Substantial salads

Salads are more than a side dish. Emma Parkin gives us some delicious recipes, which show how you can make a meal out of a salad!

Chopped Caesar salad on cheese pizza crust
Serves 2

1 x 12-inch ready-made pizza crust
2tbsp olive oil
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
pinch red pepper flakes
1/3 cup low-fat Caesar dressing
1/2 lemon, juice
2 medium heads of romaine
lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Place the pizza crust on a baking sheet.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with half of the parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Bake the pizza in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. While the pizza is baking, combine low-fat Caesar dressing and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add the romaine lettuce to the dressing and toss. Transfer the salad to the baked crust, add the cherry tomatoes and the rest of the cheese. Serve immediately.

Fat 39g Carbs 22g Energy 566kcal
Protein 33g Sodium .5g Fibre 1g

Mediterranean couscous salad
Serves 2-3

2tbsp olive oil
300g couscous
300ml hot vegetable stock
1tsp salt
1tbsp lemon juice
10 sun-dried tomatoes, quartered
2 avocadoes, cut into large chunks
100g black olives
50g mixed nuts
freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls salad greens

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Stir in the couscous, hot stock, salt and lemon juice. Cover, remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes or until the couscous has absorbed the liquid.
2. Gently stir in the tomatoes, avocadoes, olives and nuts and season with pepper. Divide the salad greens between two to three plates and spoon the cousous mixture on top. Serve immediately.

450g brown sugar
110g white flour
55g brown sugar
110g bran
2tsp bread soda
pinch of salt
2tbsp sesame seeds
2 free range eggs, beaten
850ml buttermilk
110g butter, melted

To serve
Butter and jam

1. Grease two loaf tins with oil and preheat your oven to 190°C/gas mark 5.
2. Mix the brown and white flour, sugar, bran, bread soda, salt and sesame seeds together.
3. Mix the beaten eggs and buttermilk together. Make a hollow in the dry ingredients and pour in about 700ml of the milk mixture.
4. Pour in the melted butter and blend together using a wooden spoon, adding more milk if necessary.
5. Spoon into the loaf tins and bake for 50-55 minutes until the loaves sound hollow when tapped and are browned on top. Serve with butter and jam.

• Be creative with your salads and use whatever leftover fruit and vegetables you have in yourfridge.
• Do not store a salad that contains meat for more than one day in the refrigerator.
• Caesar salad dressing has nothing to do with Julius Caesar. It was created on July 4th 1924 by Caesar Cardini, an Italian restaurateur in Tijuana, Mexico.
• Salad dressings can be as simple as a mix of olive oil, white wine vinegar,honey and mustard.