When I started blogging, I got to meet other food bloggers in the UAE and around the world.
Some of which I met personally and others who I would love to meet.
But there were a few who I really wanted to be in the kitchen with them, for that would create magic in the world of food!

Shaikha is one of those people… the ones I want to be in a kitchen with!

I have been an admiring fan/stalker of her blog and photos for a little over a year now.

The creativity in the kitchen, the use of fresh and always interesting ingredients and of course not just her food ideas are out of the box but she as whole is an-out-of-the-box food enthusiast!

Shaikha is the owner of When Shaikha Cooks.

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This month has been going too slow for me and it seems that I have a baker’s block or something. Other than taking cookie orders, I haven’t been as creative as I should be. I have lots of ideas of things I want to create in the kitchen but I just don’t want to do a thing!

I then thought of asking Shaikha to write a guest post for my blog.
And when she accepted and said that she has an exclusive recipe and on VIDEO, I was just so excited!

Unfortunately I couldn’t post this earlier because my kids and I were all sick for the passed week!

Guest post starts here: :p

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I recently received a message from the lovely owner of this blog Arwa, asking me to offer a guest post, which sounded amazing!

I’ve always admired her cooking and the flavors she uses such Lemon grass, Mango, and Poppy seed. She has the ability to modernize traditional Emirati cuisine into a contemporary dish that looks like it has just come out of a French pastry store, which is why I was extremely honored that she asked me to offer a recipe on her website.

I immediately began thinking of what the dish should be about. Sweet? Salty? so many options! I then said why not prepare a salad. But not any salad, a salad that is fresh, well dressed, and is beautifully luscious and easy to prepare.  I then recalled a salad that I have been making these days that seemed to be very popular within our household, it became our favorite dinner item that we would enjoy as our last meal of the day and it was just such a comfortable light dish to make, so the answer was, my Smoked Salmon & Apple Salad, which combines contradicting flavors such as Salmon, apples, and feta cheese. The flavors truly compliment each other and combine in a heavenly way. And you should have most of the ingredients already in the fridge.  It makes a great dinner, or as a side dish in a family meal or gathering.

Also, Did I ever mention that I have a wild adoration for recipes in the form of videos? Well, I do! So there is indeed a recipe video to be shown here!

Smoked Salmon Apple Salad from Shaikha Al Ali on Vimeo.

 
Ingredients: 

1/2 head of Lettuce, coarsely chopped
Small Handful of chopped chive
1 small chopped green chili
2 grated cucumbers
1 large chopped green onion
1 Lemon
200g Smoked Salmon, sliced coarsely
Handful of crumbled Feta Cheese
Generous Squirt of Mayonnaise
1/2 Green Apple, chopped into cubes
Fresh Sea Salt
Fresh Black Pepper

Method:

Begin by preparing the vegetables and apple. Chop the lettuce, chives, chili, green onion, and apple then place in the desired bowl of your choice. Grate the cucumbers and add as well to the bowl. To prepare the salmon simply chop into coarse slices while trimming and discarding the Salmon meat from the dark areas, which are chewy when eaten therefore is a better option to remove them. Place the salmon with the rest of the ingredients. Follow with the Lemon, feta cheese, and mayonnaise. Season well with fresh black pepper and sea salt then mix really well until everything is incorporated.

And that is it! Simple and fast, I truly hope you enjoy this salad and give it a try.

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