plant-based

Roasted root vegetables on butterbean puree

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I came across this starter recipe recently on Sarah Cobacho’s plantbaes website:  maple roasted carrots on a butter bean dip.  Delicious, but I wanted to continue this year’s heart health theme so I added an unusual player to the ingredient list, namely cooked potato.

This isn’t a veg you’d normally associate with heart health, in fact potatoes can spike blood sugar significantly and cause weight gain if eaten in excess as they’re high in starch and have a high glycaemic index. For these reasons all starchy vegetables should be part of your diet, but treated with respect, eaten in moderation.
However, something fascinating happens when you cook and refrigerate potatoes overnight.  A process called retrogradation.  To find out what this process is and how it can make the humble spud a healthier vegetable see the short paragraph with asterisk at the end of the page.

I’ve made this dish a number of times, loved it also with curry powder, so that’s an option if you like a more defined taste.
In this recipe I’ve added butternut to the mix.  For more diversity, for more of that rainbow on your plate – and because I had a butternut squash given to me last week 🙂

This butter bean puree is a great way to add protein to a vegetable meal.  Protein is a vital micronutrient needed daily for the growth and repair of body cells and the functioning of your immune system, for glucose balancing and metabolic health, and for overall ‘thriving’.

Ingredients for 4:

Roasted Vegetables:

4 medium carrots, halved with some of their green tops intact
8 small cooked potatoes from the fridge* (or par boil them now)
Slice of butternut squash, c 125g, cut into chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup
2 crushed garlic
1 tsp smoked paprika
sea salt to taste

Butter bean puree

1 can butter beans, 400g (c240-ish drained)
2 tbsp tahini
1 peeled garlic
1 tsp maple syrup
juice from 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
cold water if needed for a smooth texture

Optional: 1 tsp curry powder or powdered garam masala

To finish:

I chose fennel fronds as their new growth is delicious, however chopped dill or parsely will work.
c 12 walnuts, crushed

Method:

Preheat the oven to 210 C (410F) and line your oven roasting pan with a sheet of parchment paper.
Use the potatoes you boiled or steamed yesterday, which you refrigerated overnight, to add half-way through the roasting.  Or parboil 8 small raw potatoes now.
Then lightly ‘smash’ them with a potato masher, to break the skin so they crisp well.

Mix together the olive oil, maple syrup, smoked paprika, garlic, sea salt.
Put all the veg into a large bowl and gently coat with the olive oil mixture.  Remove yesterday’s refrigerated tatties from the bowl after coating, as they’re already cooked!   You’ll add them to the roasting pan half-way through so they colour but don’t overcook.
If you’re using freshly parboiled potatoes they go into the oven with the carrots and butternut.

Line your vegetables onto the parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning them over half-way through to ensure they don’t burn, and adding your previously cooked potatoes at this point.
After 20-25 mins use a fork to test everything is to your liking.

Butter bean puree:
Add all the ingredients to a high-speed blender or nutribullet to get that creamy finish.  If it’s too stodgy add a tablespoon of cold water until you get the perfect texture, something similar to a dip.  The taste is mellow and understated because of the marinade of the vegetables, however if you want to give it more oomph curry powder, or garam masala work well

Putting it all together:
Spoon 1/4 of the puree onto each plate and place the roasted vegetables on top.  Sprinkle with crushed walnuts and your chopped greenery.
Drizzle with more olive oil, or a chili oil if you want a kick to it.
Serve with any bread or crispbread you like – and enjoy!

Some potato facts:

* Did you know that eating cooked and refrigerated potatoes the following day – either reheated, mashed, roasted or cold, in a potato salad – greatly increases their resistant starch content?  Why is this a good thing?
Resistant starch is a form of prebiotic fibre that survives our small intestine’s digestion, thus escaping enzymatic breakdown in the upper gut.  This prebiotic fibre can therefore reach the large intestine where it provides fuel for microbes in the colon.  This process lowers potatoes’ glycaemic impact – decreasing our blood sugar spikes – and makes us feel more satiated.  Ultimately it helps with weight management.
So how does this support heart health you may be wondering?  Managing weight will always help metabolic and heart health, but also gut bacteria produce short chain fatty acids and these are anti-inflammatory… and help lower cholesterol.  Voila, we’re back to heart health, lol!   This is why I’ve added already cooked potatoes to this recipe, and the reason you can find a bowl of new potatoes in our fridge every week this month 🙂

Christmas lentil bowl

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I wanted to make an easy dish to fall back on for those times over Xmas when you think no one will want more than a bowl of soup in the evening.   A soup does it for me when I’ve over-indulged at lunch (I’m talking serious souping with loads of ingredients, not just a watery brew).  However, it doesn’t tick the box for everyone, and I couldn’t face despondent looks at this festive time of year with my ‘there’s soup if you want’.
So, this Christmas I’m prepared.

I cooked a thick lentil soup on the weekend, nothing fancy, just some added veg and herbs plus red miso at the end to give it more depth of flavour.

Once cooked I drained the liquid and spooned the lentil-veg onto a bed of lemony tahini.  On top of that, a green and red Xmas vibe:  roasted cavalo nero leaves (kale works), and red chicory.  Sadly the red chicory roasted to an blah brown so instead I added a few small twigs of redcurrant.  Those pops of sweet-sour berries were a delicious addition (pomegranate would also work).
So easy, a plate of Christmas lentils!

Ingredients (for  4)

200g-300g dried lentils (anyones you like – brown, puy, beluga). Best soaked overnight (see previous blog for my soaking rant).  I always cook more than needed because you can never go wrong with some extra lentils in the fridge.
couple tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, chopped
1 leek, green part only, chopped
handful of small broccoli and/or cauli florets, or any chopped greens
2tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp red miso paste – and/or tamarind paste if you love that flavour to stir in once the lentils are cooked
Enough veg broth (or water) to cover the lentils to cook. Add more liquid if they are soaking up liquid quicker than you thought

Tahini sauce:

3 tbsp tahini
2-3 tbsp lemon juice (I love lemon)
2-3 tbsp water
1 tsp harissa paste (if you like spicy, otherwise some miso paste)
Salt and pepper to taste

To roast:

3 long leaves cavalo nero, torn; or generous handful chopped kale
a few tbsp olive oil to rub and roast
optional:   1/4 tsp harissa or tamarind paste added to the oil
Decorate with sprigs of redcurrant or pomegranate for a sweeter red finish

 

Method:

Pour small amount of olive oil in the pot, then add the chopped leek, parsley, carrots or any other root veg, plus chopped greens if you like.  Gently fry.   I add the broccoli and cauliflower half-way through so they have a bit of a bite, but you could add them now.
Add the soaked-overnight-then-rinsed lentils and cover with veg broth or water. Cook until soft but not mushy.  Don’t forget to add any greens or broccoli etc halfway through.
Usually I taste after 10 minutes as some types of lentils cook faster than others.

At this point, drain any liquid that’s left.  Either keep the liquid to have any left-overs as a soup (this is me 🙂
Or toss.
I then add the red miso and spoon it through the cooked lentil-veg (add a little water if it has gone thick in your fridge).

Meanwhile, rub your torn green leaves with olive oil.  You could mix a smidgeon of harissa or tamarind into the oil if you love the taste.
Roast in a medium oven for about 10 minutes till crunchy.  Not burnt!  You’ll be near the oven, cooking your lentils, making your tahini sauce, so you can hover and check those leaves.

For the tahini, whisk together all the ingredients, adding water slowly as you want a consistency that’s slightly thick and smooth, but not runny.  It’s a sauce not a liquid dressing. Go easy with the harissa if you’re wary of too-spicy.

Now layer up.  Spoon the tahini sauce onto your plate then add a mound of lentil-veg and top with crunchy cavalo or kale leaves.  Red currants on the peak!

Merry Lentil Christmas to you all!

Vegan savoury strudel, gf and df

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This recipe was inspired by Elke’s Austrian take on a Greek spanakopita (spinach pie).  Instead of the usual triangle slices of a traditional spanakopita, she opted for the strudel “log” shape, and added loads more delicious spinach than one normally finds in these pies.
I’ve tweaked the recipe yet again by adding more vegetables to the spinach.  So it’s no longer a spanakopita but a roasted sweet potato, spinach and leek ‘strudel’!  And with a gluten-free puff pastry and dairy-free fetta; a vegan version to see how it works.
Worked a treat!

The store-bought ‘Jus-roll’ gluten-free puff pastry makes it all so very easy and quick.  And Violife’s vegan Greek fetta is delicious and a great option for anyone going vegan, or with a casein (dairy protein) or lactose intolerance.
You can steam the sweet potato cubes, definitely the healthy option, but as I was roasting a lunch the day before I decided to add the sweet potato cubes to the oven; also the pine nuts right at the end.  Less work the following day when I was playing with this recipe.

Ingredients:

For six slices

1 packet Jus-roll gluten free puff pastry (or regular Jus-roll puff; or filo.. shortcrust, whatever you like)
400g packet spinach, roughly chopped
green part of one leek, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, squeezed (two at the start, one added near the end)
1 large sweet potato, about 250g, cubed, then either roasted or steamed before you start your log
dollop of olive oil for a light fry and to lightly brush onto the log before baking
80g toasted pine nuts
100g Violife ‘Greek white’ (or non vegan, regular Greek fetta)

Method:

If you haven’t roasted your pine nuts, nor your cubed sweet potato, do this first.  When done put aside where no one will be tempted to have a nibble.

For the filling, pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat then add the sliced leek and 2 of the pressed garlic.  Gently fry until the leek’s transparent.
Toss in the roughly chopped spinach and wilt.  Hover near the pan otherwise your delicious leafy spinach pile will vanish to an overwilted green sludge.  The same goes for the pine nuts, keep close, for if you leave the kitchen even for a moment they are bound to burn.  Hover.  Keep watch.

Add the roasted/steamed sweet potato cubes to the pan of spinach to warm through, then that last garlic clove.  Stir in the roasted pine nuts.

Wait for everything to cool before adding the crumbled fetta.

With ‘Jus-roll’ you can literally unravel it from the box and start filling it with your cooked veg, so easy.
However, if it’s too thick for your taste roll it thinner and larger.  Whatever you decide, ensure you have parchment underneath it (the paper it comes wrapped in its box), so you can easily lift the filled roll onto the oven tray.

Spoon the filling along the long side of half the pastry, leaving a clear 2-3 cms edge all around so you can seal it without the filling oozing out.  To make your log just fold over the pastry and, with water-wet fingers, press the edges closed then go over them with a fork to create a neater, tighter finish.  Brush with oil and prick the pastry, to stop a gap forming inside as it cooks.

Bake in a moderate fan oven, about 180 C degrees (c350 F), until light golden brown, approx 30 – 45 mins (depending on everyone’s unique oven.  Like us, they have personalities and might decide to take longer to colour your strudel).

Slice and serve with a leafy colourful salad, or as part of a delicious summer garden spread.

Kali oreksi! Bon appetit x