This not so much a recipe as an idea. Tomorrow we head back to Turkey (can’t wait to be in my lovely big kitchen – the one here is a little on the ‘bijou’ side, and a lot of my cooking kit still resides in Turkey), so last night’s dinner was a final fridge-raid. (Tonight is fish and chips from the pub, as I’ve now cleaned the oven and the kitchen floor).
I really couldn’t face another version of fridge-raid soup and we had a couple of bags of fresh salad still to eat, plus a little container of chicken strips and a few slices of smoked bacon in the freezer. I cobbled the whole lot together and made a mustardy dressing, which I mixed in the pan in which I had fried the bacon and chicken – which made it warm and super delicious. We ate the salad with the last of a bag of new potatoes (local earlies) and some garlic bread. You can use whatever leftovers you like, and feel free to add some toasted walnuts, pine nuts or seeds (I forgot to do so). Here’s how I rolled:
- Halve some small tomatoes and put them on a baking tray that you have lined with baking paper and roast in a 180 degree oven until slightly scorched and starting to fall apart (about half an hour). If you are adding garlic bread, put this into the oven towards the end of baking (saves on electricity and means your tomatoes will be warm).
- Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry a few rashers of bacon until really crisp. Set the bacon aside to cool, the break into shards. Add some strips of chicken (breast or thigh is fine) to the pan – or other protein of your choice (thin strips of beef, a little chorizo or some prawns immediately spring to mind), along with a finely chopped clove of garlic and a generous sprinkling of chilli flakes and oregano. Cook until the chicken is a deep golden brown and starting to crisp. Set the chicken aside with the bacon, leaving any cooking juices in the pan.
- Meanwhile, arrange some salad leaves in a serving bowl and top with whatever you have going – I used spring onions (red onion would be fine), avocado and thinly-sliced fennel. Scatter the bacon, chicken and roasted tomatoes over the salad and top with any bits of cheese that you happen to have to hand – I used some feta, but any blue cheese, goat’s cheese or other soft cheese would be fine.
- To make the dressing, deglaze the pan with a little white wine/apple vinegar or balsamic vinegar, then whisk in a heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard. If using white wine or apple vinegar, add a teaspoon of brown sugar or a little drizzle of honey. Season generously and whisk in a little olive oil (about two tablespoons) until you have a cohesive glossy dressing. Drizzle all over the salad and sprinkle over some chopped parsley. Serve with the garlic bread, or other crusty bread for dunking into the dressing, and some new potatoes on the side.
I know I am back home in Turkey because a) I have to have a shower or throw myself into the pool every time I’ve completed even the least arduous of chores, owing to looming heat exhaustion, and b) when I bent to pick up a towel that had blown down from the line, I realised I also seemed to be holding on to a viper. Ooops. That tends not to happen in Cornwall, though I am sure there is a first time for everything.
We’ve been back in the UK for over a week, and I made these muffins when we were still in Turkey. Just goes to show how time flies when you are enjoying yourself (or when you are in the middle of a house move and renovation).
I realise I have been somewhat remiss at posting recipes of late, but there haven’t been too many exciting things coming out of my cooking cupboard – and certainly nothing remotely photogenic. My challenge is to cook things using no more than two pans, as I only have a two-ring electric camping hob at my disposal. Unfortunately, the choice of temperature seems to be ‘nuclear hot’ or ‘off’. No simmering then – I could kick myself for not remembering to bring our rarely-used slow-cooker over from Turkey. 
We have declared 
This is certainly a year of unpredictable weather. Last week, most of Turkey’s airports were snowed to a standstill, we were hardly visible under our many layers of clothing and competing with the cats for space by the stove. This week we’ve felt more like ducks – paddling around in huge puddles and acres of mud, dodging the storms and trying to park our car under cover, where it won’t be hit by the golf-ball-sized hailstones. Eeek. 
We rarely eat bread from our local bakeries – I am sure Turkish bread is a novelty if you are a tourist, but it’s basically quite a lot of very sharp crust filled with quite a lot of air. Oh, and the only bits in the middle that aren’t actually air are horrible chemicals which act as yeast accelerators so that the bakers only have to give the dough one rise (very poor behaviour). 
Another grey day, though it hasn’t actually started raining (so far). I feel a day of catching up with a few jobs coming on, interspersed with a spot of light blogging activity. I think we are having a 5:2 day too – I was put off eating any breakfast this morning by having to deal with the regurgitated remains of a mouse – at least I think that is what it started life as – which had been left in the middle of the kitchen terrace, so I’m off to a good start. (Thanks guys). 
aviewfrommykitchen.com 