Fennel salad with celery and oranges.

Summer time is here and fennel is in season. This salad is really fresh and light, fennel has a real sharp aniseed like flavour similar to licorice and the celery and orange balance out that strong taste. Fennel is best served with seafood and chicken.

Ingredients:

• 1 large bulb of fennel.
• 1 stick of celery.
• 1 orange.
• Light mayonnaise to coat the salad.
• Seasoning if required.
• Optional but fresh herbs like dill, spring onions and chives.

Method:

• Grab a sharp knife, mandoline or a grater and were going to finely shave the fennel and celery so its paper thin. Having big chunks of fennel is a little overpowering. ( A mandoline is plastic board with a razor attached to it. Makes shaving vegetables quick and easy, and there fairly cheap to buy. On some graters there is that side panel that has just one slit.)
• Peel the orange of its skin. You can either segment it like in the photo or just cut it into rounds.
• Grab all your ingredients and mix in a bowl . Add seasoning to you're liking and enjoy.

This salad is pretty easy to make. If you're having some friends over and you want to add a little extra fanciness then add some Bottarga. It is tuna roe eggs that have been dried and compressed into a little block and to shave a little on top of this salad is amazing. You can pick it up from specialty food stores like Thomas Dux or some gourmet deli's.

Makes: 2 to 3 serves.

Prep time: 10 minutes.

Notes:

• Gluten free
• Nightshades free

Also to store fennel once it has been shaven and if you do not intend to cook it. Place it in a container with some water and squeeze the juice from 1 lemon and then throw the lemon skin in with the fennel. It should keep for a few more days until it goes brown.

Baked chicken with zuchinni,peas and mint.

This is a quick and tasty one. Hmm maybe even to good to give away! These ingredients all go together really well. We have some good textures with this dish, the soft zucchini which were going to pan fray and then add our peas at the end to give it some pop.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast or thigh. 150 grams
• Zucchini, 100 grams. Cut into rounds.
• Peas, 80 grams. You can also use snow-peas or sugar snaps if you don't want to use frozen peas.
• Half a bunch of mint, roughly chopped.
• 2 garlic cloves chopped up finely or grated.
• 2 tbs of oil.

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Chicken breasts take longer to cook than thighs, so you can either butterfly it through the middle or cut it into smaller pieces. Cook in the oven for roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Also to speed up cooking time in the oven, before hand sear the chicken each side in a hot pan with a little oil. Chicken should be cooked above 75 degrees or if you do not have a thermometer, clear juice should start to come out.
• While the chicken is cooking heat a skillet with some oil, once it starts to smoke place zucchini in and toss quickly. Let the zucchini get a little brown in colour , then place the peas garlic and mint and toss in the pan so ingredients are all combined.
• Cooking time for the zucchini garnish should be nice and quick, so no more than 4 to 5 minutes.
• Place all ingredients on a plate and devourer.

Makes:2 to 3 serves

Prep/cook time: 30 minutes.

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Nightshades free
• Egg free

Lamb loin with cumin roasted cauliflower

This dish is quick and easy, its got everything paleo going for it. Lamb loin is a very lean cut of meat, but still retains a lot of tasty lamb flavour goodness. This cut of meat cooks quite quickly also and it goes really well with spices like cumin. If you have the time roughly 3 hours before hand or overnight, marinate the lamb in a little oil, some rosemary, and some lemon juice.

You might of seen by now I use lemon juice in a few of the dish's I've put up. Lemon juice is acidity and if you use it on meats or vegetables it helps break down the cell walls and allows herb aromas and other liquids to enter and flavour foods. Use on raw finely sliced veggies as well to soften them. Most vegetables can be used except starchy ones like potato, pumpkin, and sweet potato.


Ingredients:

• Lamb loin, around 150 grams.
• Cauliflower, around 300 grams. Cut up and into bite size pieces.
• Cumin spice,roughly 2 tablespoons.
• Macadamia oil.
  

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to its max temperature. Were going to roast the cauliflower on a super high heat for roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Toss your cauliflower into a mixing bowl and add some oil and the cumin spice. Place onto a oven tray with aluminium foil and bake for 10 to 20 minutes depending how strong your oven is.
• While our cauliflower is cooking, grab a char-griller, or pan and sear lamb either side for roughly 2 minutes. Set aside and let it rest on top of a wire wrack for 5 minutes. If you like your meat cooked medium to well done, place into the oven for a little longer.
• Once cauliflower is done and meat is rested its time to eat. The cauliflower should be a little crunchy on the outside, but soft in the middle. Arrange on the plate as you like and finish with a little oil and some more lemon juice.

If you want a add a little fanciness, however its not quite so paleo then add some tzatziki.

Makes: 2 to 3 serves.

Prep/cook time: 30 minutes.

Notes:

• Gluten free.
• Dairy free.
• Nightshades free.
• Egg free.