Hello food lovers, welcome to 2022!!!!  Recently I reposted an old recipe and it got me thinking that I had not posted a Dishiest Dish post in a very long time.   One of my intentions for 2022 is to resume that practice, primarily because over the last few months I have misplaced a few recipes that were really good!   So, for every month this year, I will be posting the recipe for the best thing I made in the preceding month.  And for December, it was a delicious Leek and Hazelnut Salad.

I have recently become obsessed with leeks.  They are in last week’s Detox Soup and I also made Rachel Khoo’s Leeks in Vinaigrette with Bayonne Ham.

For full disclosure, I do not like hazelnuts.  I’ll eat them if mixed with other things like chocolate in Nutella but if it is possible to pick them out of something, I’ll do it. So, for my salad, I use macadamias which are, to my taste, a far superior nut!  Almonds would also work here.  As you can also see from the photo above, in this particular iteration, I have also swapped out the spring onions for red onions.

The combination of the sweet tangle of leeks, the tanginess of the pickled onions, the creamy goat’s cheese, the crunchy nuts and the cooked to perfection (even if I do say so myself ) soft boiled egg is a delight!   And if you want to take the newspaper’s suggestion of accompanying your leek and hazelnut salad with a glass of sparkling wine, well I will not try to stop you.  In fact, I am now questioning why I have not done that in the many times I have made it.  Oh well, another reason to make it again!  (As if I needed one).

Leek and Hazelnut Salad – The Recipe

I snipped this recipe from the newspaper (Possibly The Age), years ago.  I do not know whose recipe it is in order to credit them.  Whoever you are, thank you.  And if by chance you happen to be reading this, please let me know so I can update the post!

Other Favourites of The Month

Reading

The Appeal by Janice Halllett

This is a darkly comic mystery story told through emails, text messages and other forms of media.  The Appeal is possibly the best book I have read all year.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the second in the Thursday Murder Club Series, The Man who Died Twice by Richard Osman.

My audible book of the month was The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault.  This was a great story but I did not love the male narrator’s voice.  I think I would have preferred this in normal book format.

Cookbook

Through December, I also became obsessed with the Australian chef Karen Martini and bought three of her books – Cooking At Home, Feasting and Where the Heart Is.  Given I have bought so many of her books, I hope to feature one of her recipes very soon!

Our cookbook club book of the month is not a book at all but we are cooking from tv shows.  I am torn between the Jamie Oliver series for his new cookbook Together and Adam’s Liaw’s tv show The Cook Up.

Watching

My current fave thing to watch the British tv show Bargain Hunt. I love thrift shopping so watching other people do it has great appeal!

Cooking

This month I am keen to finish the remaining recipes in the Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall book which was a Tasty Reads pick back in 2015. I have only 4 recipes left to cook from this book!

I will also be making this recipe from the aforementioned  The Cook Up.  Using homegrown zucchini!

These are the books I will be cooking from this week

Shopping

Queenies

My boss introduced me to these which come in a gorgeous array of designs and give your hair a very cute and somewhat vintage-looking wave.  I bought the Mojo design. Below is the first time I used it and I was pretty happy with the result.  Apologies for the gormless look on my face, I am incapable of taking a good selfie!

Saint Belford Curation Diary

I am constantly on the search for the perfect planner.   I bought one in champagne pink to help keep me on track this year!  It really does seem to have everything in the one place – Habits, meal planner, gratitude, goals, bucketlist and of course, space for your to-do’s, appointments etc.

And just because, here is a pic of Oscar and Holly. Holly has not been well through Christmas and still needs some further testing done once the specialist vets return to work.  But for the moment, she is doing well and happy cuddling up to her big bro:

That’s it for me, I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my life!

Have a wonderful week!