Living in a country where the sun likes to play hide and seek, it has gotten me to learn the real meaning of sun over these years. Sun means happiness to me. When I see the sun coming out to play, I feel motivated and happier than the usual grey, cloudy, and windy day. Well, it’s not only me that feels differently when the sun shines. I suppose, fruits and vegetables are happier too as the sun makes them tastier and sweeter.

Salad is great, not only it’s easy to prepare but delicious and healthy to eat. I especially love making salad during summer and eat it as a meal on its own (with lots of ingredients of course) or make small and light salad to eat as starter. Either way, I think it’s a great way to eat fresh vegetables and fruits!

Watermelon is one of my favourite fruits. Since young, watermelon has managed to make it to my top 10 list of favourite fruits! I love eating it slightly chilled. Even so, I have never used watermelon in salad. I have seen some recipes using watermelon as one of the main ingredients in salad accompanied with feta cheese. I blogged about Greek salad a while ago. This is one of the salads that I have been making from time to time. Reason being the tastiness and its simplicity!

Like Greek salad, Feta cheese is important in this salad too. Try to get the best Feta cheese that you could find. Normally when I buy Feta cheese, I look for those that are imported from Greece. Same goes for Greek yoghurt.

Well, a little more about watermelon. Like I mentioned just now, it’s one of my favourites. I am very particular as I prefer the seedless watermelon. I really find it troublesome to spit out the seeds! Too bad that the one I bought wasn’t seedless. Arggggh! Anyway, I like to slice into chunky cubes and discard the rind. I also love to make it into juice. The other way to eat watermelon is to slice it into small and thin triangle shape with the rind on. Recently, I came across a post about the best way to serve watermelon on My Simple Food. I got really excited and thought that was a great idea!

If you like salad, watermelon or any of the ingredients in this salad, you will enjoy this very summery dish!

Recipe: Watermelon, Cucumber, Olive and Feta Salad

Ingredients:

Small watermelon, ½

Feta cheese, 200g

Purple radish, 2-3 (thinly sliced)

Cucumber, ½ (cubed)

Pitted black olives, 60g

Fresh mint, a small bunch (leaves picked)

Dressing:

Extra virgin olive oil, 4 tbsp

Lemon juice, 2-3 tbsp

Honey, 1 tbsp

Toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

1. For the watermelon, you can cut into square or use either a melon baller or a tablespoon to create scallops along the watermelon flesh of the watermelon.

2. In 4 individual bowls, arrange equal and enough portion of watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, sliced radish and black olives.

3. To prepare the dressing, combine all dressing ingredients in a jam jar. Cover and give it a good shake.

4. Drizzle enough dressing onto each portion of salad in each bowl. Garnish with some mint before serving.

Mango is such an amazing fruit that you can use it in making dessert or even in main/side dishes. Let me tell you, when I was young, I hated ripe mango. Unripe mango is always my preference. I eat it by itself. What? Yeah, just slice it, dip with salt (or without) and put it in my mouth. Sometimes, I like to pickle unripe mango too, then eat it as a snack. Or use it to make into salad. Apart from Som Tam – Thai papaya salad, Thai mango salad is also my favourite.

So, why is it that I like unripe mango so much? Errr.. it’s kind of hard to explain. My tolerance to acidity is pretty high compared to others in my family. I love sour, sweet and sour stuff. The rest would wait for the mango to ripe but, for me, unripe mango suits my palates. However, as time goes by, I kind of open my mind a little and give ripe mango a go. Well, it tastes pretty good too. So, I slowly accepted ripe mango later in my life. Now that I am a very ‘mango’ person, I like to use both ripe and unripe in my cooking.

Thai mango salad can be a great side dish. Like its sister, Thai papaya salad, both of them share pretty much the same features – sweet, sour, and spicy. In terms of ingredients, you can pretty much make your own version of Thai mango salad. The standard version is always a mixture of thinly sliced unripe mango with roasted peanuts, dried shrimps, shallots, and chopped bird’s eyes chili. My version – I always like to top some toasted crispy anchovies! This dish is pretty much about flavours and textures. I love the crunch of the anchovies, while having the sweetness, sourness, and spiciness of other ingredients. Given just Thai mango salad, I can eat it with rice. Yes, just white plain rice. You can serve Thai mango salad with just about anything – chicken, meat, prawns… or eat on its own.

Recipe: Thai Mango Salad

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

Mango (shredded), 400g

Shallots (thinly sliced), 2

Red Thai chili, 2-3

Fish sauce, 3-4 tsp

Lime juice, 4-5 tsp

Dried shrimps, 20g

Peanuts (toasted), 40g

Palm sugar, 3-4 tbsp

Dry anchovies (toasted), a handful (this is optional)

Coriander, to garnish

Method:

1. Peel the green mango and shred with a zigzag peeler.

2. Soak the mango in ice cold water to make it crispy.

3. Slightly crush the chilies, shallots, dried shrimps and peanuts in a mortar. Then, put in fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar. Mix well.

4. Pour in the above mixture into the sliced mango. Mix well.

5. Garnish with some toasted anchovies and coriander. Serve as a side dish.

Thai food. How do you describe Thai food? I would just simply say sweet, sour, and spicy! It’s a cuisine that is full of flavours, good use of ingredients and always never too complicated. I know I probably have mentioned this too many times but I am really glad that I have been brought up in a society that has allowed me to taste different cuisines without having to travel too far!

There’s one Thai restaurant in my hometown, that I always make sure I go when I travel back to Malaysia. It is very well-known amongst the locals and through word of mouth, many people travel from far to dine there. It’s just a basic restaurant without much deco that offers authentic Thai food. When I say authentic, I mean the food is like what a real Thai loves! There were 3 chefs, all Thai-Malaysian women, operated and owned by a Thai family. There’s absolutely no shortcut in preparing their dishes. No written menu is given, it’s always spelt out verbally. The ordering process always starts like this ‘what are the specials for the day’? We will see what we fancy for that day – chicken? vegs? fish? seafood? starters or no starers? Then, the waitress will tell us what they have for that day and how they will be cooked.

One thing that I don’t even have to think twice to order is Som Tam (ส้มตำ) or Thai Papaya Salad. Some restaurants call it Pok Pok. At first, I couldn’t make sense of why it’s called Pok Pok. Then, I learnt that it’s because when all the ingredients are all pounded together in a mortar using a pestle, it produces the sound “pok pok”. Hence, the reason why it’s also called Pok Pok.

Som tam is a spicy salad that is made from shredded green and firm papaya. Then, it is dressed with a sweet, sour, and spicy dressings. Som Tam is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand, originated in the northeast of the Kingdom. Som Tam is assembled in a mortar in which the vegetables and papaya are slightly crushed together, a technique that helps release the flavours and juices.

Som Tam is such a simple stuff but big in flavours - this is the reason why I love Som Tam so much!! No hassles in preparing – you don’t even have to use your wok/frying pan, oil and switch the gas on. Som Tam, it is a dish that I have been eating since young, it has become part of my life. It is probably one of the best friends to my taste buds! Once in a while, when my taste buds cry for help, especially for sweetness, sourness, and spiciness at the same time, Som Tam is what comes to my mind!

One thing though, it’s pretty difficult to get green papaya in London. But, I finally manage to track green papaya down! There is no where else to go but certain Asian supermarkets that stock plenty of SE Asian food and fresh ingredients! Having paid quite a big price for a medium size green papaya that probably costs only a few Malaysian Ringgits/Thai Bahts, is well worth it! High possibility that it costs nothing after all if there’s a papaya tree grown in the garden! The taste of Som Tam makes me feel at home, the taste that I am so familiar with. I am happy! It’s a dish that makes me happy, that’s it!

This Som Tam recipe that I am going to share today is from a Thai Chef that taught me how to make authentic Som Tam. I am sharing this dish of great flavours with all of you! Hope you’ll like it!

Recipe: Som Tam (Thai Papaya Salad)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Papaya (shredded), 400g

Garlic, 4 cloves

Green Thai chili, 2-3

Cherry tomatoes, 10

Long beans, 80g

Fish sauce, 3-4 tsp

Lime juice, 4-5 tsp

Dried shrimps, 20g

Peanuts (toasted), 40g

Palm sugar, 3-4 tbsp

Method:

1. Peel the green papaya and shred the papaya with a zigzag peeler.

2. Soak the papaya in water to remove the acid and make it crispy.

3. Crush the chili, garlic, long beans, dried shrimps and peanuts in a mortar.

4. Mix all the ingredients together with the pestle and spoon.

Note: You can use cashew nuts too.

Even though I had pretty busy schedule last week, that didn’t deter me from spending time in the kitchen to prepare simple and healthy dinner. I never bought prepared meals from the supermarket, except for pizza, Korean/Japanese instant noodles(from time to time when I really can’t be bothered!) and fresh pastas. If I could, I always like to cook from scratch!

I didn’t expect late summer sunshine at this time of the year. So, it was quite a good idea to have salad even for dinner. I don’t know about you, but when I am too busy, I lose my appetite to eat. More often than not, I try to eat more vegetables and fruits to boost my appetite.

My visit to Greece is a great culinary experience in search for authentic Greek food. Before I went there, I had very little knowledge about Greek food – probably just bits and pieces that I finally managed to put all the puzzles together.

As I bought a packet of mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, and spearmints) from Greece, I thought I would make Greek salad, which is one of my favourite salads! In Greece, as I mentioned in my previous post, Greek salad was served with a generous slab of feta cheese, which really surprised me when I tried my first ever Greek salad!

I remember the second time I had Greek salad in Naxos, there was a group of people sitting just next to our table. One of the girls was ordering her food, she decided to go for Greek salad. So far so normal. But, what surprised me was, I heard her saying “Can I please have Greek salad without Feta cheese.” Ohh… well, is it still Greek salad? For me, I thought one of the most important ingredients for this wonderful salad is the big piece of feta cheese, which completes the overall flavours.

Anyway, I guess it’s probably more interesting to the recipe written out than dragging on with my story…. haha.

Recipe: Greek Salad (Salade Grecque)

Ingredients:

Tomatoes, 4

Cucumber, half

Green pepper, half

Red onions, quarter/half

Black olives, 16

Feta cheese, 1 (or more)

Olive oil, 4-5 tbsp

Black pepper, to taste

Mixed herbs (for Greek salad), 1-2 tbsp

Salt, to taste

Lemon juice, 1-2 tbsp

Method:

1. Cut tomatoes into wedges. Slice the cucumber and green pepper. Then, cut red onion into rings. Put all these into a salad bowl.

2. Prepare the dressing by mixing olive oil, black pepper, salt, lemon, and mixed herbs in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Divide the salad in bowls, garnish with black olives. Drizzle the dressings over the salad. Sprinkle some extra mixed herbs if desired.

During summer days, I like light and simple dish like salad. Last week, I made Tuna Vegetable Couscous salad. This weeks, it looks like my love for salad continues. So, 2 weeks in a row I am sharing with you guys salad recipes. I hope you will like them!

What is Kumato? Have you heard of it? What does it taste like? Is there any difference between Kumato and Tomato? I actually came across Kumato in one of the food magazines. When I first laid my eyes on this new fruit, I thought, it looks kind of special and I was intrigued by it!

Kumato is a variety of tomato. It originates from a ‘lost’ wild tomato and has been developed through ten years of cross-breeding by plant specialists Syngenta. The colour of kumato ranges from dark brown to golden green. For the first glance, it may look like unripe tomato and may not taste sweet at all. All I can say is don’t judge kumato by its appearance! This is the natural look of kumato – tomato with a tan! If you wish to know more, click here.

I bought a box of kumatoes and I can tell you that they taste sweet and they are just like the normal tomatoes! It is said that it contains higher sweetness than usual tomatoes. Kumato is widely grown in Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland. It is ripened under optimum climatic conditions in order to achieve the highest levels of fructose.

Kumato has really firm texture and juicy. Thus, kumato is perfect for salads! I think it also gives a brand new look to normal tomato salad, what do you think? I made a real simple salad with kumato. This Asian-style komato salad is great for summer days when you want to have light lunch. It is also suitable to be served as starter!

Recipe: Kumato Salad

Ingredients:

Kumato tomato, 4-5

Red onions (sliced), 1/4

Cherry tomato (for garnishing, quartered), 2-4

Fish sauce, 1 tbsp

Sugar, 1 tbsp

Lime juice, 2 tbsp

Garlic (chopped), 1 clove

Roasted unsalted peanuts, 1-2 tbsp

Method:

1. Quartered kumato tomatoes. Put in a salad bowl and set aside. Also quartered some cherry tomatoes for garnishing.

2. In a bowl, mix in fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and finely chopped garlic. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

3. Thinly slice the red onions and mix with kumato tomatoes.

4. Pour in the dressings and give it a good toss.

5. Serve in individual bowls and garnish with some cherry tomatoes if you wish. Sprinkle some toasted unsalted peanuts before serving.

If you ask me what represents Christmas, I would say food (from foie gras to seafood), champagne, wine, and presents. So much food I had during Christmas that I did eat light after. I thought my body needed a break. I had light meal such as soup, quick stir-fry, and salad.  

I do think that we need to have detox diets from time to time as there is incremental level of pollution in the environment that we live in. It doesn’t help when the lifestyle nowadays is very stressful that makes our body very vulnerable. Eventually, the accumulation of toxins in our body weaken our immune system. Apart from drinking lots of water and exercise frequently, we have to make sure that we eat enough fruits and vegetables to help detoxify our body.

When I realised that this month’s In The Bag event is called ‘Detox Special’, I said to myself that I would make an effort to participate. In The Bag food event is run monthly by A Slice of Cherry Pie and Real Epicurean. 

With the specified ingredients, it came straight to my mind that I could make a real good salad with them. It is a quick (no cooking involved), delicious and healthy meal which suits me just right. Happy Detoxing!

Recipe: Beetroot, Carrot & Tomato Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Beetroot, 2

Carrot, 1

Tomato, 2

Curly Parsley, 1 -2 sprig

Olive oil, 60 ml

Lemon juice, 2 tbsp

Grain mustard, 1 tbsp

Honey, 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Slice beetroot and tomato and arrange them on the plate.

2. Grate carrot and put them on top of sliced beetroot and tomato.

3. Finely chop the curly parsley and sprinkle them on top of the salad.

4. To make the salad dressing, put olive oil, lemon juice, grain mustard, and honey in a jam pot. Put the lid on and give it a good shake. After that season with salt and pepper. You can make more of this dressing and keep it in the fridge for about 1 week.

5. Drizzle the dressing on the salad before serving.

I love wine and do drink from time to time. The best wine drinking experience for me was at Les Jardin des Sens – my first ever dining experience at a Michelin-star restaurant. Each dish on the menu came with nicely paired wine from wine regions all over in France! Ever since this experience, I have been thinking what a great knowledge it is to be able to pair wine to a dish. It’s quite common to pair wine to Western cuisine. But, what about Asian cuisine?

Today, I am very happy to introduce Andrew from Spittoon Extra to share with us his recent experience of pairing wine with Asian dishes. Andrew is a member of the prestigious UK based Circle of Wine Writers and WSET Diploma holder. He is also a regular contributor to Guardian Word of Mouth on wine and food writings.

It’s a long held maxim – Gewürztraminer goes with oriental food. But its rubbish and no more helpful than many a bottles back label pronouncements that this wine is ‘good with fish’ or ‘try with fruity desserts’.

Take the dessert wine. To get the food and the drink to balance you have to make sure the wine is sweeter than the dessert. With fish or steak or kangaroo you have to consider the sauce or preparation. It’s the same with Oriental food. Is a tempura encased prawn going to be the same as a fiery Sichuan dish? No. 

The reason the thoughtless perpetuate the Gewurz with Chinese (or whatever) myth is the inherent flavours in the wine. Gingery, sweetly spicy, often off-dry. Ginger and sweet and sour are main proponents in Oriental foods therefore they should work. 

Not many people want to go to the expense, financially and time-wise, in finding the perfect match. Such exercises are best left to the treasured, expensive bottles of wine. For a mid-week meal with a cheapish bottle you don’t want to have to think too hard. 

I recently discovered a reasonably priced bottle of Gewurztraminer (£4.99ish in the UK), Espiritu De Chile Gewurztraminer 2007, Central Valley, Chile that was fine. Not the best bottle of Gewurtz in the world but offering the basics of the grape (that spicy, rose-floralness that makes the grape so unique) and pondered what food to serve with it with the aim of testing the oriental food angle. 

My recent culinary exploits include Penang Noodle Soup and Braised Chicken in White Gravy (Opor Ayam) neither I thought would work that well with the wine. 

The wines producers supplied a recipe for me, Thai-Spiced Chicken Salad, and you know what? It worked a treat with the wine. It is not a ‘proper’ Thai dish, only using some Thai Chili Paste as a flavouring. The heat wasn’t too intense and managed to meld nicely with the wine. A joy in fact.

While western cuisine and wine go hand in hand – they have grown together since time immemorial after-all, the various cuisines of the East need more explorations for decent partnerships to be found. This was one of them!

Recipe: Thai-Spiced Chicken Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Lemon juice, 2 tbsp

Thai Chili Paste (I used red), 2 tsp 

Mayonnaise, 4 tbsp

Spring onions (finely chopped), 2

Cooked chicken strips/chunks

Celery (chopped), 2 sticks

Green apple (peeled), 1

Savoy Cabbage (sliced), quarter

Tomatoes(cut into wedges), 2

Method:

1. Stir together the first four ingredients.

2. Fold in the celery and apple. Season.

3. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours to allow the flavours to blend.

4. Place the cabbage on a plate top with the celery/apple mix and place chicken on top.

5. Garnish with the tomato.

My Cooking Hut’s recommended websites to buy wine online:

1855

ChateauOnline

Laithwaites

Nicolas

The Wine Buyer

Wine Web

Wikipedia: Bulgur (also bulghur or burghul) (from Turkish bulgur, known as ????????, pligoúri, in Greek and as burghul (????) in Arabic) is a cereal food made from several different wheat species, but most often from durum wheat.

If you have tried tabbouleh (Arabic: ??????; also tabouleh or tabouli) before, you probably would have known about bulgur wheat, which is the main ingredients in tabbouleh.

I got to know about bulgur wheat through photographing bulgur wheat salad for one of my clients. My first attempt in making bulgur wheat salad was quite a success and it appeared really colourful. Since then, I have fallen in love with bulgur wheat salad.

Bulgur wheat is said to be more nutritious than rice and couscous. I have since made bulgur wheat salad as one the frequent dishes for my lunchbox.

I bring my own lunch to work probably 3-4 times a week. Rather than feeding on some crap and expensive food (i.e. sandwiches, blend hot food…) near my workplace. Some may ask if I still get motivated and have time to prepare lunch for the next day after work, my answer is still yes – I don’t see why it couldn’t be made possible. Of course, there are times when I am lazy and buy food from outside. But, I do always make a point to bring my own.

It’s quick to prepare bulgur wheat salad. There’s nothing to cook except for boiling bulgur wheat. I think this would appeal to people who want to make quick and healthy lunch for the next day. Another encouraging point in making bulgur wheat salad for lunch is that it costs less than what you may have to spend at Starbucks, Pret a Manger, Eat, Wasabi, Itsu, … etc, which you probably need to spend at least £5 if not more.

For health conscious people or those on special diet, this refreshing and delicious bulgur wheat salad will definitely fit your choice. The variation of making bulgur wheat salad is endless. I will leave it to your imagination.

My selections of ingredients in making bulgur wheat salad are simple and very Mediterranean-like. Pretty similar to tabbouleh, I stick to its principal of using fresh herbs and lemon juice. You can accompany bulgur wheat salad with cooked meat or seafood to make it a more filling dish which will be suitable to serve as dinner.

Recipe: Bulgur Wheat Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Bulgur Wheat, 200g

Water, 1000ml

Tomatoes (peeled, deseeded, chopped), 4

Flat leaf parsley (finely chopped), handful

Lemon, 1 or 1.5

Raisins, 50g

Black Olives, 50g

Feta cheese (cubes), 70 – 80g

Extra Virgin Olive oil, 4 tbsp

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Boil 1000ml of water in a saucepan and put in bulgur wheat and cook it according to the instruction on the packet. Once cook, strain and let it cool.

2. Meanwhile, soak the raisins in warm water for about 15 minutes until plump.

3. Chop parsley, black olives and tomatoes.

4. In a large bowl, put in the cooked bulgur wheat. Mix in tomatoes, black olives, parsley, feta cheese and raisins.

5. Squeeze juice of 1 lemon and mix with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

6. Then, put in 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Give it a good mix.

7. Season with salt and black pepper.

Something simple, quick, and light that suits my palate would be great. I don’t feel the summer has arrived, so I want to make it feel like one! I question myself when I look at the weather forecast, “Where has the UK’s summer gone??” I probably should put in some effort to understand the term “English Summer” by now. I am not putting in more hope, I will accept the fact that there’s no summer this year as Autumn/Winter Collection has already arrived. 

I may sound pathetic. I never have to complain about not seeing the sun for ages but now I am in the position of asking such question. I used to complain how warm it was in Malaysia and I wished we had colder climate. And now, I wish we have warmer climate in the UK. Grass is always greener at the other side!

Gale is probably a word that has never been used in Malaysian weather forecast. I hate the howl of the gale. I hate to be outside when there’s this very strong gust of wind! Could you imagine a day in “summer” with gale that almost blown the newspapers away from my hands when I was reading it in an open space? Even how tidy my hair, it ended up tangled and messy by the time I reached home! Enough of my side of story about how “great” my “summer” is so far….

So, to make it as summery as possible, I opted for some really fresh ingredients. Something that is suitable to create the summer feel. Lamb’s Lettuce is probably one of my favourite leaves in salad. With crispy bacon, I think it makes them perfect match! I ended up with Lamb’s Lettuce & Crispy Bacon Salad.

Lamb’s Lettuce & Crispy Bacon Salad is very easy to prepare, no cooking required except to pan fried the bacon until crispy. I usually trim most of the fat so that it’s less greasy and more healthy.  

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

Some plum tomatoes (yellow and red)

1 packet of lamb’s lettuce

2-3 radishes

4 bacon strips

Dressings:

2 tbsp orange juice

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Pan fried the bacon strips then set aside to cool.

2. Trim the lamb’s lettuce.

3. Cut tomatoes into halves and thinly slice the radishes.

4. Combine and toss all ingredients in the salad bowl.

5. Drizzle the dressing and give a final good toss.

6. Ready to serve.

Enjoy the British Summer

I bought 2 fresh bunches of spinach when I was at Portobello Market at 90p each. Given a choice between Tesco or Sainsbury’s or M&S or Waitrose already washed, ready to eat and nicely packed spinach and those from farmers’ markets, I think I would prefer to pick my own fresh spinach that are unwashed, tight in a bunch with rubber bands, then wrapped in brown paper bags.

I have to agree with Pixie from You Say Tomato I Say Tomato that I love the vibes at farmers’ market too. When I was little, I liked to follow my mom to the market. Even until now. I remember I had my little basket and my mom had a big one. Nothing could be much more exciting than seeing fresh vegetables, seafood, fruits, poultry,… etc. And to be able to choose the items in the quantity we desired, also to negotiate.

With the spinach that I bought, I decided to make Salade Campagnarde aux Epinards (Spinach Salad Campagnarde-Style. Spinach salad campagnarde-style is so easy to make and so tasty with the fresh leaves that I bought directly from the farmer instead of through the supermarket chains. They definitely taste sweeter (This is not my imagination, it’s true!)

Right. If you would like to try my version spinach salad campagnarde-style, following is the recipe and method.

Serve 2

Ingredients:

2 or 3 handful of spinach

some cherry tomatoes (halves)

100g lardons (diced bacons)

2 eggs (hard boiled)

2 medium potatoes (boiled)

some croutons (optional)

Dressings:

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

0.5 tsp Dijon mustard

pinch of salt

pink of freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and give it a good whisk. Set aside.

2. Pan fried the lardons until they are golden brown and crispy. Set aside.

3. Halves the cherry tomatoes. Set aside.

4. Boil the potatoes. Set aside to let them cold then cut into chunky cubes.

5. Prepare hard boiled eggs. Set aside. Remove the shells then quartered.

6. Put spinach, cherry tomatoes and potatoes in a salad bowl. Give it a good toss.

7. Serve a good portion in each bowl/plate.

8. Sprinkle the lardons on the salad. Then, add some croutons.

9. At last, arrange the hard boiled eggs on top of the salad.

10. Drizzle a good amount of dressing over the salad. It’s then ready to be served.