Recipe: Christmas Salads with Jess & Kerry
It is finally December, and Christmas plans are well under way! Here at our head office we all celebrate Christmas very differently, but one thing we can agree on is that a good salad adds that extra special (and fresh!) touch to the Christmas meal.
We caught up with Jess our Warehouse Operations Manager and Kerry our Managing Director to hear about their plans for Christmas! Coincidentally but unsurprisingly they both picked salads from Miss Pollys Kitchen, we’ve got the recipes for you below!
Hi Kerry! Tell us a bit about how you plan to celebrate Christmas this year?
One of our Christmas traditions is staying over at my parents house on Christmas eve and all the kids open presents together on Christmas morning! Following that we will get together with the whole family for a late lunch, we are hoping for sunshine so we can spend the day dipping in and out of the pool! My brother & family are coming from Melbourne and Abbe’s mum will also be joining us this year.
I am on salads and desserts, Abbe is on cocktails, and my partner & kids are on the BBQ! For dessert we usually have heaps of flavours of ice cream as my dad is obsessed, plus pavlova for Abbe and a family favourite apple pie!
I discovered The Greekish salad from Miss Polly’s Kitchen earlier in the year, it is super easy to make and a crowd pleaser so that will definitely be on the menu!
Greekish Salad
Ingredients
1 red capsicum – diced into small chunks
1 large avocado – flesh diced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
¾ cucumber – diced into small chunks
½ red onion – finely diced
½ cup cup kalamata olives – pitted and halved
1 cup roughly chopped Italian parsley
1 cup roughly chipped mint
1 green chilli – finely sliced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon red wine vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon
150g feta – cut into chunks
Mix the capsicum, avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, parsley, mint and chilli in a serving bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Season it with salt and cracked pepper. Drizzle over the salad, then fold in the feta and serve.
Hello Jess! Tell us a bit about how you plan to celebrate Christmas this year?
We are very excited to be going to visit our extended family that we haven’t been able to visit for many years in England this year for Christmas. We can’t wait for a cosy winter Christmas, drinking mulled wine, hopefully seeing some snow and our kids meeting more of their family. As we are away for Christmas we celebrated early with our New Zealand family! We came together as a family, ate gooood food, had a stroll on the beach, exchanged early gifts and let the kids run wild with their cousins!
Mum made a beautiful layered cardamon & apricot meringue and I made lunch. We had Chicken Marbella, prosciutto wrapped melon, fresh bread, mimosas and a delicious salad from Miss Polly’s Kitchen.. keep reading for the recipe.
The Ultimate Green Salad
Ingredients
120g Rocket Leaves
2 Zucchini – cut into ribbons using a peeler
½ cup of peas
1 large spring onion, thinly sliced
½ cup roughly chopped Italian parsley
1 cup roughly chopped basil
1 large avocado – flesh sliced
1 cup shaved parmesan
½ cup roasted cashews – roughly chopped
1 red chilli – thinly sliced
The Ultimate Vinaigrette
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
To make The Ultimate Vinaigrette, whisk the ingredients in a small bowl. Season with salt and cracked pepper. Set aside.
In a large serving bowl, mix the rocket, zucchini, peas, spring onion, parsley & basil.
Gently toss in the avocado and parmesan. Top with the cashews and chilli.
Season well with salt and cracked pepper and serve with the Vinaigrette on the side.