Summer Garden Salad with a Twangggg

Hi all, finally without much further a due. We begin the very first chapters "Julia child voice" of what goes on in Gee Ann's kitchen.

As promised and requested from balqies, I will introduce my own version of a summer salad to add on to this lovely blog. This salad was created during my small X-mas dinner at home. It was great to have the two lovely guest whereby i could whip up a unique style of a home cooked traditional Xmas meal.

Fresh Summer Salad with a hint of citrus

1. 1 Big Bowl of Fresh Salad Leaves ( mix of spinach, cos & rocket )
2. 6 x Small Red Radish
3. 6 x Cherry tomatoes & pieces of cucumber
4. Several Pieces of Red Leaf Lettuce
5. 1 small Spanish Onions ( half, & slice into thin pieces)
6. 1 large Naval Orange ( sweet) cut and sliced to pieces
7. Half cup of Pistachio ( Crushed )

Dressing

1. 4 x tbs of Olive Oil
2. Half Lemon
3. Mixed Herbs
4. Salt and Pepper to taste

Firstly, Wash Salad Mix and Red Lettuce Leaf using a sift.Rinse well, Make sure you shake it dry so all residue of water is cleared off the leaves. Leave it to sit. Steam the radish after a rinse for a couple of minutes (5 Min's, As you still want it crunchy yet edible) and test one with a fork to see whether it's cook through. Once done, Cut the red radish in half and later slice into circular wedges. Take Cherry tomatoes and cucumber (sliced thinly into half moon shapes) after the rinse and cut them carefully into half. Take out your small red Spanish onion and slice it into thinly cut half circular rings. Once done, put it aside in a bowl.

Before, making the dressing. Use this time to put dry salad leaves into a metal bowl and cover it with cling wrap to chill it quickly in the fridge. Take out a small dish bowl, pour in the olive oil, squeeze in the half lemon and throw in the 1/2 tsp of mixed herbs and add salt & pepper . Now, take time to control how you season the dressing.

Take out the Metal bowl of salad leaves. Pour in the cut red radish, cherry tomatoes & cucumber. Mix it with a wooden spoon and be gentle. Pop in the cut red onions and prepare to cut the sweet naval orange to mix into this. Now, dressing is ready to be mixed into the salad . *Optional, but would make it amazing is to put in cubes of feta cheese & a dash of crack pepper to it. Put the cut slices of orange, quick chill for 15 Min's in the fridge.

Finally, pour in the dressing. Give it a good soft mix and transfer the salad into a shallow dish. Top it off with your crushed pistachio and you're all done!

xx