The Recycled Cook

Mixed Bean Salad Now the summer is pretty much over and we are moving into Autumn we are at the end of the bean growing season. The young juicy runner beans have either been eaten or, if you are like to think ahead, have been sliced, blanched and frozen for winter use. If you still have beans now that you picked late on in the summer the chances are they will be either past their best or very stringy. Here is an idea of something you can do with them that is easy to make, light and of course healthy. Firstly split open the pods with your fingers and pop out the beans into a container, mixing several varieties make this salad a lot more interesting. Rinse them thoroughly and then blanch them in boiling water for two minutes. pour into a sieve and drain well.  Once cool you can keep these covered in the fridge until ready to make your bean salad.  The blanching will have killed any bacteria so they should keep well for a couple of days but I would recommend finishin

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Thai Fishcakes (Tod Man Pla) The main difference, apart from the flavour of course, between Thai fishcakes and the more common western variety is that in Thai cooking they don't use potato, in fact they use very little other than fish, chillies and some snake beans. Don't be put off by the name, snake beans are just a very long variant of our own French beans, in fact, as they are quite hard to come by in most supermarkets I use the more readily available variety most of the time. I also miss going to Chinatown for food. Red fish fillets That is one of the things I miss about living in London is the large number of small asian supermarkets where you can find a wide variety of exotic ingredients. These fishcakes can be made with any flaky fish but red fish such as Red snapper or red mullet works very well. Skin and trim your fish fillets making sure to pin-bone them carefully  then chop  and blitz the fish fillets in a b

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman "Som Tam" Thai Salad Traditionally this salad is made with Green Papaya but they are a little hard to get in Carmarthen so I have made this dish, as always, with what I had available. In this case that was carrots and courgette, the latter courtesy of my neighbour's allotment. This salad makes a really great accompaniment to Thai food but also works well as a side dish, a starter or just a healthy snack. Preparation time is about ten minutes but don't rush if using the Mandolin. What Thai people call a Salad feels more like a pickle to me as they use citrus juice (lime or lemon), Fish sauce (Nam Pla) and vinegar in their preparation. The Thai term for salad can be confusing for Westerners. Mandolin with shield Carrot and Courgette Start by shredding your vegetables into thin ribbons, I used a Mandolin with a medium side shredding attachment but a potato peeler and a knife will do the jo