Tomato Pasta #19 | A quick and crunchy gyoza salad
For when you don't really feel like cooking
I don’t know about you, but with festive feasting (and feeding) looming I really cba to cook at the moment. Instead it’s speedy assemblies, using only a few ingredients, maybe a store bought paste here, or something from the freezer there. So, not always from total scratch … but hey, it’s nearly Christmas. We all need a break.
By timely coincidence, my latest batch of recipes for the Waitrose Weekend supplement fit this theme. Technically they’re proposed for that funny period between Christmas and New Year. But I see them as all-winter-rounders.
I say recipes, but each of these dishes is barely more than a gathering of ingredients – from (pre-cooked) lentils with black pudding and a mustardy apple and bitter leaf salad, through steamed cod with fish sauce and lime sprouts; to a good old jacket potato with hot smoked trout, quick pickled cucumbers (plus a few of my favourite things). Grab a (free) copy in store, or sneak a peak online (pages 12-15).
Today’s recipe
If I’d remembered those recipes were coming out this weekend then … I’d still have posted today’s recipe for a crunchy gyoza salad. Because it’s on regular rotation in our house.
The gyoza (air-fried or done to pot sticker perfection more conventionally) are tumbled in an addictive savoury-salty-sweet-sour dressing (tahini and co), alongside some always in the fridge drawer veg and herbs. It takes almost no effort yet is extremely satisfying.
You’ll need to be a paid supporter to get the details, but here’s a video taster set to a stone cold classic tune.
Cookbooks for gifting
LOADS of people have read my 2025 cookbook roundup. If you missed it, and/or need some reminders for Christmas gifting, then maybe take a look today.
On a similar theme, I tell you what’d make a great gift (whether to yourself or another): a signed copy of one of my books! I’ve created an online shop so we can easily sort this.
*** NB. If you’re interested and want it before the 25th, best get on it today or over the weekend. ***
And other gifts for cooks
Finally (before the recipe kicks in), a handful of ideas for cooking-related kitchen gifts. Because you haven’t already seen enough of these lists. The really good ideas kick-in below the paywall ;)
I work from time to time with KitchenAid and, as a result, am well-furnished with their products. I mention for transparency … but also to say virtually all of the gadgets I have collected over the years are in constant use. Obviously their stand mixer is The GOAT. But I have to say that, as coffee in both good and not so good coffee shops touches £4, this year my semi-automatic espresso machine has been the MVP of my kitchen.
Also great from them: the Go Cordless Top Down Chopper. No wires and an interchangeable battery = genuinely freeing.
And I love the pasta roller and cutter extension for the stand mixer.
That said, in all honesty, all I really want for Christmas is a butter knife. My interest sways between the gorgeous and extremely tactile Allday Goods butter knife (here via Pophams Home – again, excellent shopping), but is the blade too stiff? The chic, covetable Sabre butter knife … but is the blade too thin for my style of slathering? Or could it be that the brunch/spreading knife by Opinel is the platonic ideal – what with its wide, flexible blade and tangerine-coloured handle??? Decisions decisions.
Not many things that are as (a) useful and (b) well-suited to a stocking as a Microplane (flat, thin, long). Personally, I think the best ones are the fine zester (meant for citrus, but also perfect for ethereally lightly-grated Parmesan) and the coarse grater, for bigger cheese, carrots etc. (I’ve linked here to Borough Kitchen, who stock a lot of stylish and high quality kitchenware). Oh, also: I LOVE their ‘professional Y Peeler’. You will too.
This wooden spoon holder. I mean, come on!
