Quinoa with Summer Roasted Vegetables and Harissa Marinade and a Giveaway

I thought quinoa was going to be the grain that finally defeated me.  I have tried to cook with it several times and never managed to get rid of the soapy taste.  When I saw this recipe in "At home in the wholefood kitchen- celebrating the art of eating well" I thought I'd give it another chance and I'm so glad that I did as this recipe for Quinoa with Summer Roasted Vegetables and Harissa Marinade was packed with flavours and none of them were soap!


The Blurb
With her love of whole food and expertise as a chef, Amy Chaplin has written a book to entice everyone to eat well every meal, every day. She provides all the know how for creating delicious, healthy dishes based on unprocessed, unrefined food - from the basics of good eating to preparing seasonal feasts all year round.

About the Author: Amy Chaplin has worked as a vegetarian chef for over twenty years. She is the former executive chef of New York’s renowned vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen, a recipe developer, a teacher, and a private chef whose clients include Natalie Portman and Liv Tyler. Amy’s delicious vegan and vegetarian cuisine has appeared in numerous publications, including Martha Stewart Living, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, the Guardian, the Vegetarian Times, Oprah magazine and the Washington Post. A native of Australia, over the last two decades Chaplin has worked as a chef in Amsterdam, London, Sydney, and New York. She currently resides in New York City. Find more of her original recipes at amychaplin.com.

What's in the book?
This is a large book and something of a wholefood primer.  My own introduction to wholefoods came about in the late 1970s and it was Gail Duff who influenced my interest in whole and healthy foods.  Amy Chaplin had the benefit of growing up on a community farm by parents who cooked and ate the food that they grew there. After Amy's introduction and biography, you move on to The Pantry, which for Amy includes vegetables and fruits that sit out on the kitchen worktop. Amy introduces us to whole grains, beans and pulses, nuts and seeds, superfoods such as goji berries and help seeds; oils, vinegars, seasoning and condiments.  But it doesn't stop there, we learn about seaweeds, spices, pantry vegetables and a feast of ingredients for the fridge and freezer.  Natural sweeteners, bottled and canned items and I doubt if the pantry door will close!

Amy then gives us a run down on equipment we should aim to have in our kitchen, although she does recommend slowly collecting good-quality pans to last a lifetime.  Two luxury items are included which Amy uses daily, a pressure cooker and a Vitamix blender.

Cooking from the Pantry, this section is divided into Grains, Beans, Nuts and Seeds and Roasting Vegetables.  Before you start cooking any of the recipes, each chapter has detailed instructions on how to prepare and the ingredients. Here are a few of the recipes I liked: Simple Quinoa (this was the basic recipe I followed for the featured recipe), Lemony Marinated Lentils sounds delicious, Tamari Toasted Seeds are bound to be a hit for snacking or sprinkling on salads.  The Roasted Vegetables are prepared with coconut oil and fresh herbs.

Pantry Recipes takes these basics a little further with a range of creative dishes such as Steamed Greens with zesty flaxseed dressing, Wholewheat fettucine with kale, caramelised onions and marinated goat's cheese, Dijon mustard marinated tempeh and garlic tamari-braised tofu. There are some really great Make-Ahead Condiments including the harissa, I made for my recipe, tahini sauce and toasted almond butter.

We are just about half way through 'At home in the whole food kitchen' and we are just starting with breakfast.  I wouldn't refuse spelt almond waffles, blackberry cornmeal muffins or pumpkin bread with toasted walnut cinnamon swirl or coconut and quinoa pancakes.

Soup is easy to make and easy to keep healthy and whole food, I really must make pea and courgette (zuchinni) soup with dill.  Miso soup was one of our 70's stand bys, Amy makes a hearty winter miso soup with adzuki beans, squash and ginger and I love the sound of the luscious spicy carrot soup with Kaffir lime leaves and coconut.

Salads doesn't herbed spelt berry salad with peas and feta sound good?  As does shaved fennel beetroot salad with blood orange and crushed hazelnuts and, of  course, the quinoa with roasted summer vegtables and harissa marinade (recipe below).

Everyone loves snacks, nibbles and drinks and this chapter doesn't disappoint, rustic pea spread, roasted red pepper macadamia pate, black sesame rice crackers and to wash it down rhubarb rose infusion or turmeric lemonade.

We are by no means finished yet, Whole Meals serves up dill roasted plum tomato tart with pine nut crust, tempeh portobello burgers, butternut squash lasagne with wholewheat noodles and sage tofu ricotta and heirloom bean bourguignon with celeriac mash.

Desserts can be whole food too, there is a range of tarts including fresh peach with walnut crust, coconut custard tart with toasted coconut crust, date pistachio praline tart and dark chocolate truffle tart with Brazil nut crust. Other sweet treats include apricot coconut bars, pistachio sultana cookies with cardamom and earl grey fruit cake.

At home in the whole food kitchen  finishes with a little essay on tea, in all it's forms, Amy's thoughts on cleansing and healing with whole foods, some guidelines and menu suggestions and finally why we should eat organic foods.


Who is it for?
This book would suit both the novice whole foodie and experienced vegetarian and vegan cooks.  The extensive information about ingredients, and how to prepare them, is well written and, so far, the recipes have worked for me.  The recipes themselves are interesting and varied, with some rather different combinations of ingredients to satisfy the most adventurous cook.

Pros
Well written recipes including instructions on how to prepare various pantry ingredients.  Lots of well styled clear photographs.

Cons
It is a big heavy tome of a book, certainly not for reading in bed!  When I first looked at the recipes I was a bit put off by some of the ingredients, but on closer inspection most are easily available and there are only a few that I would struggle to source.

The Verdict
If you want to eat more healthily or simply explore some different recipes, then this is a great place to start.  You will learn the how and why of whole foods as well as having recipes to follow, allowing you to create your own healthy vegetarian and vegan recipes.  I was so impressed by the recipe, not only was the quinoa perfectly cooked, the harissa was the best I've ever tasted with the combination of the ingredients making a fabulous meal.


Quinoa with Summer Roasted Vegetables and Harissa Marinade
Serves 4 - 6

2 courgettes (zucchinis), roll cut into 2.5cm (1in) pieces
2 red peppers (capsicums), deseeded and cut into 2.5cm (1in) pieces
300g (10 1/2 oz/2cups) cherry tomatoes, large ones cut in half
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea Salt
1 red onion cut into 1.2 com (1/2 in) wedges
720g (1lb 9oz/4 cups) cooked quinoa, cooled (see below)
80ml (3fl oz/1/2 cup) homemade harissa (see below)
40g (1 1/2 oz/1 cup) chopped flat-leaf parsley
140g (5oz) goat's milk feta, drained and crumbled
Olives, to garnish

Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark.  Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Place courgette (zucchini), peppers (capsicum) and cherry tomatoes in a bowl and toss with 3 tbsp of the olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt.  Divide vegetables between baking trays and spread out in a single layer.  Roast for 25 minutes.  Gently stir vegetables, rotate trays and roast 10 minutes more or until browning, Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Warm remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add red onion and saute for 5 minutes. Lower heat a little and cook for 15 minutes longer, stirring every minute or so, until soft and caramelised.  Stir in a pinch of salt remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Transfer quinoa to a large bowl, fluff with a fork, add harissa and mix well.  Add roasted vegetables, caramelised onions and parsley; toss gently to combine and season to taste with additional salt. Crumble feta over top and serve garnished with olives.


Harissa
Makes about 80ml (3fl oz/1/3 cup)

1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/8 tsp sea salt
 60ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Warm a small to medium frying pan over medium heat.  Add cumin, coriander and caraway seeds, toast seeds, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes or until fragrant.  Transfer to an electric spice grinder and grind until fine.  Place ground spices in a bowl then add paprika, cayenne, garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon juice.  Stir until smooth.  Store in a  sealed glass jar in the fridge for up to two months, or as mentioned above leave out the lemon for storing indefinitely.

Simple Quinoa
Makes 720g (1lb 9oz/4 cups) cooked quinoa

170g (6oz/1 cup) quinoa
240ml (8fl oz/ 1 cup) filtered water, plus more for soaking
pinch of sea salt

Wash and soak the quinoa in at least 720ml (24fl oz /3 cups) water for 8 to 24 hours.  Drain and rinse the quinoa.  Place in a 2 litre (3 1/2 pint) pan and add filtered water and salt.  Bring to the boil over high heat, cover pan, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.  Remove from heat and set aside, covered, for 5 - 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.  Once cool, quinoa can be stored n the fridge for up to  four days.

At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: amy chaplin, at home in the whole food kitchen, cook, cookbook review, Harissa, quinoa, review, roasted vegetables, Vegan, Vegetables, vegetarian, whole food

posted by Janice @ 20:26 98 Comments

The Woolton Pizza Pie for VE Day 70th Anniversary Celebrations

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe (VE Day – 8 May 1945), Potato Pete is being brought back to life through wartime recipes which have been given a modern makeover. Though times have changed, potatoes remain a British favourite and are still helping the country enjoy a healthy, balanced diet.




Potato Pete was a fun character created by the Ministry of Agriculture & Food to inspire people to eat more potatoes and maintain their health during the Second World War. Families were encouraged to make use of their gardens or allotments to grow vegetables through the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. At its peak, there were 1.4 million allotments in Britain.



Kate Cox of the Potato Council says, “Potatoes were a staple ingredient in Britain during the war and a key component of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign, so it seemed only fitting to celebrate VE Day by revamping wartime recipes that are still just as tasty and nutritious today!”  



Dietitians argue that wartime diets were amongst the healthiest the British population has ever eaten, which in turn led to improvements in the nation's health.

Sian Porter, dietitian says, “Food during the Second World War was all about sustainability, minimising waste and nutrition. Today we are seeing a renewed interest in where our food comes from, how it is grown, avoiding waste as well as maximising nutrition. Ingredients such as potatoes were relevant then and are relevant now.” 

Potatoes are the original superfood, with research* showing children get more Vitamin C, B1, B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Potassium from potatoes than from the 5 superfoods; beetroot, bananas, nuts, broccoli and avocado combined.
 
Average intakes of potassium, iodine, folate and vitamin B6 are more than 10% higher in adults who regularly consume more potatoes rather than alternative carbohydrates such as pasta or rice.  The average intakes of potassium, folate, vitamin A and vitamin B6 are also more than 6% higher in children who consume potatoes regularly.


Woolton Pie is a tasty and nutritious vegetable pie that could still be made during times of rationing and food shortages.  It's one of the most famous war time recipes, named after Lord Woolton, he helped to make the recipe popular when he became Minister of Food in 1940.  I've taken that recipe and updated it to make the kind of  'pie' that many of us enjoy weekly - a pizza pie!

The Woolton Pizza Pie
Serves 6

For the base
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp milk
60ml water
115g mashed Maris Piper potatoes
2tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
270g strong white flour
2 tsp fast action yeast

For the topping
6 new Charlotte potatoes
1/2 a small turnip (swede)
2 carrots
Florets from 1/2 a medium cauliflower
5 cloves of garlic, skins on
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika (pimenton)
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
50g finely chopped parsley
I made my dough in the bread maker, but to make it by hand:

Labels: 70th Anniversary Celebrations, Dig for Victory, Pizza, Potato Pete, potatoes, VE Day, Vegetables, Vitamins, Wartime Kitchen, WW2

posted by Janice @ 06:30 16 Comments

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

It may not look particularly exciting, but this was one of the tastiest bowls of soup I have made for some time.  I usually use red lentils in my lentil soup, but this time I used Crazy Jack Organic green lentils, as they were included in my box of goodies from Knorr for the Knorr Flavour Pot Product of the Year Challenge.  


Lentil and Vegetable Soup

1 tbsp sunflower oil
3 carrots, chopped
4 sticks of celery, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
4 Knorr vegetable stock cubes
3.5 litres of water
250g green lentils, washed in a sieve
salt & pepper to taste
1 Garden Herbs Knorr Flavourpot

1. Heat the oil to a medium heat in a large soup pan (I use my pressure cooker).
2. Add the carrots, celery and onion.
3. Add the water, lentils, vegetable stock cubes and Garden Herbs Flavour Pot.
4. Cook for 20 minutes in a pressure cooker or around 40 minutes in an ordinary pan, until the vegetables and lentils are soft.

The soup improves on keeping and I make such a large pot as it provides lunch for several days after the weekend, but you could scale it down.


I'm entering this soup for No Croutons Required, the blog linky for vegetarian soups and salads run by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. Jac is hosting this month.


Knorr Flavour Pots have just collected first prize in the Sauce and Seasoning category for this year’s Product of the Year awards. Knorr Flavour Pots allow you to easily infuse your cooking with the flavour of fresh herbs and spices but with the handy convenience of dried. The range features nine different tantalising flavours, including Mixed Herbs, Three Peppercorn, Curry, Garlic, Mixed Chillies, Garden Herbs, Ginger & Lemongrass, Paprika, and Mexican.

Labels: carrots, celery, Garden Herbs, green lentils, Knorr, Knorr Flavour Pot, Lentil Soup, Vegetables, vegetarian

posted by Janice @ 18:59 19 Comments

7-a-day Slow Cooker Challenge Round Up

It seems that packing 7 fruits or vegetables into a slow cooker recipe was quite a challenge as, other than my own, I only had two excellent entries which I will share with you.

First up was Pravina from Indo-Global Food with a simple vegetable curry: Aloo-Palak (Potato and Spinach) Curry which can be eaten with rice, naan, roti or paratha.

 My own dish was Chicken with 7-a-day Mediterranean Vegetables a great one pot meal best served with something that will soak up the delicious juices.

Natalie at The Tofu Diaries brought a Vegan dimension to the Slow Cooker Challenge.  Regular readers may have noticed I have a real love of paprika, so this Sweet Potato and Three Bean Paprikash is going on my recipe wish list.

Many thanks to Natalie and Pravina for taking part in the Slow Cooker Challenge.  I hope you will join me on 1st of May to find out what we will be making in our Slow Cookers as we move towards the warmer weather.

 Woo hoo!  I must have left the linky open longer than I though and the lovely Sarah of Tales from the Kitchen Shed has snuck in at the last minute with a delicious Vegetable Biryani and what a gorgeous vibrant photograph.

Labels: 7-a-day, beans, Biryani, potoates, Round Up, Slow Cooker Challenge, spinach, Sweet Potato, Vegan, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 21:29 16 Comments

Chicken and 7-a-day Mediterranean Vegetables

I thought I'd better make a recipe for my own blog challenge: The Slow Cooker Challenge.  The theme this month is 7-a-day Fruits or Vegetables.  Now it might be pushing it to get a full seven portions of fruit or vegetables onto one plate, but it isn't that difficult to add 7 fruits or vegetables to a single dish.

Chicken 
with 7 Vegetables

8 chicken thighs
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
8 mushrooms
7 small vine tomatoes
2 Aubergines (Eggplant)
3 large or 12 mini red, orange or yellow (bell) peppers
2 large courgettes (zucchini)
12  pitted black olives
2 tablespoons of pesto
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
small bunch of parsley

1. Brown the chicken pieces in a pan with a little oil, set aside.
2. Chop all the vegetables into even sized pieces and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Mix the pesto and balsamic vinegar into the vegetables and top with the chicken pieces.
4. Cook on medium for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
5. Top with chopped parsley.
6. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the juices.




I'm also entering this recipe for Four Seasons Food Spring Challenge: Let's Celebrate Vegetables run by Delicieux and Eat Your Veg.
Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy are also celebrating 7-a-day with their challenge Extra Veg.

Labels: 7-a-day, aubergines, Chicken, courgettes, Extra Veg, Four Seasons Food, slow cooker, Slow Cooker Challenge, tomatoes, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 08:46 19 Comments

April Slow Cooker Challenge: 7-a-day!

How many portions of fruit and veg do you manage to eat in a day?  The latest research is showing that we should be upping our target of 5-a-day to 7-a-day or more.  Read more about this on the BBC News website 7-a-day Fruit and Veg Saves Lives

As I care deeply about all my readers and want them to live for a very long time, the theme for the April Slow Cooker Challenge is 7-a-day  make a dish in your slow cooker that contains 7 portions of fruit and/or veg, follow the rules and link it up to the Linky below:

06/04/14 I've had some feedback that it seems unreasonable to include 7 portions of fruit/veg in one meal and that's probably true.  That wasn't really my intention but I can see that I did actually say that!  In the dish I made (coming soon) I included 7 different vegetables so use that as your guide - just pack as many fruits and veggies in there as possible. Janice

• Make your recipe in your Slow Cooker and post a photograph and the recipe, or a link to a recipe, on your blog
• Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen
• Use the Slow Cooker Challenge logo in your post
• If you use twitter, tweet your post with @FarmersgirlCook and #SlowCookerChallenge and I will re-tweet it to my followers AND post your post your pictures on a decicated Pinterest board.

Rules:

• Please do not publish recipes from cookbooks on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
• If you are using recipes from another website, please link to the recipe on the website rather than publishing the recipe. 
• You can repost previous recipes on your blog, but please add the Slow Cooker Challenge Logo and link.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

Labels: Fruit, Linky, slow cooker, Slow Cooker Challenge, veg, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 20:27 5 Comments

Bulgar Wheat Salad

When I'm trying to lose a few pounds, I like to have something nice and filling for my lunch but without too many calories or too much fat.  Somehow, many of the sandwiches that are fit the healthy remit don't seem to fill me up.  So I made this Bulgar Wheat Salad, the wheat fills you up and the vegetables add the taste.  You can vary the vegetables and the dressing add chickpeas or kidney beans to add a bit of interest.
 

Labels: Bulgar wheat, Food Bloggers Diet, lemon, oil, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 21:23 6 Comments

Bacon or Ham Stewpot

The recipe states that you should remove the rind and cut up your ham into cubes, but as I wanted to use it for other things,  I cooked it, covered in water, for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker until it was just tender.  I kept the ham stock to make soup later.

6. Serve with a green vegetable.

As I wasn't using the cubed bacon but had the whole joint in the pot, so once it was cooked I took out the bacon joint, halved it and cut half into cubes then stirred them back into the vegetable mixture.


This makes a huge pot of delicious, filling and warming food, which would feed 6-8 people.  It would be ideal for a Halloween or Bonfire Party and, even better,  I still have half the ham which I'm making into a pie and will feature in another post soon!

Labels: bacon, Bookmarked Recipes, carrots, casserole, Gammon, ham, haricot beans, Le Creuset, potato, stewpot, Vegetables, vegetarian

posted by Janice @ 16:16 13 Comments

Grow your own!

No Croutons Required is hosted by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa's Kitchen

Labels: champagne vinegar, colman's mustard, courgette, honey, No Croutons Required, radish, salad, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 19:43 6 Comments

Soup

Labels: Soup, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 12:30 0 Comments