Barley risotto with honey & thyme roasted parsnips

The following recipe is inspired by the Meat Free Monday movement. A New Zealand branch has just been established and I'm really excited about it. In the last year we've cut down the amount of meat we eat to just a couple of times a week max. People choose to cut out or eat less meat for a variety of reasons. For me it's largely environmentally and health motivated. All of us eating meat heavy diets is not only bad for us healthwise, it's entirely unsustainable on a global level. 

Moving to (and enjoying) a more plant and wholegrains based diet starts with building up a repertoire of dishes that are relatively simple to make and totally delicious. 

My barley risotto with honey and thyme roasted parsnips is a nourishing midweek meal. Serve with some steamed green beans for a complete plate. You'll feel satisfied, body and mind.

Barley Risotto with Honey and Thyme Roasted Parsnips

Risotto
1 cup pearled or hulled barley (preferably soaked for 6 hours or overnight prior)
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup white wine
1 onion finely diced
3 large cloves garlic finely chopped
Handful of parsley
3 sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp butter (optional)
Olive oil

Honey & thyme roasted parsnips
3 large parsnips chopped into chunks
1 tablespoon honey 
Handful of thyme sprigs
Tbsp of rosemary leaves
2 Tbsp oil
sea salt 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Gently melt honey. Place parsnips, honey, thyme and oil in a large bowl and combine. Sprinkle with salt.

Place parsnips in oven and cook for approximately 25 or until golden and tender.

Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a frypan on a medium heat. Gently fry garlic and onion until soft.

Add barley and 1 sprig of thyme. Stir.

Gently add 1/2 cup stock at a time to the pan (as you would for a rice risotto) stirring constantly. The barley will take 30-40 mins to cook.

Add parsley and 1 tbsp butter (or olive oil) and cook for a few minutes.

Serve the parsnips on top of the barley. Top with cracked black pepper and more chopped parsley if desired.

(vegetarian if vegetable stock used. Vegan if butter also omitted)

Lovely additions to the risotto would be:
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of goat cheese crumbled over just before serving.
finely chopped kale or silverbeet added five minutes before end of cooking time.

Beetroot, walnut & dill salad

Last night was the first of my winter dining events at Golden Dawn. It was glorious. Wonderful people, exquisite food and beautiful music. There was a cosy sense of community with guests happily sharing food and chatting with strangers. It looked and felt exactly as I'd pictured it in my head. I'll share some pictures at the end of this post.

Today I woke up feeling like I'm coming down with something. A sore throat and head-achey. The busy weekend might be catching up with me. I wanted something for lunch that would feel nourishing but still super tasty. A winter salad of beetroot, toasted cumin seeds, walnuts and dill was what I came up with. 

It came together really quickly and was delicious. I love dill and it's perfect in this salad but if you don't have any on hand, a big handful of parsley would work well.

Beetroot, dill & walnut salad

2 medium / large beetroot peeled and grated

1/4 cup of walnuts roughly chopped

handful dill chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp tahini

juice of one lemon

pinch of sea salt

Place your cumin seeds in a frying pan over a medium heat and lightly toast. They're done when they start to get fragrant.

Place your cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle and bash roughly.

Place all your ingredients (except a little of the dill) in a bowl and combine. Stir well to ensure all the salad is dressed evenly.

Sprinkle the remainder of the dill on top just before serving.

Serve immediately or will last 24 hours covered in the fridge.

Tamarind, coconut & kale lentils

I try to always have a couple of portions of this dish in my freezer. It's super tasty, inexpensive and totally satisfying on a chilly night. I just recently discovered tamarind and it's added a lovely brightness to this recipe. The addition of kale (red Russian kale from our garden) makes this a complete meal. Leftovers are perfect for lunch.

It's essentially a dhal type recipe but I'm hesitant to call it that because I use the completely non Indian ingredient of hot smoked paprika. It may seem a little sacrilegious but I love the sweet heat and smokiness it adds.

Whenever I'm making this I think of a friend of mine who comes from a big Indian family of great cooks and just self published a beautiful book of her families recipes. I wonder if she'd approve of this dish. I plan to get brave and serve it to her one day soon.

Tamarind, coconut & kale lentils
2 cups brown lentils

6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 can coconut cream
1 can tinned tomatoes (preferably cherry tomatoes)
1 large bunch kale (or silverbeet) separated from stems and chopped.
Small handful of coriander chopped.
2 large onions chopped

2 tsp hot smoked paprika

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp turmeric

6 cloves garlic

1 1/2 Tbsp tamarind puree

3 Tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 large red chill (deseeded)
2 Tbsp coconut oil or ghee


Chop the onions. I like to cut the onions in half and thinly slice into half circles (rather than dicing) to add a little texture to the dish.

Melt the coconut oil in a large heavy based pot on a medium heat. Gently fry the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli.

Add all the spices and cook gently until fragrant.

Add the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil and leave for five minutes. Add the tamarind puree. Turn the stove down to a simmer and let it bubble away for approx 1/2 hour. Stir regularly.

Add the tin of tomatoes and leave to simmer for another 1/2 hour. Stir regularly. If the pot is looking too dry during this time, add a 1/2 - 1 1/2 cup of water.

Use a masher to break up some of the lentils and provide a kind of gravy. Do this until the dish has reach a desired consistency. About 30 seconds of mashing usually gets it to where I like it.

Add the can of coconut cream and the kale. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Taste to check seasoning and add salt / pepper if desired. Stir through coriander.

Serve on top of brown rice with a dollop of greek yogurt on top.

(vegetarian if using vegetable stock, gluten free)

Bone Broth

Eating for wellness shouldn't have to be expensive. While I love buying vital greens powder for smoothies or sprinkling raw cacao nibs on everything, those ingredients can be really pricey.
I love recipes that highlight that simple things are often the very best for us.

Bone broth is great example of this very principle. It's accessible, inexpensive and requires no skill whatsoever to make.

Very simply - chicken, fish or beef bones are simmered for a long time (up to 2 days). You add a little cider vinegar to help draw out the minerals, chuck in a few vegetables for taste and hey presto you're away.

Bone broth is highly nutritious*, full of really easily absorbed minerals. It's amazing for immunity, digestive problems, skin health, you name it and bone broth will probably help.
The wonderful thing is this tonic costs only a few measly dollars to make.

Make sure you use good bones from a butcher that can ideally supply you hormone free meat / bones.
I make my bone broth in my slow cooker. Just as when making stock, bones are ideally roasted first to ensure a great flavour. I often bring the bones and vegetables to the boil in a pot on the stove first and then dump it all in the slow cooker to do its thing for the next two days.

The finished product can be drunk hot in a mug with some salt and pepper or used as a delicious stock for soup, stews etc. Because lots of vegetables contain fat soluble vitamins, making a vegetable (though obviously not vegetarian) soup with your bone broth will make your vegetable soup even more nutritious.

* My research tells me bone broth contains the following goodies: collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, glycosamino glycans, proline, glycine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium. 

Beef Bone Broth

2 kg beef bones (a variety of bones is ideal)

1 onion quartered 

2 carrots cuts into large chunks

2 celery stalks

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 small bunch parsley

Place the bones in a large roasting pan and roast for approx 35 minutes at 180 degrees or until well browned.

Place the bones, onion, carrot, celery and apple cider vinegar into your slow cooker. Cover with water leaving about an inch at the top.

Turn the slow cooker onto high.

Once the liquid is bubbling turn the slow cooker to low and leave for 48 hours.

Add the slow cooker for the last hour of cooking.

Leave the broth to cool slightly before straining through a fine sieve.

Pour the finished stock into jars. Once completely cooled a layer of fat will sit solid the top. Scope this off.

Your broth can be stored in the fridge for a week or frozen. 

Note: A successful broth will gel when cooled.