~Written and edited by Veronica Clark ~

Monday 4 July 2011

Quick Summer Menu

Morning to all! I do hope Monday behaves herself immaculately! Today I would like to share one of my favourite summer menus that is so quick and easy and takes hardly any time at all to put together for summer entertaining! This is for all my American friends celebrating the 4th July holidays in searing heat!! Apart from the fish that needs a bit of heat you can keep your cool away from the stove!

Menu





Chilled Avocado Soup with Tomato Confetti



Serve with your favourite dry bubbly.





Pan fried Spicy Salmon served with Raspberry Coleslaw




Woolworth Zesty White  (although it might fall into the"plonk" category, it works a treat with this dish!)


Tropical Fruit Salad served with Lemon Sorbet
JC le Roux " La Domaine"


The fresh green colour of the soup looks refreshing and most people are a little sceptical until they taste it! Another great idea, that looks amazing, is to serve it with cooked prawn or shrimp as garnish.
 
Chilled Avocado with Tomato Confetti


Serves 8


4 ripe Avocado pears,  peeled and stoned
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic
90 ml (6 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 2 lemons, or more to taste (please suit your own tastebuds)
8 drops Tabasco sauce or 1 small chilli, seeded and finely chopped
salt and milled black pepper to taste
500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock


Tomato Confetti


1 large, ripe tomato, seeded and diced finely
1/2 small cucumber, finely diced
15 ml (1 tablespoon) olive oil
5 ml wine vinegar
salt and milled black pepper
small bunch of fresh coriander


SOUP: Blend ingredients until smooth, adding chicken stock gradually. If it is too thick for your liking, just add more chicken stock until you get the consistency that you prefer.  If you do not have ready made chicken stock in your freezer just use a good quality bought stock or use stock cubes but then just beware the salt content before adding more salt. I use Ina Paarman's stock powder if I do not have chicken stock in the freezer.


This soup also looks great served for a cocktail party and then I serve it in shot glasses at a thinner consistency.


TOMATO CONFETTI: Toss tomato and cucumber with olive oil and vinegar. Season to taste.
TO SERVE: Serve in a bowl sprinkled with tomato confetti. Garnish with a sprig of coriander.


If you make the soup ahead of time, bury the stones from the avocado pear in the soup to prevent it from turning brown. Should the soup turn slightly brown, just remove the top layer and below the soup will be a sparkling green!



This images from my recipe files inspired me to try it!




Pan fried Salmon with Raspberry Coleslaw.




The Salmon takes only a few minutes to fry. Sprinkle the salmon with your favourite spice, heat some olive oil and pan fry for a few minutes turning once. I prefer my salmon seared on the outside and quite rare inside so it only takes about 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon.



Once you have eaten Salmon with cabbage you will know that it stands up quite well to the oiliness of the fish and to me this combination of fresh salmon and raspberry coleslaw is a match made in heaven.


Find the recipe for the raspberry coleslaw HERE .



I also like the coleslaw with kiwi fruit and then I use Kiwi youghurt...






Tropical Fruit Salad.

Just chop up your favourite fruit. I include papaya, pineapple, mango, banana and a tin of mandarins and add the syrup from the mandarins and blueberries for the colour! Mix it all together and pour over two tins of granadilla (passion fruit) pulp or if you have fresh granadillas I like to just cut them in half and garnish the fruit salad with the granadilla "cups" . Place a sprig of mint in each "cup" and then your guests can scoop their own granadilla over their sorbet.

Serve the fruit salad with lemon sorbet from Woolworth's. If you have any pomegranate rubies left from the coleslaw, sprinkle a few on top of your scoop of sorbet.

or float a few rubies in your champagne!!




Bon Appetit!

Happy 4th July to all my American friends!

Today I am linking to On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable where you will find some amazing recipes to try! please visit a few friends and support them by leaving a comment!

Also Linking today with Funky Junk Interiors Healthy Recipe Link under their dinner category.
Veronica

xxxx


images: Tassels Twigs and Tastebuds, pinterest.








2 comments:

  1. Veronica~
    This all looks so yummy! Years ago I would travel to Alaska 1-2 times a year and always had to have salmon - yummy! I want to try your recipes. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete