Garlic Herb Shrimp with a Potato and French Bean Salad

It's a public holiday and the weather is sunny but cool. Perfect for a cold salad lunch.

Mrs O is cooking dinner today and I'm super excited for her. It'll be nice to get together and chit chat with all the peeps.

This serves 2 for an entree and 4 for an appetiser.

For the salad:

• 4 small potatoes
• A fistful of french beans, cut into 3-inch sections
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon Italian herb mix (you can get this at Cold Storage in tubes)
• Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
• 2 handfuls salad greens

Boil the potatoes with skin on until tender, then cut into bite-sized cubes. Do the same for the french beans and let them cool to room temperature.

To make the dressing, whisk together the creme fraiche, mustard, roasted garlic paste and herbs and season to taste with pepper and salt.

Chuck the cooled potatoes and french beans into the dressing, mix well and place in the fridge to chill while you make the shrimp.

• 8 large tiger prawns
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 teaspoons Italian herb mix
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Freshly ground salt and pepper

Peel and devein the prawns, and season with 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper.

In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and stirfry the prawns, along with all the seasoning juices. Be careful not to overcook and remove the prawns from heat once they turn red. Let cool to room temperature.

To assemble the salad, place a handful of salad greens on a plate and spoon a mound of potato and french beans over. Arrange the prawns on top and drizzle with the leftover prawn juices.

Smelly garlicky deliciousness. Remember the mouthwash before kissing!

Other healthy things:

• Spiced braised lamb shanks with grilled vegetables
• Crabmeat waldorf salad
• Spice-rubbed grilled chicken salad
• Black pepper and mushroom steak with lemon-scented broccoli

Spice-Rubbed Grilled Chicken Salad

Since I've been defeated by chicken eggs, I will take my fury out on the chicken itself.

Yet another opportunity to try out the Egyptian spice mix for chicken. Once again, I don't know what's in it, but here's my best guess on replicating it.

Burn in my spices and oven you fowl thing!

Serves 2 for entree, 4 for appetizer.

• 1 large chicken breast with skin on, deboned
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix the spices with the olive oil and lemon juice till everything is evenly blended. Rub the chicken breasts evenly with the spice paste till well coated and leave to marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Roast, skin up in a 180C oven for 20 - 30 minutes until skin is golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, make the salad and the dressing.

• 2 servings salad greens
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt

Chuck everything into a jar with a tight screw-on lid and shake the heck out of it. Alternatively, you can whisk until emulsified. Pour over greens and toss well. You can skip this altogether by using your favourite bottled dressing of choice.

To serve, slice the chicken breast on the bias and serve atop a bed of salad greens.

Other healthy things:

• Spiced braised lamb shanks with grilled vegetables
• Crabmeat waldorf salad
• Black pepper and mushroom steak with lemon-scented broccoli
• Garlic herb shrimp with a potato and french bean salad

Crabmeat Waldorf Salad

I am shamelessly ripping this off from Suburbia. But for a healthy spin, I'm using creme fraiche instead of mayonnaise and loading up on herbs for a fresh flavour.

Serves 2 as entrees, 4 as appetisers.

• 2 cups cooked crab meat
• 1 green apple, peeled and diced
• 1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 heaped tablespoon creme fraiche (you can substitute with plain unsweetened yoghurt if you can't find creme fraiche)
• 2 teaspoons chopped mixed Italian herb mix
• 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• Juice and rind of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salad greens
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt

Make the dressing for the leafy greens first with 1/2 the lemon juice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon herb mix, 1/2 teaspoon mustard, salt and pepper. Pour everything into a jar with a lid and shake till emulsified.

Next, place the creme fraiche, lemon juice and rind, herbs, remaining mustard, pepper and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the crabmeat, walnuts and apple into the dressing and mix well.

Toss the salad greens with the dressing and place a portion on a plate. Spoon a mound of the crab mixture over and sprinkle some walnuts to finish off.

Other healthy things:

• Spiced braised lamb shanks with grilled vegetables
• Spice-rubbed grilled chicken salad
• Black pepper and mushroom steak with lemon-scented broccoli
• Garlic herb shrimp with a potato and french bean salad

Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables

Zucchini is in season it seems. Saw some super fresh fat green and yellow ones at the supermarket, which means grilled veggies is the order of the day.

This stuff is fabulous. Simple, but the freshness and flavour of the vegetables come through so well. It makes a great side on it's own, or as a salad tossed with a bit of balsamic vinagrette. You can even stack them up, scatter some of your favourite cheese and tomato sauce in between the layers and grill in a hot oven till cheese melts for a mixed vegetable parmagiana.

I like to make up a big batch and store it in the fridge because they're even yummy cold.

• 1 green zucchini
• 1 yellow zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 eggplant
• 5 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• Freshly ground black pepper

Cut the vegetable into 1cm slices and toss with olive oil, oregano, salt and black pepper. Toss until the seasoning and oil evenly coats the vegetables.

Heat a grill pan on high heat. Start with the peppers because they take the longest to cook, 5 minutes on each slice. Then grill the zucchini and eggplant, 2 minutes on each side. Resist the urge to move the vegetables or flip them around constantly, so that you get nice clean grill marks.

Mozzarella and Cherry Tomato Salad with a Basil Pesto Dressing

A classic combination that never goes wrong. This is like a quickie Vegas wedding with a twist - fast and easy, but with no regrets.

Use fresh buffalo mozzarella, or to amp up the cute kawaii factor, try bocconcini, which are basically baby-sized balls of the same thing.

If you don't have time or can't be arsed to make your own dressing, just use any pre-made pesto thinned out with a little olive oil to get the right consistency.

Serves 2:

• 1 large ball of mozzarella or 10 bocconcini
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• A large handful of fresh basil
• A handful of pine nuts, toasted
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground salt and pepper

In a food processor, whizz the pine nuts until finely and evenly chopped. Add basil leaves and continue to whizz until it's a fine even paste. Add olive oil to thin out until it's a thin pouring consistency and season to taste with salt and pepper. Empty into a salad bowl.

Tear the mozzarella into bite-sized cubes or halve the bocconcini. Slice cherry tomatoes in half and dump everything into the salad bowl with the dressing. Toss until mixed evenly and serve.

Other items on the Red, White and Ooohhh menu:

• Grilled red pepper and sundried tomato pasta
• Boeuf bourguignon with mashed potatoes
• White chocolate and cherry cupcakes
• Red rubies in coconut milk  
• Raspberry macarons with a buttercream filling
• Cream scones with homemade raspberry preserves and freshly made whipped cream

Mediterranean Salad

This brings the best of everything mediterranean into one big-ass bowl.

The tartness of the tomatoes is complemented with the milky saltiness of the feta cheese and enhanced with the smokiness of the olives and sundried tomatoes.

You can use ready made italian dressing or any of your favourites. But if you have time, home made dressing is always the yummiest.

Here's what you need for 8 people:

• 10 - 12 ripe roma tomatoes
• 10 basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup olives
  1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 block greek feta cheese, cubed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp Italian herb mix (Chop or pound basil, oregano, thyme and parsley into a superfine mix, almost resembling a paste. Alternatively, you can buy the paste in tubes at Cold Storage.)

To make dressing, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, tomato paste and Italian herbs until emulsified. If you don't have a wire whisk, shaking the ingredients in a jar with a screw-on cap works just as well.

Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl, pour on the dressing and mix well with your hands.

That's pretty much it. Hassle-free and utterly deliciouso!

See the rest of the BBQ Bonanza menu here:

• Roasted garlic hummus
• Mussels in white wine broth
• Singaporean BBQ chicken wings
• Fish in lemon, butter and dill sauce
• Honey, mustard and herb beef kebabs 
• Mediterranean salad
• Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Baby spinach salad

This is really quick to throw together, and makes for a great side dish, or even as a light meal. Tender baby spinach leaves and buttery baby portobellos, dressed in a homemade dressing and topped with crunchy bacon bits and creamy feta cheese. Veggies never tasted quite so sinful.

Made this last night, only to discover that GBF isn't a big fan of spinach. Ah well, c'est la vie. Will give him something else next weekend then.

Serves 2

• Couple of handfuls of baby spinach, washed and dried
• 4-5 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
• Knob of butter
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• A few rashers of bacon
• 2-inch cube of feta cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

Cut bacon into strips, fry till crisp, drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a pan, melt a knob of butter and saute mushrooms till soft. Set aside in a bowl with juices. If you like your salad a little wilted, you can start on the salad right away so that the heat from the mushrooms cook the leaves slightly. For crunchier leaves, let the mushrooms cool completely.

To make the dressing, whisk oil, vinegar and mustard until it emulsifies (becomes thick and gel-like). If you don't have a whisk, put the ingredients in a jar with a screw-on cap and shake the living crap out of it.

Add spinach leaves to the mushrooms and toss with dressing. Sprinkle on the crispy bacon and crumble feta over. Add pepper and salt to taste.

A great add-on to this is a poached egg. Break through the yolk and let the creamy oozy yolk mix in... Sinfully delicious.