It’s been an amazing summer here in London and one of the best things has been the generous servings of fresh fruits and vegetables I have consumed these past few weeks. It is too hot to eat, perhaps another reason the blog has gone a bit quiet! 😉

I came up with this deliciously cold recipe on a particularly hot day when I wanted pasta but couldn’t face the thought of eating anything warm.  Sweet, juicy cherry tomatoes, freshly chopped spinach, crumbly feta, garlic and red chilli combined with cold fusilli pasta and the simplest dressing of lemon juice and olive oil was just what I needed.

London takes on a whole new persona when the summer sun shines. People are friendlier, happier, brighter. Sunny dresses are out in all their girly glory, as are the sandals and sun cream. Summer also means lazy BBQs and refreshing salads – hooray!! Most definitely, my favourite time of the year.

After a super indulgent Wales trip followed by a decadent birthday weekend, my body craved some clean eating. Thankfully, the summer sun is feeding my healthy eating drive and I’ve been whipping up tasty salad storms.

I’ll be honest. After a fabulous foodie holiday in Wales, there is nothing I wanted more than some tasty, vegetarian Indian food. Spice was what we were all after and Southall was on our way home.

Southall is located a couple of miles from Heathrow Airport and is home to the largest Asian community in London. The neighbourhood is predominantly Sikh and the streets are full of gurdwaras, temples, shops, and amazing food.  For me, a trip to Southall always includes a visit to the Gurdwara on Havelock Road and a delicious meal at Delhiwala. This is a family tradition that is going strong for many years now.

Havelock Road Gurdwara

I was recently invited by Maille, the famous French gourmet brand to enter the Maille Culinary Challenge and develop recipes using a couple of their products.

I love Maille mustard and was delighted with the opportunity to experiment with flavours. I chose Citron et Harissa (White Wine, Lemon & Harissa Spicy Mustard)and Noix de Coco et Epices Colombo (White Wine, Coconut and Colombo Spices) as my spicy mustard weapons.

Today’s recipe uses the Maille Citron et Harissa mustard. Harissa is a spicy red pepper paste commonly used in North African cooking. My colourful salad is a tasty marriage of flavours and textures with the marinated cheese, tangy pomegranate, walnuts and of course, the Maille Harissa mustard dressing.

One of my favourite memories of student life in Boston is gorging on delicious plates of Pad See Ew noodles at a hole-in-the-wall Thai eatery in the dubious ‘Chinatown Food Court’ on Beach Street. Along with Pad Kra Pow, these noodles were an instantly gratifying Thai fix washed down with an order of sweet Thai Iced Tea.

Pad See Ew remains one of my favourite Thai dishes and as much as I have tried to recreate the Boston flavours from memory, I am yet to get it right. I think it is probably due to my restraint in adding unnecessary grease and a whole bottle of fish sauce in to my food. 😉

A perfectly ripe avocado is undoubtedly my favourite ‘power food’. I was initially put off by the high fat content but the benefits of avocado in my diet make it very easy to overlook this technicality 😉

Avocado has the highest protein content of any fruit and is rich in a variety of vitamins and nutrients. It lowers cholesterol, helps to control diabetes and has also been known to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and improve side effects resulting from chemotherapy. It is high in folate and provides excellent nutrition to pregnant women and is also a nutritious addition to your child’s diet.