Home Made Salad with Chicory, Saucisson Sec, Cherry Tomatoes, chopped Gherkins and chopped Parsley.

A Home Made Salad that you do create yourself is not about going out off your Comfort Zone on the contrary, it is about entering it fully. First of all there are a fair few points to be considered here:

Number one: You do get to choose the ingredients you do like or love and give your palate pleasure. You can sing in your kitchen like Julie Andrews 'Here are a few of my favourite things...'

I love Mackerel, this one was grilled and put on a Salad bed which was a fusion between the Escabeche of the Medditerranean but with an Asian twist upon it. It was lush.

Number two: It follows through the same concept of number one, you are creating your own salad so there is no need to be fancy poncy pants in order to get flashy and add Salmon Roe if you do find it too gooy and not to your tastebuds.

 I do not like Chick Peas apart in a Houmous which has been jazzed up with other ingredients like the juice of a Lime and chopped Coriander. Then it will go in the middle of a large dish with a Salad of Crudités.

Number three: It gives you the liberty to try new ingredients that you heard about in the freedom of your kitchen which can be your experimentative lab.  Of course you will be the Cobeye of your own food first by tasting it, for you must always Taste. If you like the new ingredient then you can start thinking of pairing it with other things. What could that salty flavour could go with? It is trial and errors and learn about your palate to increase your own repertoire of ingredients you do like. The one you don't at least you will know and it will be a one off apart if you go as guest somewhere and politely have to eat it or politely decline a particular course.

For example I did hear about Mooli also called Daikon. I tried it first in a Home Made Salad, then I liked it so much that I decided to grow it.

Number four: You might be Pescetarian, Veggie, Vegan, so you can create Salads which are fit for you, but also be liked by others

My Garden Salad done with the Produce of my Garden, Radishes, Green Tendirella Peas, Baby Gem Lettuce, Chard, Cucumber and Purple Spring Onions. It was refreshingly delicious and not a Meat in sight, totally Veggie. Also I knew where everything came from and that I never used pesticide. 

Number five: It follows through number four, you can and have the liberty of creating a Salad suitable for your own health issues, it might be khron's disease, an allergy to Dairy, an allergy to Nuts, an allergy to Seafood, a Gluten allergy... the list can be long. Recently due to a liver issue I had to stop eating Dairy for a while. It was due to Pork which I didn't check the provenance off and the date. It sent me to hospital extremelly ill and I still pay the consequences of that 'Faux Pas'. Always check the date upon a packet, Pips. 

Mummy is just back from hospital, with my Cleo welcoming me, my other cat Tang-Tang didn't want to leave me either, she was by my feet, her furry head looking at me worried. So no dairy for me until the liver functions are back to normal. It is a crying shame because I do love my cheese.

Number six: If you enjoy cooking and freedom, like an individual who want to try and don't follow all the time the measuring system and add a bit of this and a bit of that, Taste then decide to add a pinch of this, then being creative is for you. You use your flair, your imagination, your experience or build your experience to get to know the ingredients you are using. It is not a blind test whatsoever, because you can smell when something is burning, you can see when a simmering turned to a boiling point etc, etc, and you can try as you go along. 

Preparing a good Chicken Stock is not Rocket Science. It is a bit of this and a bit of that. The essential usually are the leftover of a Chicken Roast, chopped Celery, chopped Carrots, chopped Leeks, an Onion with Cloves,a Bouquet Garni, Bay Leaves and of course Water to cover the Chicken but noting stops you to add the leftover of the Chicken Gravy, some Lemons cut in half, additional fresh Parsley, the entire bunch, a Chicken Knorr cube, Garlic Cloves not peeled. The result will be filtered twice then Jarred until needed. You can do a lovely Lentils Salad using the Chicken Stock by cooking the Lentils within it. Grate some Carrots, add some chopped Celery to the Lentils serve with some Red Chicory Leaves to use almost as spoon, use a White Wine Vinegar Dressing and decorate with chopped Parsley and chopped Gherkins. 

Number seven: After trying it out, and that it tastes great, you can share your culinary discovery with others. When you have a compliment or many you will pleased and happy that it was your creation concocted in your Kitchen. 

Sharing a Salad Bowl with my Partner of Baby Gem Lettuce, Fine Green Beans, Baby Gem Lettuce, Spinach, Dolcellate Blue Cheese and a Blue Cheese Dressing. My Man who is never to kin and eating his Green finished it all off from his plate and went for more. For me I loved it a lot as well because I love Blue Cheese but I saw room improvement Texture Wise by the addition of Croutons.

Number eight: You will be elated if someone is asking you to write the recipe for them, or is asking you to publish it, or you receive numerous likes online of people who tried it and loved it. 

So I did my Home Made Croutons to go with that particular Blue Cheese Salad and it just worked beautifully.

Here are Grosso Modo, the eight points when you are creating your own food without constraints. Last but not least, it is fun to do to create your own food.