Chicken and beetroot salad with orange, fennel and feta

From the layer cake of my last post to a salad. Huge difference, right? But there needs to be some kind a balance to what we eat. So, salad it is, and my favorite type of salad at that. One that is a full meal, with chicken, to fill you up and make you happy.

This is the type of meal I like on these early spring days, when it’s getting warm and I don’t want heavy dishes but rather light and bright ones. Salads are my go-to dishes during this time of year.

Colorful beetroots—golden, white, chioggia—that make the salad even more appetizing, greens, because I like my salads with a bit of green, feta, because I’m a feta fiend, and chicken, my favorite kind of meat.

With fresh, liquoricy fennel and a citrus dressing with orange zest, lemon juice, honey and olive oil to tie everything together. With crunchy walnuts, because when we eat something it’s not only the flavor that counts but also the texture, and some juicy orange segments, because, yes, we may all have fallen head first into the seasonal strawberries, but there are some luscious and tasty oranges left for us to savor too. So grab them while you still can.

The play of flavors is quite interesting in this salad—refreshing, sweet, sharp, earthy—making it a salad ideal for my palate. I hope it suits yours too.

Chicken and beetroot salad with orange, fennel and feta

Feel free to substitute the types of beetroot I used for regular red beetroot. Just be aware of the fact that red beets stain any other ingredient that has the audacity to share the same plate with them, so if your salad takes on a pink hue, don’t say that I didn’t warn you. Adding it at the last minute and tossing the salad ever so slightly, will save the situation though.

Use a mandoline, if you have it, to achieve those paper-thin slices. A mandoline would also be ideal to cut very thin slices of the onion and fennel.

If you don’t like feta—you don’t like feta????—use any other creamy white cheese you like that is sharp, not sweet.

I used two boneless and skinless chicken breasts that I seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne, and cooked them in a frying pan with a little olive oil. You can use, however, any leftover chicken you may have, from roast chicken to grilled chicken, and it can be any part of the chicken as long as you cut it into bite-sized pieces.

This salad can be eaten either for lunch or dinner as it is quite filling yet light.

Yield: 2 main-course or 4 salad servings

Ingredients
2 large oranges
350 g raw beetroots (golden, white, chioggia), peeled and very thinly sliced
2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 Tbsp orange juice
Salt
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp runny honey
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
Freshly ground white pepper
150 g mixed baby leaves
½ large fennel bulb, trimmed and very thinly sliced, fronds reserved
1 medium red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
300 g cooked chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces
80-90 g feta, cubed
50 g walnuts, roughly chopped

Special equipment: mandoline (optional yet preferable), rasp grater


Preparation
Grate the zest of one of the oranges and place it in a small bowl.

The way to cut the 2 oranges is by using a sharp knife. First, cut off the peel, then the white pith all around the fruit, exposing the flesh, and finally, cut free the flesh of the fruit from the membranes that are in between the wedges. Squeeze the juice out of the membranes and into a large bowl. They should be about 2 Tbsp. Add the thinly sliced beetroot to the bowl along with 1 Tbsp lemon juice and ¼ tsp salt and mix well. Let stand for 15 minutes so the beetroot softens a bit.

Make the dressing. In the small bowl that you added the grated orange zest, add the olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, honey, the remaining 1 Tbsp lemon juice, a good pinch of salt and some white pepper, and using a wire whisk, blend well.

In a large bowl, mix gently with your hands the baby green leaves, fennel, red onion and the chicken. Add the oranges and the beetroot with its juices and mix gently with your hands. Scatter the feta and walnuts on top and finally pour over the dressing. Sprinkle with the reserved fennel fronds and again, using your hands, toss gently to combine all the ingredients.

Serve immediately with some fresh bread and a glass of dry white wine.

Vanilla layer cake with chocolate-mascarpone filling, mascarpone frosting and edible flowers

Last Saturday, I made a cake that felt like spring.

There was lots of vanilla, mascarpone, and a touch of chocolate, because where would I be without chocolate?

But mostly, there were flowers, edible ones.
Pansies, of the yellow and purple kind, that decorated the cake in the most beautiful way.

Two vanilla cakes, aromatic and sweet, dense but not stodgy, separated only by a thick layer of chocolate-mascarpone cream that was light, airy and filled with the deep flavor of good quality cocoa powder.

Covering the cake, a luscious, soft and pillowy mascarpone frosting, whiter than white, the perfect canvas for the yellow and purple flowers to show off their effortless beauty and gorgeous hues.

The cake was just the right amount of sweet, with the intense flavor and aroma of the vanilla being present with every forkful. Light, fluffy, bright, elegant, delicious cake, enjoyed to the fullest. Nothing more we could ask for.

Vanilla layer cake with chocolate-mascarpone filling, mascarpone frosting and edible flowers

I used edible pansies to decorate the cake but any edible flowers will do. Violets would be stunning if you could find some.

This is a fairly easy cake to make for any type of celebration. Everyone will be wowed and you won’t have made a huge mess in the kitchen or spend a huge amount of time preparing it. Win-win.

Yield: 1 layered cake / 12-14 slices

Ingredients

for the vanilla cake
200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pans
130 g caster sugar
3 medium-sized eggs
45 ml whole fresh milk
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
225 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt

for the chocolate-mascarpone filling
250 g mascarpone
55 g icing sugar
35 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
240 ml cream, full-fat (35%)

for the mascarpone frosting
250 g mascarpone
55 g icing sugar
100 ml cream, full-fat (35%)
½ tsp pure vanilla extract (I didn’t add paste as I wanted the frosting white without the vanilla seeds showing, but you can add vanilla paste if you like)

Edible flowers, for decorating

Special equipment: two round 18cm springform baking pans, baking paper, stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer, fine sieve, large serrated knife, frosting spatulas (large straight and/or small offset)


Preparation

for the vanilla cake
Butter the bottom and sides of two 18cm springform pans. Line the bottom with baking paper.

Preheat your oven to 175°C.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add the butter and sugar and beat, using the paddle attachment (or a hand-held mixer), on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt straight into the bowl and beat on medium speed until combined.

Divide the batter between the two baking pans. I weigh the mixture and divide it in half between the two pans, but if you don’t want to use a scale, eyeball it. Smooth the tops with the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula.

Place both pans on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester or knife inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake otherwise the cakes will be dry.

Remove pans from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Then remove cakes from the pans and leave to cool on the wire rack completely.

Take a large serrated knife and cut the tops off the cakes to level them.

for the chocolate-mascarpone filling
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder and add the mascarpone. Beat with the whisk attachment (or a hand-held mixer) on medium speed until creamy. Then add the cream and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip or the mixture will split.

Choose the plate, stand etc. where you’ll place your cake, cut four thick strips of baking paper and form a square outline on the plate. This will ensure that your plate or stand will not be covered with frosting when you apply it over your cake.

Place the first cake (cut side up) onto the pieces of baking paper and add the chocolate-mascarpone filling on top. Spread the filling over the top of the cake, smoothing it out with the help of a small offset spatula (or a regular spatula). Be careful not to spread too close to the edges, leave some space for the filling to spread out when you add each layer on top.
Carefully place the second cake on top (cut side down) and press down gently to secure.

Put the cake in the fridge in order for the filling and cake to firm up and be ready for the application of the frosting. Leave in the fridge for 10 minutes and make the mascarpone frosting.

for the mascarpone frosting
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl), sieve the icing sugar and add the mascarpone, the cream and the vanilla. Beat with the whisk attachment (or a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to overwhip or the mixture will split.

Remove the cake from the fridge and apply the frosting evenly over and around the cake using a small offset spatula or a larger regular one.

Remove the baking paper from around the bottom of the cake carefully and place the cake in the fridge for 40 minutes to set. Right before you serve it, decorate the top with the edible flowers.

Note: Keep the cake in the fridge until it’s time to cut it. Don’t leave it out of the fridge because the frosting will get too soft.

You can keep the cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It’s best if you remove the flowers from the top. They should be super fresh when consumed.

Wild asparagus, yoghurt and ricotta galette with whole-wheat pastry

Greek holidays are not for vegetarians. We celebrate with lots of food, mostly meat, and especially on Easter (Orthodox Easter is this Sunday), the food is for hard-core carnivores and not for the faint-hearted.

We roast a whole lamb on a spit, we make kokoretsi (lamb’s liver and lungs wrapped with lamb’s intestines), kontosouvli (pork neck pieces on a spit), sausages, fried veal liver and so on and so forth, you get the picture. In case you don’t, check out this post in which I shared some photos from my Easter in Greece two years ago.

There’s always a need for something fresh on the table alongside all that meat, like salads, legume dishes and pites (Greek pies). You know I love making pites, small or large, but I also love making galettes, like this one I made the other day using the wild asparagus I raved on about in my last post.

It would make a perfect side dish for the Easter table or any other occasion really. It would also make a perfect light lunch or dinner to pair with a glass of wine and eat outside. Have you noticed how the days are getting warmer and warmer?

The pastry, which is partly made with whole wheat flour, is smeared with a mixture of Greek yoghurt and ricotta and then topped with wild asparagus that have been tossed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. After baking, the asparagus are drizzled with some more extra virgin olive oil that makes them glisten and even more irresistible than they already are.

The flavors of the fresh and mildly bitter wild asparagus mingle with the sweet and smooth creaminess of the ricotta-yoghurt and the short, crumbly and buttery base that melts in your mouth and that has an earthy quality which pairs beautifully with the wild asparagus. A knockout spring tart.

Kali Anastasi and Kalo Pascha (Happy Easter) to all my fellow Greeks and to all those who celebrate!

Wild asparagus, yoghurt and ricotta galette with whole-wheat pastry

If you’re in Greece, you can substitute the ricotta with anthotyro.
If you can't find wild asparagus, you can substitute them with slender green asparagus spears.

The pastry can be made one or two days in advance and kept in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap.

Yield: 1 galette / 6 pieces

Ingredients

for the pastry dough
130 g whole-wheat flour
130 g all-purpose flour
170 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
60 ml (4 Tbsp) cold water

for the filling
150 g Greek yoghurt 2% fat
150 g ricotta cheese
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200 g wild asparagus

1 small egg, beaten, for glazing

Special equipment: large food processor, plastic wrap, rolling pin, baking paper, baking sheet, pastry brush


Preparation

for the pastry dough
• with a food processor
In a large food processor, add the flours, cold cubed butter and salt and process for a few seconds until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Then add the vinegar and the cold water and process in order to bring together the mixture into a rough dough. Don’t over mix.

• by hand
In a large bowl, add the flour, cold cubed butter and salt and, using two knives, a pastry cutter or your fingertips, cut it into the flour, until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Then add the vinegar and the cold water and mix with your hands, working quickly, until you have a rough dough.

Empty the dough onto a clean surface and knead lightly to form a smooth dough. Don’t knead too much or vigorously. Shape it into a ball and then a flattened disk. Wrap it with a large piece of plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill, for 2 hours.

for the filling
While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling.
Add yoghurt, ricotta, a little salt and pepper, and 1 Tbsp olive oil in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Rinse the asparagus under cold running water and snap off the woody parts at the bottom end. In order to do that, take the end of the asparagus between your thumb and forefinger, holding the top half with your other hand, and bend it until it snaps. It will automatically snap at the part where the woody part ends and the tender part starts. This snapping point will be lower or higher depending on the spear.
Cut the asparagus in half if they are too long and place them in a bowl. Toss them with salt and pepper and 1 Tbsp olive oil.

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and discard the plastic wrap and place dough between two large sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into an approximately 35cm round, with a 3mm thickness. The dough should be somewhat pliable yet it will be a little stiff. (If it tends to break apart when you roll it out, let it warm a bit before you try again). Remove the top baking paper and place the rolled out dough, along with the bottom baking paper, onto a baking sheet.
Smear ¾ of the yoghurt-ricotta filling evenly on top of the dough, leaving a space around the edges of the pastry, about 4cm. See photo for reference.
Top with the asparagus and fold the edges of the dough up and over the filling, making sure to seal any cracks. You can use the baking paper to pull and fold the dough over the filling.
Using a pastry brush, glaze the dough with the beaten egg.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 35-37 minutes until the pastry takes on a golden-brown color and the asparagus look a bit charred.
Take the galette out of the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the filling with a little olive oil.
Optionally, you can top it with some freshly grated lemon zest or even a grating of parmesan.

Serve with the remaining yoghurt-ricotta filling on the side.

You can keep the galette for a day or two, covered, at room temperature, but it is best eaten the same day.