Midweek Vegetables!

Including: squash w kale and tahini yoghurt; rainbow salad w a really good dressing; potato tuna-melt 'nachos'; and a wintery Nicoise salad inspired slaw

I have made it my mission to increase my daily vegetables this month. The hustle of the holiday season had me reaching for bags of pasta and take out pizza more than I care to admit. Although vegetables are my preferred food group, even I admit that sometimes I need a little help getting them on table.

If variety is key, then it is important to have plenty of places for the vegetables you purchase to go. By that I mean, recipes that all use a similar selection of vegetables, but don’t all feel the same. Hence this seemly random, but actually fairly co-ordinated bunch of recipes, which as usual are more of a guide than anything, you can change them up as much as you like.

I find it helpful when I know I have a lot of vegetables in the fridge that I want to eat and not let rot in the bottom of the crisper, to prep a couple of things to go with my vegetables to make it easier to throw together a quick meal, even if it is just lunch for myself. I wrote about my general prep strategy, and ‘passive cooking’ last year, if you would like some more ideas. This week I made a batch of farro (good for hearty lunch salads), tahini yoghurt (good on everything, including hearty farro-y lunch salad) and a big batch of dressing. I also boiled some eggs as well as poached extra chicken when I made a chili chicken rice dish, which could be sliced and thrown through a salad for a filling lunch for two.

Rainbow Salad w Pomegranate Dressing and Tahini Yogurt

A salad to make you feel positively fresh! This is good versatile dressing, that we have been using on everything! Add a little grated ginger to it for extra zing if you like, you may not need to use all of the dressing here.

Salad:

2 stems of kale, stems removed and finely sliced

1/4 head purple cabbage, finely sliced

2 sticks celery, finely sliced

1 carrot, julienned or coarsely grated

1/4 apple, cut into small pieces

2 T chopped dill

1 scallion, finely sliced

3-inch piece cucumber, cut into small chunks

2 radishes, finely sliced

Zest 1/2 lemon

1 chicken breast (or pulled leftover roast chicken. Sub for some grilled tofu or tempeh to make it vegetarian)

Olive oil

Salt

Dressing

1 cl garlic

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 T lemon juice (or sub more vinegar)

1 T pomegranate molasses

2 tsp sesame oil

4T olive oil

1 tsp maple syrup to sweeten

good pinch salt

Tahini yogurt:

1 c yogurt

1-2T tahini (start with less, add more if desired)

1 clove garlic, grated with a microplane or mashed to a pulp in a mortar and pestle

Squeeze of lemon

Zest of half a lemon

1 T olive oil

1T water or a little more to thin slightly

Salt- 1 tsp

Aleppo pepper

• For the Dressing: place everything except the oils into a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake. Rest for 10 minutes. Add the oils and shake, taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Alternately do this in a bowl with a whisk rather than a jar.

• For the tahini yoghurt: place everything except the water and Aleppo pepper in a bowl, then stir to combine. The mixture will seize up slightly because of the tahini, add a little water (start with a tablespoon, add a tiny bit more if needed) and stir until it relaxes. Taste and add more salt if needed. Top with Aleppo pepper.

• To make the salad: poach the chicken: bring a pan of water to the boil- make sure it is large enough to hold the chicken breast comfortably. When the water comes to a boil add a good amount of salt- a little less than for cooking pasta. Place the chicken breast in the water and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes before turning off the heat. Leave in the water for a further 30 minutes, the chicken will continue to cook as it sits. Remove from the water and allow to cool until it is cool enough to handle. Slice or tear into pieces. Place the kale in a serving bowl and drizzle over a small amount of oil and a pinch of salt. Gently massage the kale for a minute until it has softened. Add all the other salad ingredients to the bowl and toss gently. Pour over enough dressing to lightly coat. Serve with a dollop of tahini yoghurt.

Roasted Squash With Kale, Pine Nuts and Tahini Yoghurt

An ideal easy vegetarian meal in my opinion, I love serving winter squash (or pumpkin) in huge chunks like this.

A nice big piece of oozy burrata, or a dollop of good ricotta, would also be delicious served in place of the tahini yoghurt.

Cold the next day, I like to eat these giant pieces of roasted squash like pizza, with extra tahini yoghurt smothered on top.