Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Spicy Butternut Squash Lentil Salad

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I love butternut squash. It’s a versatile vegetable that can be roasted, toasted, puréed for soups, or mashed and used in casseroles, breads, and muffins and cakes. I love that the squash has a sweet, nutty taste. It is also a good source of Vitamin E, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium and Magnesium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese. We should eat as much as we can during fall and winter.

This lentil salad is a good example to eat a bowl of healthy lunch full of protein, vitamins and minerals.  Did you know that lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after soybeans and hemp?

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Spicy Butternut Squash Lentil Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 1 and 1/4 cups brown lentils
– 3 cups (about 430 g) peeled and cubed butternut squash
– 1 avocado, peeled, deseeded and cubed
– 1/2 red onion, chopped
– 4 tablespoons olive oil
– 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
– 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Soak the lentils for at least 3 hours (or overnight). Drain then put into a pan with fresh water and a pinch of salt and cook for about 20-30 minutes until tender.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In a bowl mix together cubed butternut squash with 3 tablespoons olive oil, cinnamon, salt and chili powder. Place the mixture in the baking tray and bake at 170-180C (350F) until tender (about 20 minutes).

In a bowl mix together cooked lentils, baked butternut squash, chopped red onion and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season to your taste. Serve with avocado.

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Chickpeas And Tomatoes Pasta Or Pasta E Ceci

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Pasta e ceci… the famous, delicious comfort pasta dish from southern Italy. I learnt the recipe from my friend, Emiko but I also read about it in Jamie Oliver’s cookbook, Jamie’s Italy. In the book he says he can’t quite decide if it is a pasta or a soup (a kind of thick one). He thinks it leans slightly more toward being a soup – so he put it in the soup chapter in the book. (Read more about the history of this pasta on Emiko’s blog here.)

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Me and my friends cooked this pasta dish on a cloudy, grey summer afternoon when we gathered together to spend a long weekend at lake Balaton just like a year before. Although the weather was slightly cool we sat at the terrace and warmed up our bodies and souls with this comforting pasta lunch, served with a big bowl of mixed salad.

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The usability of chickpeas is very versatile, they can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, soups, ground into a flour, ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel. They are a noted ingredient in many Middle Eastern and Indian dishes such as hummus and curries. I didn’t know that some varieties of chickpeas can be popped and eaten like popcorn.

As for the nutritional value chickpeas are rich in fiber and it’s one of the best source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. Combined with a whole grain such as whole-wheat protein, they provide amount of protein comparable to that of meat or dairy foods without the high calories or saturated fats. They can boost your energy because of their high iron content. They are also a great source of zinc and folate. So why not eat as much as you can?

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We followed exactly Emiko’s recipe to cook this pasta meal so if you would like to try it, head over to my friend’s blog and cook it for yourself and your family!

Enjoy!

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Salad Niçoise

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Salad Niçoise is a French composed salad of tomatoes, green beans, tuna, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, and anchovies, dressed with a vinaigrette. It is served variously on a plate, platter, or in a bowl, with or without a bed of lettuce. The salad hails from Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea. This is a vegetarian version without tuna and anchovies (and minus the tomatoes).

It is an exceptional delicious and filling salad – with plenty going on. Come on… give it a try!

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I took the photos before adding the black olives! 🙂

Salad Niçoise

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the salad
– 250 g new potatoes, cut the larger ones in half or smaller
– 100 g French beans, cut into roughly 2-3 cm lengths
– 2 organic eggs
– 1 medium head of a lettuce (I used Salanova), lettuce leaves washed and separated
– small handful of black olives, pitted
– salt, freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing
– 1 clove garlic, crushed
– 2 tablespoons olive oil
– 1/2 teaspoon apple vinegar
– 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
– a pinch of salt

Method

Cook the potatoes in salted water for 8-12 minutes until tender, adding the beans for the last 4 minutes. Drain, tip into a bowl and leave to cool.

Cook the eggs in a pan of water for 7 minutes. Leave to cool, then peel and quarter the eggs.

To make the dressing, put all the ingredients into a small bowl, season with salt and pepper and whisk until emulsified.

In a bowl add the potatoes, the beans and some of the dressing. Toss gently together.

In another bowl toss the lettuce leaves with a little of the dressing. Arrange the lettuce, potatoes and beans on a serving plate and distribute the olives and eggs over the salad. Trickle over the remaining dressing and grind over some black peper. Serve straight away!

Grilled Carrot And Carrot Green Pesto Sandwich

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Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work, school, or picnics to be eaten as part of a packed lunch.

Do you know what the predecessor of open sandwich was? During the Middle Ages in Europe, thick slabs of coarse and usually stale bread, called “trenchers”, were used as plates. After a meal, the food-soaked trencher was fed to a dog or to beggars at the tables of the wealthy, and eaten by diners in more modest circumstances. These trenchers were the precursors of open-face sandwiches.  Initially perceived as food men shared while gaming and drinking at night, the sandwich slowly began appearing in polite society as a late-night meal among the aristocracy. The sandwich’s popularity in Spain and England increased dramatically during the 19th century, when the rise of an industrial society and the working classes made fast, portable, and inexpensive meals essential. It was at the same time that the sandwich finally began to appear outside of Europe. In the United States, the sandwich was first promoted as an elaborate meal at supper.

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The most famous or known sandwiches are: BLT (bacon-lettuce-tomato), peanut butter & jelly/jam, Reuben, Croque Madame / Monsieur, Tortas de Carnitas (Mexican), Banh Mi (Vietnamese), etc.

What is your favourite one?

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Grilled Carrot and Carrot Green Pesto Sandwich
(Recipe adaptation: Happyolks)

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 1 bunch carrots with greens
– 3 cloves garlic, peeled
– 1/4 cup olive oil + more for the carrots
– juice of 1 small lime
– 150 g Cheddar, cut into thin slices
– 4-6 slices of sourdough bread
– butter
– salt, pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (356F). Remove the greens from the carrots and set aside. Place carrots on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes until it gets brown.

Meanwhile transfer carrot greens to a food processor, add olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and pulse until it gets smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

First spread butter, then pesto on one side of each slices of bread, layer with cheese slices and a few grilled carrots. Finish with another layer of cheese and cover with the other slices of bread. Place these sandwiches in a hot non-stick pan and grill on each side until they get golden brown.

Enjoy!

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Broccoli Pesto Pasta

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I love beetroot, carrot, potato, parsnip, butternut squash, kale but I’m getting a little tired of these winter vegetables that has been feeding us for the last 6 months. I want spring vegetables now… sorrel and spinach are available at the markets – I already eat them – but I’m longing for the spring (and summer!) vegetables and fruits to start appearing. Like asparagus, peas, strawberries, raspberries… Oh how I miss them!

I don’t even know how the agriculture can accomodate to this extremist weather. This winter has just been too long. But there are signs that our hope is not superfluous.  The amount of daylight is getting longer, the temperature is rising and we can see the sun shining through the big, fluffy, white clouds.

  “The most beautiful springs are those that come after the most horrible winters!”

– Mehmet Murat Ildan

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This broccoli pesto pasta dish can be a very easy to make weeknight meal. Although broccoli is not very seasonal I wanted to use another vegetable to make a delicious meal that reminds me of summer.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

– 350 g broccoli, peel stalk, then stalk and florets chopped
– 50 g walnut
– 40 g grated parmesan
– 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
– 3 cloves garlic, peeled
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– salt, pepper
– 350-400 g pasta

Method

In a dry non-stick pan toast walnuts for 4-5 minutes and set aside.

In a medium sized pan bring water to a boil. Add salt into the boiling water and blanch the broccoli stalks and florets for 2 minutes. With the help of a drain spoon, take out the broccoli and set aside. Use the same water to cook the pasta al dente. Drain (in the meantime save about 100-150 ml cooking water) and set aside.

Add 200 g blanched broccoli (save a few florets), toasted walnuts, grated parmesan, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice to your food processor and pulse until it gets smooth. Pour this creamy pesto mixture over the cooked pasta, add a bit of cooking water and toss until combined. Add the leftover broccoli florets and serve immediately with a handful of grated parmesan and a drizzle of lemon juice over the top.