustic style bread
1 small red onion, finely sliced
50ml olive oil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
500g tomatoes, diced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced diagonally
2 tablespoons capers
1 red pepper, roasted, peeled and cut into strips
1 stick celery, chopped
handful of pitted olives
handful of basil, roughly chopped
handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
40ml vinegar (white or red or balsamic or sherry – whatever you fancy or have to hand)
200ml tomato sauce (see page 101)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 190ºC.
Tear up the loaf into bite-sized pieces and put on a baking tray with the sliced onion. Toss with the olive oil and oregano and bake for ten minutes.
Meanwhile, put the diced tomatoes, spring onion, capers, pepper, celery, olives, basil and flat leaf parsley in a large serving bowl. Get in there with your hands and mush it all together to get the flavours going and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Take the toasted bread out of the oven and immediately sprinkle on the vinegar – you should hear it sizzle. Tip the contents of the baking tray into the tomato sauce, and then mix through all the other ingredients.
This is good served with either some simply dressed rocket alongside or with rocket mixed through it.
And for those keen to make their own tomato sauce Parlour style. Here’s how to do just that.
Tomato Sauce
This is very useful: you can use it as a simple sauce for pasta, in a vegetarian lasagne, to stuff vegetables, to add to soup or as a pizza sauce. I like to dip good bread in it. It keeps so well in the fridge (about a week) or the freezer (indefinitely) that you may as well make a big batch – it doubles or even triples up really easily. This amount makes about twice what you need for our Aubergine Parmigiana, so you could have that one night and keep the rest for an easy pasta dinner for two some other time. If you have some string, tie the thyme and bay leaves neatly together before putting into the pan, and it will be easier to remove them at the end. And if you like your tomato sauces really garlicky, separate and peel all the garlic cloves before adding them and blend along with everything else at the end.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
1 large carrot, diced
handful of fresh thyme
a few bay leaves
1 whole head of garlic
800g chopped tomatoes (2 x 400g tins)
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ – 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Once it’s hot, put in the onions, carrot, thyme, bay leaves and the whole head of garlic and give a good stir, then fry until everything starts to take on a nice golden brown hue. Add the tomatoes, Worcester sauce and half of the sugar and bring to the boil, stirring regularly.
Turn down the heat to low, half cover and simmer for 1 to 2 hours – the longer the better. Stir every so often to ensure the sauce does not catch and burn. Once most of the liquid has evaporated, the vegetables are absolutely soft and the sauce has deepened in colour and amalgamated nicely, stir in 1½ tablespoons of the red wine vinegar and season with salt. Simmer for a few more minutes and taste, adjusting with more vinegar, sugar or salt if necessary. Leave to cool, then pick out the whole garlic head, thyme and bay leaves before blending the sauce in a food processor or with a hand blender.
And enjoy your summer of salads!
https://kitchenpressbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Cambo-Salad.jpg14401440Bosshttps://kitchenpressbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/KP-web-header-2.pngBoss2021-06-01 17:56:192021-06-01 18:26:25Summer Of Salads – The Parlour Panzanella Recipe
The Parlour Cafe Cookbook was our very first publication way back in the mists of time. We owe its spectacular chef and author Gillian Veal a massive debt for launching our book list in such exquisite style.
So we thought it was only right to kick off this series with Gillian, especially as we are currently working with her on a brand new title [trumpet sounds].
The new cookbook is based around the food she creates at Cambo Gardens in the East Neuk of Fife. Her cafe is set in the old stables of the historic Cambo manor house amongst gloriously kept walled gardens which are packed full of vegetables and herbs for her to use in her culinary creations. It is a magical setting for any chef and Gillian has simply thrived there, so we are very pleased that soon she will be sharing that magic with you all.
Meanwhile we caught up with her at home and asked her a few wee questions….
Sit back and relax. It’s time for KITCHEN QUIZ!!!
Q: Hi Gillian, was there a cookbook that really inspired you?
A: The River Cafe Cook Book was the one. I loved the relationship between the two owners. It was inspiring how they bounced off each other with their knowledge of ingredients and simple approach. It set me on the path that led to The Parlour Cafe Cook Book.
Q: What is your favourite item in your kitchen that you simply couldn’t do without?
A: I love all my gran’s old pans and baking stuff. They simply don’t make them like that anymore. And I recently treated myself to a thermo mix ,which is a bit like having a second chef work with me.
Q: Do you have a favourite song, type of music or podcast you like to cook along to?
A: Oh impossible to choose any one song or genre in particular. It’s like my food, I mostly decide what I’m going to make that very day. Same with the music. It’s a good day when the right music and food comes together. I’m lucky I have so many friends around with a passion for music, so I get introduced to all sorts in the cafe. My only habit is I always listen to the radio from when I get to work till 10am. It’s like my timer to prepping for the days service. I normally listen to Radio 6, but flip over to Radio 4 as well if I’m not feeling it.
rpt
Q: If you could cook anywhere in the world in any location then where would you choose?
A: There are so many places I still have to visit, but for now Andalucia in Spain would be my number one choice. It has the perfect variety of food and cooking styles. So probably an outdoor kitchen at the top of a beautiful beach from around 4pm till sunset. And perhaps with the odd glass of vino…
Q: If you had to give one single piece of advice to someone about cooking then what would that be?
A: My one piece of cooking advice would be to engage all your senses. It’s not just about following a recipe. If something doesn’t smell, taste or feel correct then do something about it. You have to feel it. While cooking it might even involve getting to know the right sound an ingredient makes when it hits the pan. It should be a passion and not just work.
Thank you so much for doing our Kitchen Quiz Gillian. We can’t wait to try out your new recipes from Cambo very soon!
The Courier 
