Super Natural Every Day (18 page)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

2 large brown onions, chopped

125 g peeled sweet potato or pumpkin, diced

Fine sea salt

1 tablespoon Indian curry powder

125 g whole or semi-pearled farro, rinsed

255 g tiny blue-green or black lentils, picked over and rinsed

1.4–1.7 litres vegetable stock or water

225 g plain or Greek-style yoghurt, or
crème fraîche

Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon (or to taste)

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium–high heat. Stir in the onions and sweet potato. Add a big pinch of salt and sauté until the onions soften a bit, a couple of minutes. Add the curry powder and stir until the onions and sweet potatoes are coated and the curry is fragrant, a minute or so. Add the farro, lentils, and 1.4 litres of the stock. Bring to the boil, decrease the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 50 minutes, or until the farro and lentils are cooked through. (If you’re using semi-pearled farro, the cooking time is about 25 minutes.) Taste and season with more salt if needed; how much you’ll need depends on the saltiness of your stock. Don’t under-salt; the soup will taste flat.

While the soup is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, and about ¼ teaspoon salt. Serve each bowl of soup topped with a dollop of lemon yoghurt and a drizzle of olive oil.

SERVES 8

Harissa Ravioli

BROCCOLI, NUTS, FETA CHEESE, OIL-CURED OLIVES

Feisty and filling, these ravioli are tossed with a lemony harissa oil, peppered with olive bits, salt-kissed with feta, and I add broccoli for good measure. Depending on the harissa you use, things can shape up to be a bit spicy. If you’re worried, add the harissa oil to taste. Also, feel free to substitute cauliflower or pan-fried Brussels sprouts for the broccoli.

1 garlic clove, smashed

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons harissa

60 ml extra-virgin olive oil

340 g fresh or frozen cheesestuffed ravioli or tortellini

225 g broccoli florets or broccolini, trimmed into bite-sized pieces

30 g pepitas, flaked almonds, or pine nuts, toasted (see
Wholegrain Breadcrumbs
)

30 g feta cheese, crumbled

5–6 oil-cured black olives, pitted and torn into pieces

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, make the harissa oil. Sprinkle the smashed garlic clove with the salt and chop into a paste. Transfer it to a small bowl and stir in the lemon juice, harissa, and olive oil. Taste and add more salt, if needed.

When the water boils, salt it generously, add the ravioli, and boil until they float and are cooked through, usually just 1–2 minutes. About 30 seconds before the ravioli has finished cooking, add the broccoli to the pot, boil for the remaining time, then drain.

Put the ravioli and broccoli in a large mixing bowl. Toss with a couple spoonfuls of the harissa oil and most of the pepitas. Taste and add more salt, if needed. Turn out onto a serving platter and top with more harissa oil, the remaining pepitas, the feta cheese, and olives.

SERVES 4

Pan-Fried Mung Beans with Tempeh

TEMPEH, CORIANDER, BROCCOLI, LEMON ZEST

	Slightly oblong in shape and smaller than a pencil eraser, mung beans display a beautiful range of earthy greens when cooked and are dense, nutty, and quite filling. You may have had them sprouted or as a component in one Asian preparation or another, but I like to pair them with the bright flavour of lemon, coriander, and a touch of creamy salted Greek-style yoghurt.
I add a bit of tempeh to make a meal of it, but you can certainly leave it out and make this a simple bean salad. If you don’t have cooked mung beans on hand, feel free to substitute white beans (tinned is fine). Flageolet beans make a nice variation, as well.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons shoyu, tamari, or soy sauce

225 g tempeh, cut into pencil-thick strips

255 g broccoli or broccolini florets, trimmed into bite-sized pieces

Fine sea salt

225 g cooked mung beans

Grated zest of 1 lemon

20 g packed fresh coriander leaves, chopped

85 g Greek-style yoghurt or
crème fraîche

Whisk together the olive oil and shoyu in a wide shallow bowl and add the tempeh. Toss gently until the tempeh is well coated and let it sit for at least 5 minutes.

Place the tempeh, in a single layer, in a large frying pan over medium–high heat. Reserve any left-over olive oil mixture; there should be about 1 tablespoon. Cook the tempeh until both sides are deeply golden, a few minutes on each side. Remove the tempeh from the pan.

Add the reserved olive oil mixture to the frying pan over medium–high heat. Stir in the broccolini and a couple pinches of salt. Cover and cook for just a minute to cook it through. Uncover and stir in the mung beans. Sauté, stirring constantly, until the broccolini is bright and slightly tender and the beans are hot, another couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and coriander.

In a small bowl, stir together the yoghurt and 2 pinches of salt.

Turn out the bean mixture onto a platter, top with the tempeh and a few dollops of the salted yoghurt, and serve immediately.

SERVES 4

Chickpea Stew

SAFFRON, YOGHURT, GARLIC

	The alluring saffron broth that envelops the chickpeas here is what makes this stew memorable. And while the stew looks cream-based, it isn’t; yoghurt is used instead. I think it must be the subtle tang from the yoghurt playing off the saffron, coriander, and sweet paprika that has me coming back to this recipe over and over.
If you have a mortar and pestle handy, you can grind the saffron along with a bit of salt into a powder before adding it to the yoghurt. If you are using tinned chickpeas, they should be rinsed and drained.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

Fine sea salt

425 g cooked chickpeas (see
A Simple Pot of Beans
), or 1 ½ x 425g tins chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 litre vegetable stock or water

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Scant ¼ teaspoon saffron threads (2 modest pinches)

3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

225 g plain yoghurt

Sweet paprika

Small bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked and chopped

In a medium–large pot over medium–high heat, combine the olive oil, onion, and a couple of big pinches of salt. Cook until the onions soften up a bit, a few minutes. Stir in the chickpeas, and then add the vegetable stock and garlic. Bring to a simmer and remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the saffron and egg yolks, then whisk in the yoghurt. Slowly add a big ladleful, at least 120 ml hot stock to the yoghurt mixture, stirring constantly. Very slowly whisk this mixture back into the pot of soup. Return the pot to medium heat and cook, stirring continuously for another 5 minutes or so, until the broth thickens to the consistency of double (thick) cream, never quite allowing the broth to simmer.

Ladle into individual bowls and serve sprinkled with a touch of paprika and plenty of chopped coriander.

SERVES 4–6

Weeknight Curry

TOFU, COCONUT MILK, SEASONAL VEGETABLES

This is what I fondly refer to as a “weeknight curry”. Wayne calls it “refrigerator curry” because whatever’s in the refrigerator goes into the pot. I make these curries throughout the year, but I made note of this particular one because of the way the flavours and textures worked together. A bit of crunch from the cauliflower, colour from the zucchini and asparagus, and spicy flare from the Thai curry paste made this one a late-spring favourite.

I happen to use asparagus, cauliflower, and zucchini (courgette) here, but you might trade them in for peas, broccoli, and/or tiny cooked potatoes. It’s an unbelievably flexible recipe, and a great way to use up any stragglers in your refridgerator. If you don’t like tofu, leave it out, or substitute something you prefer.