quinoa

Warm Winter Salad

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This is a delicious hearty winter salad, full of roasted sweet potato and carrots, cumin seeds as well as butter beans, crunchy kale and pretty pink radishes and finally finished off with a zesty basil dressing

Ingredients: 1 parsley root, 100g purple chantenay carrots, 1/2 a sweet potato, 10g basil, garlic, 70g radishes, handful of kale.

Larder: 1 tin of butter beans, 100g quinoa, 1tsp cumin seeds/powder, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp honey, 5-6 tbsp oil, pinch of salt.

 

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
  • Peel and chop the parsley root, sweet potato and chantenay carrots into small chunks and place in a large roasting tin. Drain and rinse the butter beans and add to the roasting tin.
  • Drizzle with olive oil; add cumin powder or seeds, a pinch of salt and stir to coat veggies and butter beans. Roast for 25 minutes.
  • Make a dressing by combining together minced garlic clove, chopped basil, 4 tbsp oil, lemon juice and honey. Adjust proportions to taste.making-basil-dressing-600px
  • Finely chop the kale, and slice the radishes, pour over the dressing in a salad bowl, mix well so kale is coated and set aside to marinade.
  • Cook the quinoa according to packet instructions.
  • When veggies are cooked and butter beans slightly crisping, remove from the oven, add to the salad bowl with kale and radishes and mix in the cooked quinoa.
  • Serve while still warm.

Roasted Veg with Quinoa and Sprouting Flowers

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Born from a cross between kale and brussel sprouts around 15 years ago, they have a lovely sweet nutty flavour and have been classed as a ‘superfood’ for being vitamin rich and packed full of dietary fiber. Developed through traditional breeding techniques, we enjoyed finding out that the breed was named by a reader of Good House Keeping in a competition run on the magazine’s website!

Ingredients: 150g new potatoes, 1-2 small beetroot, 100g chantenay carrots, 1 grelot onion, a small bunch of basil, 80g sprouting flowers.

From the larder: 100g quinoa or couscous, 1 tin black beans or kidney beans, 1-2 tbsp honey, juice of ½ a lime, 3 tbsp olive oil (optional extra: ½ tsp cumin powder, grilled salmon or poached eggs).

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
  • Chop the potatoes, beetroot and the bulb of the onion into 1-2 cm chunks. Chop any larger carrots in half.
  • Place in a roasting tin with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle with cumin powder, salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes.roasting-veg-600px
  • Meanwhile, make the dressing; finely chop the basil and combine with 2 tbsp olive oil, lime juice, honey and a pinch of salt. Taste and add more salt, lime, honey or oil according to taste.
  • Cook the quinoa or couscous as per packet instructions. Trim the ends of the sprouting flowers. Add them whole to the quinoa during the last 3 minutes of cooking and then drain. If using couscous, steam the flowers separately in a small saucepan of water for 3 minutes.
  • Drain and rinse the beans and mix in to the quinoa.
  • To serve, place roasted veggies on top of the quinoa, beans and sprouting flowers and drizzle with the basil dressing.