Saturday, September 26, 2009

Nothing-in-the-house salad

This is what it looks like today.

So I decided to do the salad thing again (enticing spring and all that, not that it worked last week, but let's just say that I am of that old-fashioned if at first you don't succeed school of thought). There was nothing in the house though. Not the usual stuff, is what I mean. And in weather like this I was not likely to go to a shop. So:

Ingredients: Three tiny spinach leaves from my garden (which is all the snails left me, alas). Some sad, half-eaten parsley from my garden (ditto). Four olives. Found in package at back of fridge. No mould so should be okay. The leftover half-a-tomato from yesterday's cheese & tomato sandwich. The half-a-roundel of feta cheese left over in the bottom of the jar. Still edible though. Half-a-tin whole kernel corn. And then the thing that transformed this sad pile of leftovers into a salad fit for a king - Oded Schwartz's fantastic preserved lemons - just a small slice, chopped up and mixed with the rest of the ingredients. The lemon slices are preserved in olive oil with a hint of paprika and cayenne pepper, utterly delicious! No dressing or other seasoning needed.

12 comments:

Leenie said...

You can make anything look good! My version of your Spring Salad--although autumn here--was delicious. Thanks for the inspiration. (Note to self. Buy feta).

Sarah said...

It looks delicious! I have a friend Claire who has this skill of using whatever leftovers she has and turning them into a delicious plate of yumminess. You have that too it seems!

Lady P said...

the link to the preserved lemons was so enticing - i could give them a lot of my money in exchange for their pickled yummies
great attemtpt at conjuring spring into your hemisphere
hope it works soon
we are in the midst of an indian summer that for us, is quite amazing
our weather is notorious to looking like yours is right now
our luck continures to hold out

nathalie et cetera said...

mmm! sound delicious! isn't it great when you can prepare a meal with nothing and it is still good. going to have breakfast now. you made me hungry!

Denise Kiggan said...

Sometimes those - all you have in the house ones are the best! They call for greater creativity!

Linda Sue said...

Anairam YUM! You are a very clever hunter gatherer- I am afraid that when the cupboards are bare here we only have bird seed and pup biscuits and maybe some weevel filled pancake mix...I am pretty sure that YOU could come up with something acceptable and photogenic but I am useless.

dinkum design said...

It looks the same outside my window. The beach is a definite no go today. Not so good for our up country visitors. I think I'm going to give up on the salad and make soup instead.

My Castle in Spain said...

oh..yummy...it's nearly lunchtime her, my boyfriend went for bread but what we don't have is a nice fresh salad like yours!
:-)

Deniz said...

oohh i love what you made out of the few ingredients! looks and sounds wonderfully yummy!

Anonymous said...

you've made my mouth water, which i really didn't think was possible, given the less-than-grand beginnings of this salad.
oh what i'd give for scraps from your fridge right now.

Nicky Linzey said...

Brilliant, amazing what can be done. I too find myself out in the garden picking the snails left overs! Your salad does look yummy.

aimee said...

it takes a true artist to make a salad like that with nothing but leftovers. and you even checked for mold!

if i had to make a salad out of nothing-in-the-house it would be made out of candy corn, ice cream, sprinkles and maybe a half-eaten cookie.