Bacon, Feta & Sweetcorn Salad
I call this my picnic salad and I love it because it has bacon, feta and corn. The bacon and feta give the salad lots of flavour and savouriness while the fresh corn kernels add juiciness. It is also Mr NQN's favourite salad of the four which was a surprise because he isn't a fan of corn off the cob. I know, how specifically weird is that? I think he might be part beaver or something...
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes plus cooling time
- 500g/1 pound potatoes
- 4 rashers streaky bacon, rind removed
- 2 cobs sweetcorn, boiled
- 100g/3.5ozs feta cheese, chopped into small pieces
- 4-5 tablespoons Praise Whole Egg Mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons light sour cream
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- Salt and pepper to season
Step 1 - Boil the potatoes in their skin until tender. While the potatoes are boiling, grill the bacon until crispy and drain on absorbent paper. Cut into small pieces and place in a bowl.
Step 2 - When they are done, drain and cool the potatoes. Peel the potato skin off with your fingers or a peeler and cut into small pieces and place in the bowl. Remove the kernels from the corn and add them to the bowl of potatoes. Mix the mayonnaise and sour cream together and toss the salad in the dressing. Add chives and season with salt and pepper.
Sweet Potato & Sesame Salad
This is a bit of a curveball because it is sweet potato rather than potato but trust me in that this is really good especially with the chilli and sesame to add to it. You could even swap the sweet potato for regular potato and it also works.
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes plus cooling time
- 1 kg/2.2 pounds sweet potato, peeled
- 3-4 tablespoons oil
- 4 tablespoons Praise Whole Egg Mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- A few drops of sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes (or to taste)
- Salt and pepper to season
Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and line a tray with parchment. Cut the sweet potato into small bite sized chunks and drizzle with oil. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked through and golden (I put tossed mine in some cornstarch in the pics but I don't think that this worked as well as I wanted so I've omitted the cornstarch in the directions). Allow to cool.
Step 2 - Whisk the mayonnaise, curry powder and sesame oil in a bowl. Toss the sweet potato in this mixture and add the sesame seeds, chives and red chilli flakes. Season with salt and pepper.
Healthy Potato & Avocado Salad
I know, I had to do it right because so many of us are trying to eat a bit healthier with summer coming up. I added the avocado for more creaminess and mixed the Praise Light mayonnaise with natural yogurt so that it is super light but still creamy. Because life without creamy is just sad ;)
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes plus cooling time
- 1 kg/2 pounds red skin or chat potatoes
- 1 avocado
- 2 sticks celery
- 3 tablespoons Praise Whole Egg Light Mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons Natural Yogurt
- Juice of half a small lemon
- 3 tablespoons chives
- Salt and pepper to season
Step 1 - Boil the potatoes in their skin and then drain and allow to cool. Leaving the skins on, chop them into pieces - I cut them into larger slices about the size of a mandarin segment, just for something different. Chop up the celery into small moons. Mix the mayonnaise and yogurt together and toss everything together.
Step 2 - Then cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Drizzle each half with lemon juice on top of then slice it up and toss that in last (just in case it is very ripe, you don't want it to go mushy). Sprinkle with chives, salt and pepper.
Salad Olivier or Russian Potato Salad
I always think of my Russian friends in high school because their mums always plied us with this as an after school snack. Some recipes also suggest adding cooked chicken breast but I've left it out of this because this is exactly how my friends's mums made it but if you want to, add one chopped, cooked chicken breast to the mix. I'm sure Lucien Olivier would approve, as long as you continued to call it after him and not Ivanov!
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes plus cooling time
- 4 potatoes of the same size (so that they cook at the same rate)
- 3 small carrots
- 3 hard boiled eggs, cooled
- 2 dill pickles, chopped
- 1 cup peas
- 3-4 tablespoons Praise Whole Egg Mayonnaise
- A small handful of dill leaves, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper to season
Step 1 - Leaving the skin on, boil the potatoes and carrots until tender. Drain and allow to cool completely. Chop up the potato, carrot, boiled egg and pickles into even sized pieces (make the pickles a bit smaller) and place in a bowl with the peas. Add the mayonnaise and dill and toss. Season with salt and pepper.