Recipe: Iranian Shirazi Salad

For me it is finally starting to feel like summer - I've just about finished university and I'm ready to collapse and do nothing for the summer holidays. I'm rather partial to a salad, especially when it comes to summertime, but sometimes you just fancy something a bit nicer than iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a few slices of cucumber. And last summer, whilst looking for a new salad recipe to try out, I stumbled across the Iranian Shirazi salad. With just a couple of simple ingredients, you'd think it would be pretty bland and boring. But you'd be wrong. This is up there in my top 5 salads that I've ever eaten (alongside a gorgeous apple and rocket one that I'll probably end up sharing at some point!) - and I've eaten a lot of salads. 

Makes: 4-5 servings (as a main meal or 6-8 as a side salad)

Ingredients:

• 2 cucumbers (or 4 Persian cucumbers if you can get hold of them)
• 4 medium salad tomatoes
• 1 medium red onion
• Handful of fresh mint - finely chopped
• Juice of a large lemon
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Step one. 

To a large bowl, add the juice of a lemon and the chopped mint. 

Step two. 

Chop up the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion into really, really small cubes, and add to the bowl. Mix really well to make sure all the veggies are coated with the lemon and mint, and can absorb the delicious flavours! Traditionally everything is chopped up really small so you can have a taste of each ingredient in every mouthful. 

Step three. 

Season with salt and pepper - I don't add salt to pretty much anything, so I just used the pepper and I thought that was more than enough alongside the fresh veggies, the lemon and the mint!

And there you have it! A delicious salad! As always, please let me know if you have a go at making this and tell me whether or not you liked it!

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Recipe: Spiced Chicken Burrito Bowl with Coriander and Lime Rice

Hello everyone! So after scouring for recipes and dinner inspiration on Pinterest, I came across this and I've been enjoying making it (and eating it!) a lot recently so I thought I'd share it with you! I'm making mine with chicken but you could use whatever meat you like - beef steak, turkey, quorn?

In no particular order, you'll need:

 

The first things first, you'll need to create the marinade for the chicken - so in a large bowl, mix a good glug (extremely accurate measure there Charlotte) of olive oil with your taco seasoning mix, add the juice of 2 limes (or more/less if you choose) and add the chicken. With your hands, or a spoon if you don't like touching raw meat, coat the chicken in the marinade and cover and set aside for 15 minutes - 24 hours.

When you have set the chicken aside, you can start on the rice. I've used Tilda Easy Cook Long Grain Rice as I think it absorbs more of the flavouring, but you can use any long grained rice! Simply boil the kettle and cook the rice following the cooking instructions on the packet, then leave to cool.

Once your rice is on you can start chopping your veggies! I absolutely love most of the veggies in existence, but these are my favourites to go in this particular dish. If you don't like what I have used, feel free to swap and change as you please! :) 

By the time you have chopped your veggies, the rice will have cooled slightly. Chop your coriander and stir it into the rice. You can use dried coriander if you wish, but the fresh tastes and looks so much better. Juice more limes into the rice and stir to make sure all the rice is flavoured. 

Heat up a pan with a LITTLE oil (there is oil in the marinade remember!), and add in your chicken. Cook the chicken through and place in your bowl along with your rice and the salad!

If you want to be all 'Jamie Oliver' you can finish off the dish with a few leaves of coriander and a wedge of lime. Perfect!

Bon Appétit! 

And as always, if you make this dish - remember to send me your photos on Twitter (@charrrroberts) or Instagram (@charlottesophiaroberts)!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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