seasonal eating

Barley lentil salad with amaranth

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It’s June here in Kefalonia and salad time under a sunny blue sky.  The seasonal wild greens – ‘horta’ – which you now find in some green grocers are a leafy vegetable called Vlita.  It’s in season from early summer until autumn, June to September.


When I looked up the English translation and found ‘amaranth’ I was none the wiser;  not a leafy veg I’ve cooked before, although amaranth seed has been in my line of sight since I first studied nutrition.  A remarkable gluten free, high protein seed that’s definitely worth adding to your library of recipes.  I’ve added some info about it below at the end of my recipe.

The whole amaranth plant can apparently be eaten, not just the leaves and seeds but the flowers and root as well.  What a star plant, right!?

The leaves are similar to spinach, in fact cousins, since they’re part of the same ‘amaranthaceae’ family, but with a milder flavour when cooked, none of the slightly bitter aftertaste spinach can have.  So subtle, however, that it definitely needs the recommended fried onion and lemon juice to zhoosh it up.

I was told the young amaranth leaves only need frying for about 10 minutes, but wild greens are often boiled here in Greece, and for good reason.  Even briefly boiling them will help reduce the amount of oxalates they contain.  You can find a word – or twenty! – below** explaining a little about these so-called anti-nutrients.  Why it’s best for some to control how many high-oxalate foods they consume.

This recipe came about because Nick-up-the-track gave us a big bag of vlita from his garden.  Not a clue what to do with it but between him and a few Greek recipe books plus online scrolling I decided I’d use them with whatever dinner I could rustle up.

We had left-over cooked barley from a delicious salad inspired by St Peter’s restaurant. and a bowl of cooked lentils – always lentils in our fridge!   Together with the freshly prepared amaranth, the resulting meal was delicious.  Topped with toasted almonds and a dollop of yoghurt, it turned into a perfect Greek dish for us.

Instead of amaranth, you could use spinach or kale.  And you can replace the gluten-heavy barley with brown or mixed rice – or quinoa, which is yet another cousin in this spinach-amaranth ‘Amaranthaceae’ family. How very Greek, all these cousins!!

Ingredients for 2:

150g cooked barley (or brown rice, quinoa…).  Follow your packet instructions re timings.  Mine were all in Greek but 30 mins worked.
150g cooked beluga lentils. Brown lentils might make the end dish look too sludgy
c 150g amaranth or spinach leaves, roughly chopped and lightly boiled (to reduce those oxalates)
a generous swish of olive oil to lightly fry
1 red onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
freshly ground pepper
Juice of one lemon

Topping:
toasted slivered almonds
dollops of any yoghurt you love.  Or not!

Method:

Heat a generous slosh of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
Add the sliced onion and gently cook until transparent.  Then add the crushed garlic and stir for a minute.
Next, mix in the lightly boiled chopped greens followed by the cooked barley and lentils.
Gently combine, add lemon juice & pepper – and a little more olive oil for some shine.

That’s about it, so easy, but do a taste test and adjust to your liking.
Serve on a plate or pasta bowl, top with the almonds and a dollop of yoghurt.

Let me know how it goes!

*Amaranth seed is a complete protein, like chia and hemp seed.  This means it has all 9 essential amino acids that you can only get through foods like meat/seafood/soybeans.  You can’t make these essential amino acids in your body, it has to come from food.

Given that amino acids are the “building blocks of protein”, and you need protein for …everything! it’s good to know that amaranth seed is such an excellent source.  Especially if you’re vegan or vegetarian.

The flour is gluten free, ‘ray!  Apparently on the heavy side and best combined with other gf flours to give a lighter bake.  The seed’s flavour is said to be a bit earthy or grassy.

These amaranth leaves from Nick have inspired me to try out all sorts of amaranth seed recipes next month. Porridge-type b’fasts and desserts, or polenta-ish sides, or as a thickener in soups.  And I found this amaranth biscuit recipe which sounds delicious.

** Oxalates:
Like spinach and many other healthy foods, amaranth is high in these so-called anti-nutrients.  What they do is bind to minerals in the food you’ve eaten, and form a compound that passes right through you.  That means you can’t utilise any of the benefits these minerals should be giving you (think calcium, magnesium, potassium etc for bone health alone!)
Oxalates are important to be aware of if you’re prone to kidney stones, or have a kidney condition, or osteoporosis or some malabsorption digestive disorders eg. IBD, coeliac disease.
Saying all that, amaranth leaves, like spinach, are still a health-giving, delicious foods.  A great fibre food to nourish your gut microciome, with amaranth having super high amounts of Vit C and K, whilst spinach boasts great Bs, folate, magnesium a.o.  There are many delicious, healthy oxalate foods out there, so take a look at this link . The message in the end is to go easy and don’t eat them in excess.

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 🙂