Pasta with Yogurt Sauce, Peas, and Chilli

Adapted from Ottolenghi's cookbook JerusalemServes 6-7

Ingredients 2 1/2 cups Greek yogurt 6 tbs olive oil, divided 4 cloves garlic 1/2 kilo shelled peas 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp white pepper 1/2 kilo pasta (shells or orecchiette hold the sauce well) Scant 1/2 cup pine nuts 2 tsp chilli flakes (use less if you are sensitive to heat) 1/8 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 cup thinly sliced basil leaves 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Method 1. Combine yogurt, 2 tbs olive oil, garlic, 2/3 cup peas, salt, and white pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Process to a smooth light green sauce. 2. Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, then drain, reserving about 1 cup of cooking water. 3. While pasts cooks, heat remaining 4 tbs olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts, chilli flakes, and paprika and cook until pine nuts are golden brown. 4. Toss pasta with sauce, remaining peas, feta cheese, and basil. Divide into serving bowls and spoon the pine nuts and chilli oil over the top of each serving. Serve immediately.

Green Beans, Peas, Pink Grapefruit and Coriander

This salad was made for us for dinner by my daughter and her grandmother and then made again the next day for lunch by my daughter by herself!!  She liked it so much she wrote down the recipe and asked to use the last of the bean harvest to make it for Sunday lunch.  Food made by other people does always taste great...delicious food made by a nine year old taste absolutely terrific!!!

She did not write down any amounts...but just mixed and tasted and did everything else by eye.  She left the chilies to me to add to my plate.

Ingredients Green Beans Snow Peas or Sugar Snaps Pink Grapefruit, peeled and sectioned Spring onion, cut or a little bit of red onion, diced small Coriander, ripped coarsley Cashews, toasted Chilies, diced finely - optional Dressing Juice of a whole lime or two couple of spoonfuls of dark brown sugar couple of shakes of fish sauce

Method 1. Steam or blanch the green beans and the peas. Cool in ice water. 2. Add to the grapefruit, onions and coriander. 3. Toss with dressing. 4. Serve alone or on top of mixed greens.

Pasta with Fennel, Rocket and Lemon

This is a recipe adapted from Adapted from River Cottage VEG.  It is lovely the way it is written.  Depending on what pasta you choose, you may just want to add a bit more liquid. Ingredients 1 large fennel bulb, fronds reserved 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil 2 large cloves garlic, minced 6 ounces pasta (papparadelle, linguine, spaghetti etc.) 1/4 cup creme fraiche, to taste zest of one large lemon, juice reserved 3-4 good handfuls of rocket 1/4 cup reserved pasta water sea salt and pepper parmesan or hard goats cheese, to finish

Method 1. Bring a large pot of liberally salted water to a boil. 2. Cut the fennel in half lengthwise. Remove the tough core and slice it into 1/4'' wedges. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the fennel, give it a stir and let it cook, undisturbed (that's how you get the nice brown bits) for 5 minutes. Give it a stir, turn the heat down to medium, add the garlic, a pinch of salt and another splash of oil if the pan looks dry. Start cooking the pasta. 3. To the fennel, add the creme fraiche, lemon zest and stir to coat. Add the arugula and give it another toss. 4. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4-1/2 cup of the pasta water. Add the noodles to the creamy fennel pan and toss to coat, adding a pinch or two of salt, pepper, squeeze of lemon juice and pasta water as needed. 5. Serve each portion with a generous grate of the parmesan and a few fennel fronds.

Hearty Winter Vegetable Stew

Serves 4-6Ingredients 2 Tbs. olive oil 4 shitake mushrooms, cut into quarters 4 small onions, quartered 3 celery stems, roughly chopped into 1cm pieces 4 carrots chopped into 2cm pieces 300 gms potatoes, well scrubbed and cut in to chunks 2 turnips peeled and cut into chunks 1 medium parsnip, peeled and chopped into chunks 1 small cauliflower, cut into florets 2 cloves garlic, crushed Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 ½ cups rich vegetable stock ½ cup dry red or white wine 1 Tbs. tamari soy sauce a bunch of parsley and thyme, 1 sage leaf, and a 25 cm stem of rosemary…(dry herbs may be substituted)

Method 1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat. 2.  Cook onions for three minutes.  Add celery, shitakes and carrots for another two minutes. 3. Add all remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to low. Cover pot, and cook, stirring contents occasionally, until all vegetables are tender, 1 hour. 4.  To thicken the sauce, right before vegetables are done, take a large frypan and melt 2 tbsps butter. 5.  Add about ¼ cup of red wine and 2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped.  Reduce by half. 6. Add approx 3 tbsps of flour. Gently whisk the flour allowing it to brown slightly. 7.  With a ladle, slowly spoon some of the stock into the fry pan, whisking all the time.  Continue adding stock until you have the desired consistency.  Add this back into your stew. 8.  Season with fresh herbs, salt and pepper.  Serve as is or top with mashed potatoes to make a delicious vegetable shepherds pie.

Sweet Corn, Chicken and Pumpkin Soup

I took all the terribly young ears of corn from our experimental late sown crop and made a chicken, pumpkin and sweet corn soup for lunch today.  We have a WWOOFer staying at the farm who is eating lots of bone broths.  I made a chicken stock which slowly simmered through the night so I had a great soup base. Ingredients 1 large red onion, sliced and diced 300 grams pumpkin cut into cubes 150 grams carrot cut into rounds 6 cups of stock 2 garlic cloves, pressed 2 bay leaves tbsp fresh thyme 1/2 tbsp of grated ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon a sprinkle ground cloves chicken picked from the chicken carcass used for the stock (about 1 cup) 4 corn cobs, corn cut off

Method 1. Fry onion in olive oil with bay leaves and garlic. 2. Added pumpkin, corn, herbs and stock.  Simmer for about 30 minutes. 3. When the pumpkin is soft, blend the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. 4. You can add a dollup of cream.  Delicious, fresh and warm!!

Cavolo Nero and Chilli Chips

Ingredients1 long red chilli 1 bunch Cavolo Nero (or another flat variety of kale such as red Russian), well washed extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Method 1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Toast chilli in a frying pan over medium heat for 2 minutes or until quite dry and just starting to colour. Using a mortar and pestle, pound until quite fine, adding a little sea salt if necessary to help grind it. You want the chilli mixed with 1 tbsp salt (or to taste) by the time it’s made, so you’ll have plenty of this chilli salt for other uses, too. 2. Remove the central spine from cavolo nero, then tear or cut into pieces roughly 5cm wide and 10cm long. Place in a bowl, add a few drops of oil and, using your fingertips, very lightly toss each leaf until lightly coated. Sprinkle with a little chilli salt – not too much – and lay leaves out on oven trays lined with baking paper. 3. Bake cavolo nero for 5 minutes or until it starts to change texture and become crisp. If it goes brown, it is scorched and probably won’t taste so flash, so it is best to check it often. Remove from the oven, cool for a minute, then very gently transfer to a platter. Serve immediately as it won’t keep.

Recipe credit -  SBS website

Pumpkin and Autumn Green Cannelloni

IngredientsOlive oil 750g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces 1 large red onion, halved, cut into thin wedges 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves 250g spinach, baby silver beet or nettle (I use a combination), lightly wilted 300g fresh low-fat ricotta Sprinkle of nutmeg 1 x 400ml tomato passata 1 tbs chopped fresh basil 2 garlic cloves, crushed 4 fresh lasagna sheets

Method 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a shallow ovenproof baking dish. 2. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Place the pumpkin and onion, in a single layer, on the lined tray. Spray lightly with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with thyme and season with pepper. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until the pumpkin is golden and tender. Set aside to cool slightly. 3. Wilt your greens. Place over a strainer and squeeze out any extra water. 4. Place the pumpkin mixture in a bowl and use a fork to coarsely mash. Add the wilted green and 250g of ricotta. Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt. Mix until well combined. 5. Combine the tomato passata, basil and garlic in a medium bowl. 6. Cut each lasagna sheet in half. Spoon 1/3 cup of the pumpkin mixture along the centre of each sheet. Fold the sheet over to enclose filling. Spread 80ml (1/3 cup) of the tomato mixture over the base of the prepared dish. Place the cannelloni in a single layer in the dish. 7. Pour the remaining tomato mixture over the cannelloni. Season with pepper. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until bubbling. Set aside for 5 minutes to stand.

Leek and Nettle/Spinach/Silverbeet Tartlets

I adapted this recipe from Linda Woodrow's Leek Tartlets with Olive Oil Pastry  (I used to use a short crust pastry but tried her yogurt, olive oil pastry and much preferred it.)

http://witcheskitchen.com.au/leek-tartlets-with-olive-oil-pastry/

You can use spinach or 'Perpetual Gator' silverbeet as a replacement for the nettles.

Makes 6 large muffin sized tarts. Recipe doubles fine.

The Pastry:

Into a food processor or a bowl, put 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour and a good pinch of salt.

Put a couple of good dessertspoons of low fat Greek yoghurt in a cup, then top it up to half full with olive oil. You want it about half and half – ¼ cup of each. You don’t need to mix them.

Tip the cup all at once into the processor or bowl and blitz them together.  In a food processor it’s just a couple of seconds, but you can do it just by stirring.  Knead just enough to combine into a dough.  It needs to be quite moist so don’t add any more flour than necessary, and don’t overwork the dough or it will get tough.  Put the dough in a plastic container in the freezer to cool while you make the filling.

The Filling:

Sauté 2 cups of chopped leeks (white and pale green part) in a little butter or olive oil.  Do this over low heat for about twenty minutes which caramelises the leek.  When they are almost done, add 1 cup chopped nettles.

Beat together:

• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup white wine or 1/4 cup milk or 1/4 cup cream or 1/4 water with a squeeze of lemon
• a dessertspoon of lemon thyme
• a good grating of black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Assembling and Baking:The pastry is quite fragile.  The easiest way to roll it out is to put a sheet of greaseproof paper on your bench top, put the ball of dough on it, and cover with another sheet.  Roll the pastry out between the two sheets, turning once or twice to un-wrinkle the paper. You can then peel the top sheet of paper off, cut the dough to fit your muffin tins, flip the lot and peel the other sheet off. Roll the scraps out between the greaseproof paper again.

If you have a round bowl the right size to fit the muffin tins, use it to cut your rounds.  I do not so I cut the dough into squares which then stick up out of the tins.

Grease the baking tins lightly, line with pastry.  You can pre-bake empty for five minutes or just put a few dessert spoons of the leek and nettle mixture into each cup, pour the egg mixture, dividing between the cups and top with parmesan cheese.

Bake in a medium oven for around 20 minutes till the pastry is golden.

Read an article Robin wrote about nettles.

Quinoa, Roasted Veggies, Marinated Chickpeas and Feta Salad

Ingredients1 cup raw chickpeas 1 medium whole Butternut squash or 1/4 to 1/3 of a Queensland Blue squash 3 carrots 2 beetroot 1 cup red quinoa balsamic vinegar extra virgin olive oil 100g feta lemon thyme salt and pepper

Method 1. Night Before: Soak 1 cup of chick peas over night. 2. 1 1/2 hours before serving: Drain the chick peas and refill with water.  Add a 3 cm piece of Kombu.  Boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 1 hour or until tender. 3. Vegetables: While the chick peas are boiling, peel 1 medium whole Butternut squash or 1/4 to 1/3 of a Queensland Blue squash and cut into 1 1/2cm cubes.  (I prefer these squashes because they remain whole even when roasted.) Peel carrots and cut into match sticks. Peel beetroot and cut into 1cm cubes. Place all on a roasting tray. Lightly sprinkle with olive oil, salt and fresh thyme. 4. Roast in a 180 oven for about an hour, turning occasionally so that all sides brown. 5. Quinoa: Rinse and drain 1 cup red quinoa.  Place in a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock.  Cover.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa seed has split, a little white "tail" comes away from the kernel. This is the sign that the quinoa is soft.  Place in a bowl to cool. 6. Marinade: 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil Dessert Spoon fresh lemon thyme 1/2tsp salt and generous grind of cracked pepper 7. Greens: Use seasonal greens.  Mixed lettuce, spinach, rocket, beetroot greens, mizuna.  Rinse and spin dry.  This salad is delicious with as few or as many as you have. 8. Remove vegetables from the oven and allow to cool. 9. Assembling: Once chickpeas are tender, drain and mix immediately with the marinade.  As they cool, they soak up the marinade.  If there is no marinade left in the bowl with them, make a bit more.

Once cool, add about 100grams of feta cheese cut into 1 cm cubes. Stir to coat with marinade and let sit for ten minutes.

Place greens in bowl.  Top with quinoa, then roasted vegetables then chickpeas and feta.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients1/4 cup (60ml) butter 2 leek 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 red birdseye chilli, finely chopped (optional) 1 cinnamon stick 3cm piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 apple 2 carrots 1.5kg pumpkin (Buttercup varieties work well for soups.  They have a richer flavour) 1/3 cup (70g) red split peas (optional) Fresh thyme, coriander and/or parsley Salt, Pepper and Cream

Method 1. Peel, seed and cut the pumpkin into 3cm pieces.  Lightly coat with olive oil and roast in a 220 oven for about 45 minutes or until golden.  Take care to turn the pumpkin a few times while roasting. 2. Thinly slice the white of the leek. Peel and coarsely chop the carrots. 3. Put butter, leeks, carrots, garlic and thyme into a large soup pan and lightly saute for about 5-10 minutes. 5. Place a cast iron fry pan on high heat and roast the cumin seeds.  Then grind them in a mortar and pestle. 4. Peel, core and slice into 1 1/2 cm cubes the apple.  Add apple, cinnamon, cumin and ginger to the leeks. Saute for another few minutes to release the flavour of the spices. 5. Add stock and split peas and gently simmer for about 20 minutes or until the lentils and carrots are tender. 6. Add in the roasted pumpkin and simmer for another five minutes. 7.  Blend.  Adjust seasonings for taste.  You can add more cinnamon, more chillies, more salt and pepper, or even a dollop of honey. 8.  Serve with a dollop of double cream and a sprinkle of coriander or parsley.

Delicious Hearty Pumpkin Soup

This recipe comes from "A Spoonful of Country - Cooking from a Cootamundra Farmhouse" by Catherine Bragg Often 'starting-out cooks' don't have a large array of cooking equipment, especially essentials like food processors.  This is a good recipe for a wonderfully flavoured soup that doesn't need blending.

Ingredients butter 1 onion finely chopped 600g pumpkin, peeled and cut into small chunks 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 cup soup mix (a mixture of lentils, chickpeas, barley, etc) 2 cups chicken stock 1 cup water 2 tsp tomato paste salt and pepper

Method 1. Melt a small knob of butter in a large saucepan.  Add onion and pumpkin, stir and cook for 5 minutes, then sprinkle in the sugar. 2.  Add the soup mix, stock and water, and bring to a boil. 3.  Simmer gently for about an hour until the vegetables and beans are tender. 4. Add tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste and mash the pumpkin pieces lightly with a fork, so it becomes a chunky hearty soup, adding a little extra stock or water if it becomes too thick. 5.  The soup is extra good with sippets, little squares of bread fried in oil and butter till crisp, sprinkled on the top.

Nutty Kale Chips

Ingredients1 large bunch of  kale 1 cup almonds or cashews, (soaked 2 hours) 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 3-4 tbsps fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsps nutritional yeast 1/4 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp sea salt

Method 1. Rinse the kale and spin dry. Remove the stems and tear into bite size pieces. Let the kale air out as much as possible before coating. 2. Blend the ingredients for the cheesy seasoning in the Vita-Mix until smooth. 3. Transfer kale and seasoning to a large bowl and mix well using your hands to ensure the leaves are well coated. 4. Place the kale on the dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate at 118 degrees overnight or until coating is dry. Slide onto mesh screens and dehydrate until totally crispy.

TIP for keeping Kale Chips Crunchy. Take a small fabric bag, sachets for jewelry or aromatics work well, and fill it with uncooked rice.  Place the it in an airtight glass container with a lid and seal up the kale chips. The rice soaks up any extra moisture in the container, keeping your kale chips crunchy for days!

Hearty Tomato Soup

Ingredients2 cups chopped carrots 2 cups chopped celery 3 cups diced onions 6 cloves garlic, minced 12 cups chopped fresh tomatoes 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 cups stock 2 Tbsp salt 2 tsp. sugar 2 bay leaves 4 cloves 12 fresh basil leaves

Method 1. Roughly chop all the vegetables. It doesn’t matter what they look like because the soup will be blended later, but make sure the carrots, onions and celery are all about the same size so they cook at the same rate. 2. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the carrots, celery, onions and bay leaves and cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes, but don’t let the vegetables brown. Add in the tomatoes,  stock, sugar, salt, basil and cloves. Allow to simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the carrots are soft. 3. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. 4. Puree the soup, either with a stick blender or in batches in a conventional blender. 5. Once the soup is all pureed, push it through a sieve.  You want to get out the tomato skins and seeds, but push through the rest of the vegetables. If you use too fine a mesh strainer, you will just end up with tomato juice. If you can skin and seed your tomatoes before making the soup you don’t have to strain it. But this is time consuming and I found it just easier to strain. 6. Put all the strained soup back in the pot and add the salt and sugar to taste. Even though my tomatoes were very ripe and sweet, I almost always add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to tomato soup or sauce because it helps balance out the acidity of the tomatoes and bring out the natural sweetness. 7. You can serve as is, or add cream to make a 'bisque'.

Lentils, Monastery Style

This is a hearty soup which, when served with some corn bread, makes a complete meal!  It comes from my well loved copy of Frances Moore Lappe's  Diet for a Small Planet. Ingredients 1/4 cup olive oil 2 large onions 2 large garlic cloves 1 carrot, chopped 1/2 tsp thyme and marjoram 3 cups seasoned stock 1 cup brown or green lentils salt to taste 1/4 cup parsley, chopped 1 500g jar of tomatoes 2 cups chopped spinach or silver beet 1/4 cup dry sherry 2/3 cup grated Swiss cheese

Method 1.  Heat oil in a large pot and saute onions, garlic and carrots for 3 to 5 minutes. 2.  Add herbs and saute for another minute to release the flavours. 3. Add stock, lentils, salt and tomatoes and cook, covered until lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. 4. Add sherry, parsley and silver beet and continue to simmer until silver beet is tender. 5.  To serve, put 2 tbsps of cheese in each bowl and fill with soup.  Serve with corn bread or muffins.

Kimchi

Sandor Ellix Katz, author of 'Wild Fermentation", has a self-described "fermentation fetish" .  This kimchi recipe is based on his. Kimchi is a spicy Korean pickle, made in an impressive variety of styles.  It is prepared by fermenting Chinese Cabbage, radishes or turnips, scallions, other vegetables and often seafood, with ginger, hot red chili pepper, garlic and often fish sauce.

Ingredients 500 grams chinese cabbage 1 whole daikon radish or several red radishes 1 to 2 carrots 1 to 2 onions and/or leeks, bunch of scallions, or shallots 3-4 cloves of garlic 3-4 hot red chilies 3-4 tablespoons of fresh, grated ginger

Method 1.  Mix a brine of about 1 litre of water to 4 tablespoons of salt. Stir well to thoroughly dissolve salt.  The brine should taste good and salty. 2.Coarsely chop the cabbage, slice the radish and carrots, and let the vegetables soak in the brine, covered by a plate or other weight to keep the vegetables submerged, until soft, a few hours or overnight. 3.  Prepare spices: Grate the ginger; chop the garlic and onion; remove seeds from the chilies and chop or crush, or throw them in whole.  Kimchi can absorb a lot of spice.  Experiment with quantities and don't worry too much about them.  Mix spices into a paste. (If you wish you can add fish sauce to the paste.  Just check that it has no chemical preservatives which function to inhibit microorganisms.) 4.  Drain brine off vegetables, reserving brine.  Taste vegetables for saltiness. You want them to taste decidedly salty but not unpleasantly so.  If they are too salty, rinse them.  If you cannot taste salt, sprinkle them with a couple of teaspoons and mix thoroughly. 5. Mix vegetables with the chili, onion, garlic paste.  Mix everything together and stuff it into clean litre sized jars.  Pack it tightly in to the jars, pressing down until brine rises.  If necessary, add a little of the reserved vegetable-soaking brine to submerge the vegetables.  Weight the vegetables down with a small jar filled with brine. 6.  Ferment in your kitchen or other warm place.  Taste the kimchi every day.  After about a week of fermentation, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator.

Roasted Japanese Turnips and their Balsamic Greens

Here is a great recipe from Antoinette Sharp's "Cooking Spree" As she writes, "Turnips have never appeared solo in our house, but always as part of a roasted vegetable medley or a soup or stock. Wanting to keep this simple though, I roasted these pretty little things with a bit of olive oil, a scattering of thyme from the garden and flaky salt and white pepper. When they were done, they’d sit on a bed of turnip greens drizzled with balsamic."

Roasted Japanese Turnips and their Balsamic Greens

Individual Turnip Gratins with Toast Fingers

This recipe comes from "The Greens Cook Book" by Deborah Madison with Edward Espe Brown. These gratins can be slid onto a plate and served with toast fingers to soak up the cream.  The nutty flavour of the Gruyere and the savory thyme balance the sweetness of the turnips.  The turnip greens, which are slightly peppery, would also be good stewed in butter and served with the gratins.

Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds medium turnips Salt Pepper 1 1/2 tsps thyme leaves, chopped 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, grated 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 2 to 3 slices Country French Bread Chervil or thyme leaves to garnish

Method 1. Peel the turnips, and slice them into thin rounds.  Bring 3 to 4 quarts of water to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt, and cook the turnips for a minute to remove any bitterness.  Pour them into a colander to drain. 2. Preheat oven to 375F (230C). Butter shallow, round gratin dishes that are about 5-6 inches across.  Cover the bottom of each with an overlapping layer of turnips, and season with salt, freshly ground pepper and some of the thyme.Make a second layer of turnips and seasonings, ending with cheese.  Pour the cream over the top and bake. 3. Check after 15 minutes and baste some of the cream over the top if it has not yet begun to boil.  Remove gratins when most of the cream has been absorbed and there is a golden crust over the top, about 30 minutes in all.  Set them aside to cool for a few minutes. 4. Toast the bread and slice it into lengths about 1/2 inch wide. 5.  Slide a rubber spatula around the edge of each gratin, reaching across the bottom, then slide it out carefully onto a serving plate.  Garnish with the fresh herbs and the toast fingers.

Classic Greek Salad

The classic Greek salad - The taste is carried on the freshness of the vegetables and the flavour of the olives, feta and olive oil.  I still remember traveling through Greece consuming this salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner - using fresh bread to mop up the left over juice. Ingredients I whole tomato cut into 1/8's 6 cherry tomatoes, halved 1 large cucumber, skin forked, quartered lengthwise, chopped 1 small red onion, chopped 1 small red capsicum, chopped 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved 100g Greek feta cheese, cut into cubes 1 1/2 tblsps olive oil 1 1/2 tblsps lemon juice 1 garlic clove, crushed 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves

Method 1. Place oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano in a screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper. Secure lid. Shake to combine. 2. Combine tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum and olives in a large bowl. Top with feta. Drizzle with oil mixture. Serve.

Mashed Turnips and Potatoes With Turnip Greens

This is inspired by colcannon, an Irish mix of mashed potatoes and kale or cabbage. This lightened version is a mixture of two-thirds turnips and one-third potatoes, with the turnip greens stirred in at the end. Ingredients 2 bunches turnips with greens attached (1 3/4 to 2 pounds, including greens) 1 pound gold or white potatoes, peeled and quartered Salt to taste 1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 leek, white and light green parts only, finely chopped 2/3 cup low-fat milk, or as needed Freshly ground pepper

Method 1. Cut away the greens from the turnips. Peel the turnips and quarter if they’re large; cut in half if they’re small. Stem the greens and wash in 2 changes of water. Discard the stems. 2. Combine the turnips and potatoes in a steamer set above 2 inches of boiling water. Steam until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the steamer and transfer to a bowl. Cover the bowl tightly and leave for 5 to 10 minutes so that the vegetables continue to steam and dry out. 3. Fill the bottom of the steamer with water and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste and add the greens. Blanch for 2 to 4 minutes, until tender. Transfer to a bowl of cold water using a slotted spoon or skimmer, then drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop fine. Drain the water from the saucepan, rinse and dry. 4. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in the saucepan and add the leek and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until leeks are tender and translucent but not colored. Add the milk to the saucepan, bring to a simmer and remove from the heat. 5. Using a potato masher, a fork or a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, mash the potatoes and turnips while still hot. Add the turnip greens and combine well. Beat in the hot milk and the additional tablespoon of olive oil if desired, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot, right away, or transfer to a buttered or oiled baking dish and heat through in a low oven when ready to serve.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish.

Advance preparation: You can make this several hours ahead and reheat as directed, or in a double boiler.

Recipe Credit: Martha Rose Shulman presents food that is vibrant and light, full of nutrients, fun to cook and to eat. (Found in the N.Y. Times)

Moroccan Inspired Cous Cous Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash

Ingredients1 sweet dumpling squash lug of olive oil 1 small onion, diced 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped 6 dates, coarsely chopped 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cup cooked cous cous Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method 1. Preheat oven to 190. 2. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. (The seeds can be roasted like pumpkin seeds.) 3. Place squash face-down in an oiled baking dish. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Remove squash from oven but keep oven on. 4. Prepare the stuffing while the squash is baking. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until onion is translucent. Add pistachios, dates, lemon zest, and cinnamon and sauté for another minute. Stir in the cooked quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper. 5. Turn the squash upright in the baking dish and stuff with the quinoa mixture. 6. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes. 7. Serve warm, garnished with extra pistachios or lemon zest, if desired. The peel of sweet dumpling squash is generally tender enough to be eaten.