Greek Salad Revamped

This is an especially lazy summer salad. If light refreshment on a hot muggy day is what you require then this is the one. No stove (and no sweat) necessary,  just chopping & chucking. FYI the herbs are the dealbreaker here: if you can get your hands on fresh then great but if dried is the order of the day skip the mint and stick with just dried oregano, and it will be just as delish.

Ingredients

1 large cucumber

A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved

A handful of black olives, pitted & halved

100g of Feta cheese, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

A few freshly torn mint & oregano leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Put everything apart from the cucumber into a large bowl. Use a veg peeler to turn the cucumber into fine ribbons, and chuck into the bowl with the rest on the ingredients. Season with black pepper. Toss and serve immediately

Duck & Mango Summer rice paper rolls

Vietnamese summer rolls are usually filled with chicken or prawns, rice noodles and coconut (among other things), but these are a duck and mango version and blooming lovely.

What you'll need

2 Cooked Ducks legs, the meat removed from the bone and then shredded 

1 ripe Mango, cut into baton-ish chunks

1 red chilli, finely sliced

A small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

1 red onion, finely sliced

The juice of 2 Limes

2 teaspoons of black sesame seeds

Salt & black pepper 

Rice papers

What to do

Rice papers take seconds to prep, they just need to soak in recently boiled water for 10 to 20 seconds to soften, so boil the kettle and prep the rest on the ingredients before soaking. This is chopping, shredding and lime-ing up the onions (ie adding a pinch of salt and the lime juice to the onion). This will take out some of the intensity of the onion flavour, keeping in the crunch and also provide a receptacle to hold the lime flavour rather than making everything wet with lime juice. Allow the Limey onion to sit for a few minutes.

Then commence the rice paper soaking. Best to do it 1 or 2 at a time because they stick together like no-bodies business. Once slightly softened, spread out the rice paper and put some of the filling bits in the middle, leaving gaps at the top and bottom. (Best to be a little stingey in the beginning as it's easier to roll a small sausage than a giant, over-stuffed roll). Season with freshly ground black pepper. Fold the gappy bits at the top & bottom up and then Roll..Roll!!

This will make about 10 rolls, which will feed 2 people as a lunch.
Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time (about 40 mins for the duck legs, otherwise none).

Any left over Mango can become a breakfast version the next morning...

 They weren't quite as neat as I'd hoped, but I'm defo getting better at the rolling. And you can cheat at the construction bit by using 2 rice papers at once, one on the bottom with the filling on top and then one on the top (in a sandwich fashion) and then doing the folding bit. This makes the folding a bazillion times easier and you have a bit of a double layer safety net, if there are any accidental rips or tears.

 And deconstructed...(It was early and I was hungry).

YUM

Instant banana, choc chip & maple syrup icecream with salted Marcona almonds

The BIG move is taking a little longer than expected. So to keep you going, have one of these...
This ice cream is glorious, even if the weather isn't! Quick, easy, dare I say it..healthy (well certainly healthier than the usual anyway) and a perfect way to use up the old bananas in your fruit bowl, if you don't fancy the standard banana cake? As the title indicates, this recipe is super quick (after waiting for your bananas to freeze), but beware..it wont re-freeze well (picture solid brick), due to the distinct lack of copious amounts of sugar, so needs to be eaten up, all of it. Probably wont be a problem, once you've had a 1st bite :)   

Ingredients - for 2 enormous servings, or 3 normal people portions. 
3 (ripe - overripe) bananas
50ml milk
15 - 30ml (1-2 tablespoons) maple syrup (depending on how sweet your sweet tooth is)
50g Dark or Plain chocolate, roughly chopped
A handful of Salted Marcona Almonds, roughly chopped

Method
Peel the bananas and place in a freezer bag, and then (you guessed it) in the freezer. Leave them there until completely frozen ( 4 hours should do it).
Once the bananas are frozen and you're ready for dessert, remove them from the freezer bag and put into a food processor. Add the milk & syrup and blend for 2 mins. Scrape down the bowl and blitz again for another 1-2 mins, until the mixture forms smooth, cohesive, soft ripples. Be careful of over blending, as it will turn into a smoothie. Stir in the chocolate and sprinkle over the almonds. Consume immediately.