Simple Salads: a Mango-Lime Slaw, and a Salmon, Feta, Chickpea, and Caper salad

Last Saturday night we had our first dinner-on-the-balcony of the season! The high was 80F at noon, and though it's still pretty cool overnight, it was just pleasant enough to dine outside.  I've had a few salad ideas pinned for the past few weeks and finally got around to gathering the (simple) ingredients to make a couple last weekend.

Our grill is out of gas at the moment, but I knew we'd want shrimp/prawns for our first dinner al fresco.  I got the last 1/2 kilo of big, fresh whole prawns from the fishmonger and stopped by the fruit/veg shop nextdoor to grab cabbage, mango, and limes to make a spicy-sweet, tropical slaw from Sprouted Kitchen.  This stuff was delicious!

mango and lime cabbage slaw, topped with sesame seeds

I decided to add some shredded carrot for color, halved the amount of honey (thought it might be a little sweet for our taste with a whole tablespoon), used a combo of Cholula and cayenne pepper in place of the ancho chile powder (hard to come by in Australia, thank goodness the stores here stock Cholula), and topped it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds rather than macadamia nuts.  It tasted great with our garlic-lime pan-fried prawns and a few cornbread muffins.

Sunday dinner I threw together this salmon salad with crumbled feta, chickpeas, and crispy capers that I've been eyeing from Sydney foodie-photography blogger What Katie Ate.  Her cookbook just hit the shelves here, and I've been inspired by her low-fuss, good-time-entertainment food focus. This salad was the easiest thing in the world, and so delicious.  Rather than poach salmon fillets, I just used a small package of smoked salmon, tearing it into strips.  I added a big handful of lightly steamed broccoli that I needed to use up.  I didn't bother pan frying the capers to crisp them up, just threw the capers directly onto the salad after rinsing them.  Forgot to get horseradish, so I improvised and made a dressing out of mustard, apple cider vinegar, and a little natural yogurt, thinning it out with some water.  The hubs absolutely loved this salad (direct quote: 'It's really filling and tasty, not just leaves and sh**. We should make this again').  Definitely going in our rotation for easy meals this summer.

salmon salad with feta, chickpeas, and capers and a tangy mustard dressing