Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple is definitely one of my all time favourite fruits & i love it even more having  recently discovered it tastes amazing made up into salsa as a side accompaniment to a main meal

What makes it even more amazing is that the sweet griddled pineapple makes it perfect to snack on & kill those late night sweet cravings & works perfect with the sharp lime & build up of heat from the chilli

So for my pineapple salsa you will need:

2x 500g bag of pineapple fingers
1x 100g tub of pomegranate seeds
Juice of one lime
A good handful of fresh mint leaves
1 red chilli de seeded
Salt & pepper to taste

•Start by dry frying the pinapple fingers in a griddle or frying pan. Don't add any oil, just let it colour golden brown. Set aside and leave to cool

•Chop the chilli and mint finely, place in a bowl. Add the lime juice and pomegranate seeds to the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, stir together.

•Add in the cooled pineapple, drizzle in a little olive oil, season to taste with salt & pepper, stir together till its all evenly mixed and serve. You can either serve it as an accompaniment to your main meal - it goes really well with chicken or fish, or just eat it on its own as a snack

You can leave the seeds in the chilli if you want it quite spicy, i de seeded it as my kids like it slightly milder

Mango, Avocado & Chilli Salsa

This is possibly one of the quickest and easiest side salads ever and it's one that I will eat with a variety of mains as well as sometimes just on its own. The freshness of the lime & mint is perfect with the sweetness of the mangoes and the added slight heat from the chillies gives a wonderful kick to your tastebuds.



To serve 4-6 people you will need :

3 avocados chopped into chunks 
 2x 275g pack of pre cut mango chunks*  
juice and zest of one lime 
2 good handfuls of chopped coriander
1 handful chopped mint 
pinch of salt & pepper 
1 red chilli finely chopped - deseeded if you'd like a slightly milder salsa 
olive oil 

• Place your avocado in a bowl with the pre cut mango chunks. Using a zester, add the whole zest of the lime to the bowl and squeeze in all the juice, adding in the salt & pepper and stir through
• Add the chopped chilli, coriander, mint, a drizzle of olive oil and stir through. Check the seasoning and overall flavours. Tweak as necessary if you feel it needs a little more of any of the ingredients & serve 

* I sometimes cut up the mango chunks again myself as they can be quite big, I prefer them almost bitesize

Amy's tabouleh

Amy's tabouleh .. I've named this recipe as such due to the fact that tabouleh is something that I'd always wanted to try but never actually had up until meeting with my friend Amy for a girly catch up and a cooking session of all sorts of little bits and bobs.  Not only do I absolutely love the flavour and textures in this dish, but I love how it consists of s little and there's no exact measurements of ingredients ; Simply toss it all together and tweak as you go along .

So for Amy's tabouleh you will need :

about 200g bulgar wheat*
a bunch of mint
a bunch of flat leaf parsley
a bunch of fresh coriander
1/2 tomatoes
pomegranate seeds
olive oil
lemon juice (optional)
salt and pepper to season

• Start by boiling the bulgar wheat in a pan until just tender, (just as you would with rice, it will also expand as rice does as it cooks away ) drain any remaining water, put into a bowl or dish you want to serve it in and leave to completely cool, then add a good splash of olive oil & a little lemon juice
• While the wheat cools, finely chop half the bunch of mint, coriander and parsley, add it into the wheat and stir through
• Roughly chop the tomato, add to the bowl along with the pomegranate seeds. Season with a little salt and pepper, check if your happy with the flavours and if you need to add more of whatever you feel it needs to. 
• Serve as you would a side salad with any main or simply eat on it's own as it is 

* if you're not keen on bulgar wheat you can swap it with cous cous. All you'd need to do is soak the cous cous with freshly boiled water. You need just enough water to cover the cous cous and cover it with cling film and leave for about 5-10 minutes to fluff up. You could even try bulgar whet with quinoa