Alex's Recipes

Pear, Walnut & Roquefort Salad

• 1/2 head of Leaf Lettuce (or the equivalent in Mixed Greens)
• 2 small Plum Tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Honey
• 1/3 cup Walnut Pieces
• 1/4 cup Red Wine
• 1 Pear, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup Roquefort Cheese, crumbled

Wash the lettuce and add the diced tomato.

Heat the oil and honey in a frying pan. Add the walnuts and coat. Add the wine, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens a tiny bit. Add the pear slices, coat them and heat through.

Pour the sauce over the lettuce and tomato then add the cheese. Toss it all together and serve immediately.

(Serves 1 for dinner or 2 as a side dish)

Tomato Raita

This Raita is very thick and I use it as a salad  or a dip.

• 1 English Cucumber
• 1 Tomato
• 1 small Onion
• 1 cup Yogurt
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Pepper to taste

Peel, seed and grate the cucumber and put in a colander with the salt. Let the liquid drain for about 10 minutes.

Seed and finely dice the tomato. Finely dice the onion.

Mix all the ingredients together and chill before serving.

(Serves 2)

Simple Cucumber Salad

• 1 cup thinly sliced Cucumber
• 1 seeded and diced Plum or Roma Tomato
• 3 tablespoons Cider Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
• Salt & Pepper

Combine all the ingredients (I use a cheese slicer to get nice thin cucumber slices). Let sit in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

If the salad is too vinegary, add a little bit of sugar to take away the tartness.

(Serves 1)

Chunky Salsa

This salsa is more of a salad than a dip, but if you cut up the veggies finely enough, it'd be good with nachos.

• 2 Plum or Roma Tomatoes
• 1 Avocado
• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Spring Onion (or half a medium Onion)
• 1 Lime
• Salt, pepper, olive oil
• Some sort of Kick (from Chili Powder to Powdered Chilis, depending on your tolerance for heat)

Seed the tomatoes by cutting them in quarters and using your thumbs strip out the seeds and pulp that come away easily.

Cut the tomatoes, the avocado and the pepper into bite sized pieces. Dice the onion to whatever degree of chunkiness suits you (I like it quite small as large chunks of raw onion turns me off the food).

Mix all the veggies in a bowl.

Add the juice of one lime - the fresher the better.

Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with a dash of olive oil.

Add the kick (In Canada, I use chili powder; in France my new-found love <<Sauce Basque>>)

Toss everthing well to completely coat the veggies then let sit in the fridge for at least ten (10) minutes.

Also really good the next day.