Over the past week I've tested out two new winter veggie recipes from Mike McEnearney's new cookbook "Real Food," previewed in the current issue of "MindFood" magazine. Both dishes were amazing and are definitely worth trying.
Here's "Roast Sweet Potato with Maple Syrup and Cinnamon:"
Roast orange kumara on an oven tray in their skins until soft, about an hour, then split open and top with a dusting of cinnamon, fresh coriander, pomegranate "arils" (found some on a recent trip to Papakura in Countdown, hooray!), and a good dollop of yogurt. The recipe calls for coconut yogurt, which I didn't have on hand, but low fat greek yogurt worked well too. A dressing made of tamarind paste, cinnamon, maple syrup, soy sauce, olive oil, and lime juice is drizzled on top before serving. It was absolutely delicious, the tart yogurt and pomegranate work well to offset the sweetness of the kumara.
The second dish was "Roast (Brussels) Sprouts, Buttermilk & Chickpeas." I know, it sounds unusual, but this too was "rather exceptional." Brussels sprouts are halved and sauteed in olive oil for 5 minutes with a pinch or two of salt, then roasted in the oven. After they've been in for five minutes they are dusted with smoked paprika before five minutes more. Toss with a tin of drained chickpeas, olive oil, lime juice, fresh mint and the dressing, which consists of buttermilk, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Another absolute winner--quick, easy, and delicious.
We'll be eating these two dishes regularly for awhile. Either one of them could be an entirely satisfying vegetarian meal, at least for me. I've already pre-ordered Mike's book, since his style of cooking and ingredients are just what we like to eat. If you can't wait for the book to test these out, grab the current issue of MindFood; somewhat confusing but the winter food issue is on the reverse side of the magazine, which has a different cover. And oops, excuse my crooked photo!
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