Want something tasty and fresh to serve with your New Years meal? This recipe is a big crowd pleaser. The dressing is asian inspired but it can easilly be served with a big variety of meals.  Not just suitable for a big day though, this dish is a great salad for mid week dinners or lunches as well.

~Serves 4-6~

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 1 red onion
• 2 tsp sea salt

• 1 large handful coriander, mint and basil or dill, roughly chopped.
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced into batons or ribbons.
• 2-3 large handfuls (about 700g) red or wombok (Chinese cabbage) leaves
• 1 long red chilli, finely chopped.
• 1 handful bean sprouts

Dressing

• 125ml rice wine vinegar
• 55g brown sugar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 tbsp soft brown sugar or grated palm sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

Julienne the carrot and thinly slice the onion, then combine with the salt in a non metal bowl and allow them to sit for 30 minutes.

Grate the ginger into your serving bowl (or a plate, and squeeze out the juice from the ginger). Crush or grate in the garlic, then whisk together with the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Shred the cabbage with a knife or with the slicing attachment in a food processor and dump on top of the dressing. Add the cucumber, bean sprouts and chilli and mix through.

Squeeze out the liquid from the carrot and onion then add to the rest of the slaw along with the herbs, then mix through again and serve.

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To me, a roast is synonymous with Sunday dinner and for me this entails crispy roast vegetables and gravy made from the juices of the roast meat. For a long time, a roast dinner was considered a luxury meal and even now it can be seen as being expensive, but if you make use of the leftovers in a clever way it can be a real money saver for the rest of the week.

I like to opt for cuts of meat that are both versatile for later uses, but also taste good.

Compared to a roast leg of lamb, lamb shoulder is a cheaper cut of meat that when slow cooked is melt in the mouth tasty. It can have a lot of fat pockets, but don’t let this put you off, as most of these melt out of the meat and it’s also essential for keeping the meat tender during the long roasting period.

Ingredients

• Lamb Shoulder – around 1.5 kg
• Handful of rosemary sprigs
• 8 garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 140°C

Place two-thirds of the rosemary sprigs in the bottom of a baking dish (there’s no need to pick the leaves, just throw them in whole), and scatter the garlic cloves on top. Place the lamb shoulder on top of the garlic and rosemary, then season generously with salt and cracked black pepper. Cover the dish tightly with a double-layer of aluminum foil, and bake for 4-6 hours, or until the lamb pulls apart easily with a fork, or the bone pulls out with little resistance.  Remove the foil and increase the heat to 200°C, and roast for a further 20-30 minutes just to create a bit of a crust on the exterior.

Remove the lamb from the oven, and rest covered for at least 30 minutes.

Shredded lamb shoulder and coleslaw wrap

~Serves 2~

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of leftover roast lamb shoulder, shredded
• mountain bread wraps
• 1 avocado

Coleslaw:

• 1 carrot
• ¼ red cabbage
• ½ red onion
• Handful flat leaf parsley
• ¼ fennel bulb
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded (optional)

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp olive, macadamia or avocado oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp mirin

Method

Use a slicing attachment on a food processor, a mandolin or a knife to shred the cabbage, onion and fennel. Use a grater (or grating attachment of the food processor) for the carrot. Pile it all into a bowl. Finely chop the chilli and roughly chop the parsley and add these in.

Mix the dressing together and pour over the salad, and allow to pickle for a few minutes.

To assemble, place a handful of the dressed coleslaw, a few slices of avocado and a half handful of lamb on a wrap, roll up and dig in.

The post Shredded slow roast lamb shoulder and coleslaw wrap appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

Quinoa fritters with green goddess sauce

This recipe is by Bill Granger, published in Delicious Magazine and also available on Taste.com here.  This is such as delicious and healthy recipe I had to reblog it.

Consider making more than you need because these disappear quickly!

~Makes 12 ~

Ingredients

• 1 cup (200g) quinoa
• 2 eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk
• 2 tbs roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbs roughly chopped mint
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup (65g) feta, crumbled
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
• 2 tbs sunflower oil

Green goddess sauce

• 1/3 cup (75g) whole-egg mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup (70g) thick Greek-style yoghurt
• Handful flat-leaf parsley leaves,  finely chopped
• Handful mint leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 small bunch chives, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lime, plus wedges to serve

Method

1.  For the green goddess sauce, pulse all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor to combine. Season to taste, then chill until required.

2.  Place the quinoa and 11/2 cups (375ml) water in a small saucepan over high heat, then cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 12 minutes or until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender. Cool.

3.  Beat the eggs and extra yolk together, then stir into the cooled quinoa with the herbs, spring onion, feta, garlic, cumin, lemon zest and flour. Season, then form into 12 patties. Chill for 1 hour to firm up.

4.  Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. In batches, cook the patties for 3-4 minutes each side until golden and crisp. Keep warm while you cook the remaining patties.

5.  Season fritters with sea salt flakes and serve warm with the green goddess sauce and lime wedges.

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Ingredients

• Rice paper sheets
• Vermicelli noodles
• Fresh mint
• 1 large green or red chilli
• Cucumber
• 2 radishes
• Spring onions
• Raw peanuts that you can roast and crush yourself (which i did because I forgot to buy crushed peanuts) or you can actually buy Crushed roasted peanuts
• Marinade: (You can marinade your tempeh in whatever combination you like, but this is roughly what I used [sorry I don’t have measurements, I never tend to measure marinades or dressings]). Mirin, Light and Dark Soy Sauce, Olive Oil, Sesame Oil, Rice vinegar and Lime Juice.
• Dipping sauce: Sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce

Method

1. Slice your tempeh into strips and marinade in the fridge for about an hour or even overnight if you can.  I did it for 30 minutes and it still tasted good.  Cook until browned on both sides then set aside to cool.

2. Because I only had raw peanuts in the cupboard, I took the skins off and roasted them until golden brown and then bashed them up in a mortar and pestle. If you’re planning ahead you could probably buy them already prepared, but they might not taste as fresh, and roasting them yourself eliminates any possible mould that can potentially grow on already roasted peanuts.

3. Cook your noodles as per packet instructions.  Make sure you drain them thoroughly.

4.  Cut up all your vegies (as shown in the picture) and lay them out on a platter for easy access.   You can use different vegies if you would like, such as carrot, capsicum, asparagus, bean sprouts…

5.  In a bowl of hot (not boiling) dip your rice paper sheets in until quite soft. They will further soften once wrapped. You don’t want to leave them in the water too long, or have the water too hot otherwise they will tear or become gloopy.

6.  Lay your softened rice paper sheets out on a board.  Lay some mint down (I like doing this to make it look pretty).

7.  Put the rest of your ingredients down.

 
8. Start rolling by folding the bottom of the rice paper sheet up, then fold in the edges, then roll all the way up.

9.  Tada!  Put all the rice paper rolls that you’ve made on a platter with some dipping sauce, and enjoy!

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