Salad – The Food Wife

Asian-inspired Noodle Salad with Prawns

6th September 20256th September 2025
by thefoodwife

Serves 2

I absolutely love a noodle salad, they are wonderfully versatile and you can use up whatever salad or veg you have. This is more of a guide than a recipe per se but I will include the dressing which was so delicious. If you like it sweeter then add a little sugar too but I found the Thai sweet chilli sauce was sweet enough.

Ingredients:

Loads of raw veg sliced up (I used iceberg lettuce, carrot, yellow pepper, red cabbage and tomatoes)

100g (when dry) cooked and cooled vermicelli noodles

For the dressing:

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp lemon/lime juice

1 tbsp tamarind (or an other tbsp of lemon/lime juice)

12 king prawns, cooked

Step 1: Mix the dressing ingredients together in a large bowl.

Step 2: Add the vegetables and cooled noodles and toss thoroughly.

Step 3: Add the cooked prawns and serve immediately.

Smoked Salmon Pasta Salad with a Lemon & Dijon…

18th June 202518th June 2025
by thefoodwife

Serves 2 for lunch or 1 hungry person

Here is a summery idea for what to do with a packet of smoked salmon trimmings. Arrange the bare salad leaves on the serving dish and then add the dressed pasta salad on top. Itâ€™ll stop the leaves becoming soggy with dressing but theyâ€™ll get a light coating from the pasta on top.

I enjoyed this in the sunshine. Highly recommend.

Ingredients:

100g pasta shells cooked, according to the packet instructions and then drained and immediately cooled by running cold water through the pasta

100g smoked salmon trimmings

4 small tomatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 spring onion, sliced

2 handfuls of mixed salad leaves

10 basil leaves, torn

For the dressing:

2 tbsp olive oil (ideally half being a lemon infused oil)

1 tbsp cider/white wine vinegar

1/2 lemon, juice only (if not using lemon infused oil also use the zest)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Black pepper to taste

Step 1: Place the dressing ingredients in a lidded jar and shake until combined (alternatively whisk in a bowl until emulsified).

Step 2: Combine the pasta, tomatoes, red pepper, spring onion, basil and salmon in a bowl. Drizzle over the dressing and toss together.

Step 2: Spread the salad leaves on the serving plate and then add the pasta salad on top. Serve immediately.

Broccoli, Apple and Radish Slaw

14th July 2024
by thefoodwife

Well, this was flung together when I realised Iâ€™d forgotten to buy a cabbageâ€¦ everything chopped small with a delicious maple syrup and mustard dressing. Definitely worth revisitingâ€¦

Ingredients:

1/2 head of raw broccoli, finely chopped

1 eating apple, cored and finely chopped

4 radishes, finely chopped

1 spring onion, finely chopped

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cider vinegar

Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the syrup, mustard, oil and vinegar into a smooth dressing.

Step 2: Add all the chopped ingredients and mix through, serve immediately!

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower Salad with a Yoghurt Dressing

26th March 202426th March 2024
by thefoodwife

Serves 2-4

This was a happy lunch, made when I looked in the fridge and saw a rather sad cauliflower, half a swede and a bit of savoy cabbage, that all needed using immediately or it would be going in the compost. Waste not want not!

The result, a spiced warm salad that was delicious! It would have served two people as it was or would stretch to four with the addition of a flatbread each on the side.

You can use whatever veg you have to hand to compliment the cauliflower. I had 1/2 a swede but a butternut squash would have been great too. If you had a sweet potato or peppers that needed eating they too could have joined in.

A great, one-pan, warming salad. Give it a go!

Ingredients:

1 large cauliflower cut into florets about 2 inches long

1/2 butternut squash/swede peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

Red onion, sliced (fresh or pickled)

Coriander or flat leaf parsley

2 tbsp Pomegranate seeds

1 tbsp Olive oil

2 tbsp Ras Al Hanout

4 tbsp Plain yoghurt (vegan if required)

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180c (fan). Spread the cauliflower and butternut squash or swede, along with any other veg your using, onto a baking tray, drizzle with the oil and the ras al hanout (reserving 1 tsp for the yoghurt dressing). Toss together and bake for 50 minutes, giving everything a shake/turn half way through cooking.

Step 2: Mix together the yoghurt and reserved ras al hanout. Set to one side to use as the dressing.

Step 3: Allow the vegetables to cool a little and plate up when they are warm. Either dress one plate that everyone can help themselves from or plate up individually.

Step 4: Spread the warm vegetables on their serving plate and dress with a few slices of the red onion, the pomegranate seeds and a few torn parsley or coriander leaves. Finish by drizzling with the spiced yoghurt dressing.

Serve immediately.

Tomato and Burrata Salad

1st July 20231st July 2023
by thefoodwife

Serves 8

Is this even a recipe? Itâ€™s more a list of ingredients you put on a plate, but it is delicious. You can scale up or down, and use whatever tomatoes you fancy (I used a mix of regular salad tomatoes and fancy patterned tomatoes which provided both volume and something a little more interesting without breaking the bank).

Use the best EVOO and Balsamic you can and always make sure your tomatoes are at room temperature if you want them to taste of anything. The fridge here is not your friend.

Ingredients:

800g Tomatoes, sliced as you like, at room temperature.

2 Burratta

10-12 basil leaves, torn

Flaky sea salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Step 1: Arrange the tomatoes on a platter, around the Burratta.

Step 2:Just before serving adorn with the torn basil leaves a scrunch of flaky salt and a drizzle of the oil and vinegar. Serve.