Caesar Salad Dressing with Roasted Garlic

A delicious, creamy dressing, packed full of flavour.

This tastes a thousand times better than anything you can buy in a bottle, and you can tweak it to your own tastes.

It's also incredibly easy to make, and if you're gluten free, there's an easy substitution you can make for one of the ingredients, plus if you don't like the flavour of anchovy, you can skip it.

It will keep in the fridge for a week, so get yourself some Cos lettuce (tip: soaking the leaves in ice cold water whilst you prepare other ingredients will crisp it right up), and any 'illegal' toppings you fancy adding to it - I like grilled chicken and crispy bacon, but shhhh, don't tell the purists!

Retro-tastic Prawn Cocktail Salad

Prawn cocktail doesn't really need much introduction, does it?

Here’s a blast from the past – and incredibly simple to make, too – just chop and mix! A quick light salad perfect for a starter before Sunday dinner (or Christmas dinner!) with 'the olds', if you’re so inclined - or even a light, packed lunch to take to work!

Somewhat tenuous as a festive dish, I know, but when I got home one afternoon, I discovered someone had left the last handful of frozen prawns on the side, which were all but defrosted, so I had to use them up... what better dish, than the retro-tastic prawn cocktail salad - starter from the 80s, and still present on many a pub menu, especially Christmas ones!

Serves 2, easily halved or doubled. 152 calories per serving.

Spicy Chicken Salad - Yo Sushi Style

I do love a bit of sushi and sashimi - and yet if I go to Yo Sushi!, I can't resist a bowl of their spicy chicken salad whilst I'm there!

So, one not-so-fine Saturday afternoon, after a discussion about edible seaweed, I was craving a bit of Japanese food and got it into my head that I really fancied a Yo Sushi! style chicken salad. Not living in the vicinity of a Yo Sushi!, I did a bit of scouting around the internet for a recipe... and a bit more... and for once, it really wasn't very successful, so I had to make up my own!

Apparently, they have a cookbook (which I don't have), and I was able to find the ingredients (minus quantities) online on Eat My Books - however... maybe it's an old book, or they've changed things now, as they just didn't seem quite right compared with the colour and flavour of the chicken I was used to eating at Yo Sushi, and the other ingredients in the salad. I'm accustomed to a spicy, orange-coloured, highly-flavoured chicken on a bed of lettuce, julienned carrot, edamame beans and a few bean sprouts etc., but I couldn't find anything that convinced me it would recreate this. I couldn't even find a Japanese name for the salad - although I'm quite familiar with Japanese food - and to be honest, although delicious, the flavours of the chicken had always seemed a little out of sorts with my experience of Japanese food.

Turns out there's a reason for that! 

Carpaccio of Beef with a Mustard Dressing, Rocket, Capers and Parmesan

Greaseproof paper and a rolling pin means that you don't have to have the world's best knife skills!

Wafer-thin fillet steak is tender to the point of almost melt-in-the mouth consistency, when prepared this way and perfectly complimented by the rich mustardy dressing, peppery rocket, slivers of salty parmesan and tiny capers that give little bursts of flavour in your mouth.

Simple to make, no cooking necessary (although you can optionally quickly sear the very outside of the beef, see method) and an elegant dish which could be a light lunch, or a delicious starter.

This serves two people (but is easily doubled), at 265 calories per serving (if you're counting - calories in square brackets).

Greek Village Salad (Horiatiki Salata)

A timeless classic, great on its own, or as a side dish

A handful of good quality ingredients is what makes this simple salad so enduring. Go for a decent barrel-aged feta, juicy vine-ripened tomatoes and the best Greek olives you can get your hands on: classic purply-brown to black almond-shaped Kalamata olives, or if you're breaking from tradition, go for a nice plump green variety, like Halkidiki or some Olympian green olives.

I tend to switch depending on what I'm having it with, and who else is eating it - if in doubt, just put your favourites in!

Serves up to eight as a small side dish, or four as a light lunch, from 79 calories per serving for a small side and 159 calories as a light lunch (see below for information re. calories).

Italian Tricolore (and more) Salad

Italian Tricolore Salad is one of my favourite Italian salads

It's just so simple, but so delicious. This isn't so much a recipe, as me satisfying my own curiosity as to how many calories there were in what I was eating. But given that I write recipes for people who want recipes for under 500 calories, it was a great idea, as it's very easily under 500 calories even with extras! So working out the calories for the different ingredients, kind of made it into a recipe, and discovering that it was something delicious and simple which could be consumed for far fewer calories than I thought, made it a must-blog to share... (warm ciabatta not pictured!)

So, my apologies that it's not set out in a purist or traditional fashion, and that there are extras on the side, but I wasn't planning to post this as a tricolore salad, or even necessarily as a recipe - just as something summery and vague on a sunny day, showing my appreciation of the simple things in life. Also... I kind of like to keep the balsamic to the tomatoes, to make them more piquant, rather than staining my mozarella or avocado, and I like the grassy tones of a good extra virgin oil shared between the tomatoes and mozarella, with it's greenish golden tones trickling over the white of the cheese.

But I digress... you want to know how you can fit something like this in for under 500 calories (because if you're not counting, you're like a kid in a sweetshop in the deli, and you don't care!).

Serves one, from 326 calories.

Artichoke, Asparagus and Fennel Salad with a Lemon Dressing

This is a beautiful, Spanish-inspired dish, which really takes salad to a whole new level.

It makes great use of what some would consider luxury ingredients, and with the Spanish slant, goes wonderfully with things like grilled chicken, fish and seafood, or my Moorish-Spiced Pork and Padron Pepper kebabs, and makes a stunning dish on a table of food to share with friends.

Serves four as a side, 91 calories per portion.
Feel free to chop and change the ingredients according to what you’ve got! [Calories in square brackets]

Larp Gai (Thai Spicy Minced Chicken Salad) - including Thermomix instructions

I first fell in love with this in Sheffield, of all places, when a friend of mine made it...

But a trip to Thailand soon followed. This is one of the really well known Thai salads, and is incredibly refreshing and full of flavour. It's also very easy to make, full of flavour, healthy and can be a great sharing food if you provide the leaves of baby gem lettuces to use as little cups for the salad (or assemble them in about 12 small baby gem lettuce leaves, for canapes for friends to help themselves to).

Serves two (or more as a starter, or sharing platter), easily doubled.

Calories per serving (between two) 203 for chicken salad, 37 calories for suggested vegetables

A popular spicy chicken salad, originating from the North East of Thailand, served with raw vegetables. Eaten cool, so great to prepare ahead, or even make as a meal the night before, then put the rest into your lunchbox (with vegetables/salad in a separate tub) for the next day. 

[Calories in square brackets]

Cachumber (Indian Tomato, Onion and Cucumber Salad) and Chaat Masala (Spice Mix)

Simple, quick, fresh and delicious...

A healthy North Indian snack, which can be served as an appetiser or starter, with poppadoms and pickles, and also great as an accompaniment to Indian dishes, such as my tandoori chicken, or chicken tikka.

There really is nothing to it, other than a bit of chopping and a quick stir!

Serves 4-8 depending on course.

Calories per serving: 43 calories if served between four people, 21 calories if served between eight.

Tea-Smoked Chicken, Mango and Asparagus Salad with a Toasted Sesame and Soy Dressing

A simple salad to throw together - you could use any cooked chicken, or tea-smoke your own!

Tired of eating the same old salads? Bored of bland, dry, chicken? Want something that is equally delightful as a light meal or an impressive starter if you make the smoked chicken yourself?

All you need to smoke the chicken yourself is a wok, some foil, and either wood-dust, or a tablespoon each of tea leaves, sugar and raw rice. And you can make it a day or two before-hand, and just slice and serve.

More about that here.

Otherwise, you could use char-grilled, barbequed, or roasted chicken breasts, or even the leftovers from Sunday lunch and you will still have a delicious salad to go.

Keep the dressing separate, and you have a delicious lunch to take to work with you (or even make for your nearest and dearest, ahhhh). Got your tastebuds tingling? And it's only 262 calories per portion, or 131 calories as a starter! Serves two as a main, four as a starter. Here's the recipe: