Other recipes (mostly turmeric-free!)

[suze]

Green Bean Salad
Well it was green bean in the sense that I had some left over and invented this as a nice salad to use them up. It is quite actively anti-cancer with the soy sauce, ginger and cabbage .. to say nothing of the strong green leaves ...

Ingredients:
Cooked green beans, as many as you have! cut into smallish pieces
Bag of organinc spinach rocket and watercress leaves
small piece of red cabbage, finely shredded
5 spring onions finely sliced

tsp of finely chopped fresh root ginger
tsp of toasted sesame oil
1 tsp organic tamaric soy
black pepper

Arrange the bag of leaves on a large plate or shallow salad bowl
Sprinkle layer of finely sliced red cabbage over the leaves
Layer beans over the cabbage
Sprinkle the spring onion on the top.

Whisk together the root ginger with the oil and soy sauce just before serveing and spoon over the other ingredients ...

[suze]

Orange and Date salad

Ingredients
Two small little gem lettuces washed and well dried.
1 large orange - segmented
1/4 red onion finely sliced
few walnuts, chopped
4 dates, fresh or dried, chopped

1 tsp walnut oil
juice from the orange segments
salt and pepper

Method
Arrange the leaves from the lettuce in two small salal bowls
Prepare the orange segments by cutting off all peel and pith with very sharp knife, then take out each segment with a smalll knife. If your segments are successful you should be able to halve each one ofthem to a neat bite size Divide evenly between the two bowls.
Divide your fine onion slices, date and walnut pieces evenly between each bowl.
Whisk a little dressing from the juice, walnut oil and seasonings, and dress just before serving.

Rather a sweet salad, which is nice when you don't get many puddings in a week! LOL ;D

[suze]

We are doing various salads cos we are both losig a bit of weight now ... I like to make an effort to make the salad unique, rather than the same mix everytime ... I have a book called 500 salads as a start point! LOL

though i dont do the meat ones, nor the ones which need lots of dressings!
x

[suze]

Roasted Courgette Salad
This works best if you have a few fresh herbs to hand = ideally picked from a pot in your own garden ...
and while the veg are roasting, put the tomatoes on a windowsill to warm up ... we dont want icy tomatoes in this

Ingredients

1 lb courgettes, cut into thick slices, on the diagonal works best
1 large red pepper cut into quarters
5 large cloves of garlic, UNpeeled
2 or three sprigs of rosemary (optional)
drop of olive oil to grease baking tray
salt and black pepper

Crispy lettuce -- enough for two people, we used two little gem, but some romaine, or cos would be good too = roughly chopped
two or three large tomatoes thickly sliced
red onion - a few thin slices
fresh parsely --handful of finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp olive oil
ten black olives ... good marinaded ones are best

Method
Heat oven to roast, gas mark 6 electric ?
Brush baking tray with drop of olive oil,
Put rosemary in centre of tray and arrange courgette and pepper pieces over the top .. brush lightly with drop of oil

Sprinkle in the garlic cloves and little salt and pepper

Roast until veg are soft and slightly brown at the edges ... varieas a lot but at least 1/2 .. may need to brush a little extra oil on.

When cooked discard any burnt rosemary and put the rest of the veg to one side to cool slightly

Squeeze the soft stuff out of the garlic cloves into a small bowl.
Add lemon juice and blend togther with a fork .. then whisk into it the mustard, olive oil and salt/pepper (to taste) ... this dressing is best made in advance of assembling salad.

To assembe salad:
Cut roasted veg into pencil thick pieces
Arrange crispy lettuce on a nice flat bowl and arrange the tomato slices amonst it.
Lay roasted veg over this.
Sprinkle with parsely and onion slices (if using)
Drizzle over the dresssing and then dot a few olives about as the finishing touch.

You can make this while the veg are still warm, and whatever you do, don't refrigerate the veg/toms and make it icy ..should be warm and smooth as though you are in Spain!

[suze]

Link to some samples of H F-W's new recipe book about veg cookery:
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/26/vegetable-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall

[suze]

Smashed Celeriac

Not tried this yet, but have a celariac in the fridge and found this recipe in the River Cafe cookbook:

Ingredients
3lb cleriac - peeled and cubed
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 fresh red chillis, seeded and finely chopped
handful fresh thyme leaves\15 fl oz chicken stock
salt and black pepper

Method
Heat oil in heavy saucepan and cook garlic till light brown
Add chill, thyme, celeriac and fry a littel to merge flavours
Add about 1/2 the chicken stock adn let it simmer.
Cook until celariac is soft
Keep topping up stock as it gets absorbed/evaporates
Mach coarsely and season with salt and pepper.

Sounds easy and good flavourings.

[suze]

Funnily enough, someone bought me the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe book for my birthday! YAY

This is adapted from that book ...

Stir Fried Sesame Cauliflower
1 medium cauli, trimmed and made into bits size florets
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 sp oil
2 or 3 cloves garlic, finley chopped
1 green chilli finely sliced
2 tsp fresh grated ginger


1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp tamari soy sauce
coriander springs to finish

Method
Dry fry the sesame seeds to toast them, put to one side

Heat oil in wok and sizzle garlic, ginger and chili (could add an onion to this, if liked)
Add cauli florets and 100 ml of water
Cook for 5-10 mins, allow it to catch a bit around the edges and stir occasionally to ensure all gets soft / browned.
Add a little more water if necessary.


When soft enough to eat, stir in the toasted sesame seeds and oil, soy sauce and coriander.

Quick and easy side dish!

[suze]

Spicy Oven Chips n Dip
Here's another one from the same book, spicy roast spuds is a dish I often make, but this spice mix was good, and his idea of adding a little of the spice to yogurt and garlic to make a dip was a new idea for me.

Ingredients
1 Kg new spuds, washed and cut into quarters to make fat chips

Oil for roasting, I prefer olive oil here.

spice mix:1 tsp each of these seeds:
cumin
fennel
coriander
caraway
black pepper

plus
2tsp turmeric (this is my extra of course!)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper


DIP
1/2 clove garlic - crushed
6 big spoons of soya yogurt (he uses plain full fat dairy yog)
pinch of cayenne pepper to sprinkle

METHOD
Preheat oven to 200` / Gas 6

Par-boil the chips for a minute or two

Grind the whole spices in pestle and mortar
Mix in salt, turmeric, paprika and cayenne

Put one tsp of the spice mix to one side for the dip.

Drizzle a thin layer of oil in your roasting tray and pre-heat in oven, as litle as you think you can get away with!

Drain spuds and sprinkle them with spice mix, then toss them about to get good coverage.
Throw them all in roasting tin and shake them to get oil around them.

Cook for 35-40 mins, stirring at least once.

Add the reserved spoonful of spice mix and crushed garlic to plain yogurt. Sprinkle with pinch of cayenne and serve alongside chips when the chips are soft all through and crispy on the outside!

delish, and quite an anti-cancer food with new spuds and turmeric and garlic and soy in the dish! But you have to wonder if they are really a weight loss option! ;D

[suze]

Yotam Ottlenghi's recipe in The Guardian this week ..

I adjusted his quantities to serve two of us, and used agarve syrup instaed of sugar for the balsamic reduction .. and I did not add the cheese we though it was delicious! I served it with stir fried brussels sprouts, belive it or not, it went well! LOL


Roasted sweet potatoes and fresh figs
This unusual combination of a fresh fruit and a roasted root wholly depends on the figs being sweet and moist and perfectly ripe. The balsamic reduction is very effective here, both for the look and for rounding up the flavours.
Serves four.


4 sweet potatoes (1kg)
75ml olive oil
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
40ml balsamic vinegar (not a premium aged grade)
20g caster sugar
12 spring onions, halved lengthways and cut into 4cm long segments
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
6 fresh, ripe figs (240g), quartered
150g soft goat's cheese, crumbled (optional)

Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Wash the sweet potatoes, cut in half lengthways, then cut each half lengthways into three long wedges. Mix with three tablespoons of oil, two teaspoons of salt and some pepper. Lay the wedges skin side down on a baking tray, and roast for 25 minutes, until soft but not mushy. Remove and leave to cool down.

Put the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for two to four minutes, until it thickens. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat when the vinegar is still runnier than honey as it will thicken as it cools (if it does get too thick to drizzle, stir in a drop of water before serving).

Arrange the sweet potatoes on a serving plate. Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan and add the spring onions and chilli. Fry on a medium heat for four to five minutes, stirring often so the chilli does not catch, then spoon over the sweet potatoes. Dot the fig quarters around and about, then drizzle over the balsamic reduction. Serve at room temperature, with the cheese scattered on top, if using.

[suze]

This lovely salad and dressing recipe is from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's book .. Rvier Cottage Veg Everyday, tho he admits the dressing is really from Yottem Ottelenghi -- it's a great dressing!

As well as in this recipe, it can be used on any dish with aubergine / courgette / other roasted veg. Also good with lentils in a salad.


Tahini dressed courgette and green bean salad

Tahini dressing:
small clove garlic, crushed with little salt
2 tablespns light tahini (well stirred!)
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
juice 1/2 orange
1/2 tsp clear honey
2 tablespns olive oil (works fine with less)
salt and black pepper

Put crushed garlic in bowl with tahini, lemon zest, lemon and orange juices, honey and salt and pepper ..... stir well. Can thin with water if too sticky, aim for creamy trickling consistency.



Stir in olive oil and adjust seasoning. This is ready to use, put ot one side.


Bean Salad

2 tbspns olive oil,
3 medium courgettes cut into rounds (about 400g)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
125g French/fine beans, trimmed
bag of mixed salad leaves
few sundried tomatoes (optional)
fresh mint finely chopped (optional but really makes it lovely if you use a good handful)

Either use oil to fry courgettes in batches until browned slighlty or Preheat oven to 200'C.
Drizzle oil into roasting tin and sprinkle in courgette slices, roast for about 25 mins until slightly browned and soft.

Put cooked courgette in a bowl, add chilli, lemon juice, salt and pepper then stir well to mix.

Blanch beans for one minute in boiling water, drain and refresh with cold water. Pat dry the toss throgh with courgettes.

Can be assembled on large platter or 4 individual flat bowls .. start with good handful of leaves, sprinkles with dressed courgette and bean mix, scatter tomatoes and mint if using.

Trickle dressing over generously b4 serving

People might appreciate a few slices of pitta bread with this as a starter.

[suze]

Chickpea-beetroot fritters with lemon saffron salsa

Got this recipe from Erin

serves 4 for first course, 2 for main…

Lemon saffron salsa:
1 big pinch saffron threads
.75 cup plain no-fat yoghurt
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice.

Soak saffron in 1tsp hot water a few minutes then add other ingredients, mix smooth and set in fridge an hour before serving.



FrittersPlace in food chopper bowl:

1 cup cooked beets, peeled and roughly chopped

.5 to .65 cup cooked chickpeas

1 tbsp each chopped fresh dill, mint, parsley (or 2 tbsp dill)

.25 cup onion diced fine

Grated zest of ½ lemon or a tbsp of lemon juice

½ tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp (small!) tahini paste

1 egg

salt and pepper



Mix carefully (check and mix by hand if necessary) to a rough paste.

Heat some vegetable or olive oil in a frypan and when it sizzles to a drop of water, cook fritters by dropping soupspoonfuls of the mix into the pan and squashing it a bit… they are about 2-2.5 inches in diameter.

Fry about 4 minutes on each side… the oil has to be medium high or fritters wont brown/get toasty.

Transfer to plate and keep going… serve with the sauce.

[chools]

They look good. I've cooked something similar in the past but with blackeye peas rather than chickpeas

[suze]

That was my mates photo, not mine.

In the end, ours were a bit wet. Think we over-blended the mix, it need to be a little chunky. We also learned that a tiny amount of oil is best for the frying .. the flavour is lovely so I will try it again.

[helen123]

really glad I found this website linked from beating bowel cancer. Am following strict anti-cancer diet since diagnosis, and am struggling for ideas sometimes. Promise to post some good recipes too.

[suze]

Green Stir Fry

3 medium sized courgettes - thickly sliced
box of oyster mushrooms thickly sliced
bag of fine green beans
1 bag tendersweet broccoli

toasted sesame oil
tamari soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Method
Heat oven to 200 / gas 6
Smear thin layer of sesame oil and soy onto roasting tin
Place courgettte and mushroom slices in the tin and brush them with a little of oil/soy mix
Roast for about 15 mins
Turn them over - bottom side should be browned
Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and roast for a further 10 mins till totally tender

Meanwhile steam the beans and broccoli together

When all veg are nearly soft, stir fry the ginger and garlic, splash in some more soy and sesame oil.
Mix the two lots of cooked veg together in the wok, it wont need much actual cooking .. then serve ... you could serve wiht new spuds what you steam the veg over ...

In theory, you could do the whole lot in a wok, but I find it is easier to use the oven! I cannot really digest veg if it isn't softer than you get with traditional stir-fry, and also, they are too bulky for my little wok!