fennel

FENNEL AND CABBAGE SLAW WITH CASHEW LEMON DRESSING

FENNEL AND CABBAGE SLAW WITH CASHEW LEMON DRESSING

Being a Czech I do love a cabbage based salad. I am sure I have mentioned it on this blog a few times. I will admit that if there is a bowl of freshly shredded cabbage I can’t keep my hand out of it. I love that crisp sweetness of raw cabbage. Unfortunately the sweetness disappears when cabbage is cooked.

Cabbage may seem to be one of the most boring, ordinary vegetables but as a member of the cruciferous vegetables it has shown some cancer preventing properties amongst many other health benefits. The anticancer benefits are only present when cabbage is eaten lightly steamed or raw. Forget the overcooked cabbage that was traditionally served by British grandmas alongside the ubiquitous Sunday roast (luckily I have never experienced that).

Raw cabbage salad is the perfect way to reap the vegetable’s health benefits and the beautiful sweet taste. Unlike many green salads this one will keep in the fridge for a few days. You may just have to add a bit of lemon juice to enliven it up.

I have added fennel and carrot, both vegetables I adore raw and, for a bit of sweetness, couple of apples. Tarter variety will work well to offset the sweetness of the other vegetables. Dressing is a creamy concoction of cashews, tahini and lemon, kind of a variation of mayonnaise. Chill in the fridge before serving. (PS will taste great with veggie burgers)

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FENNEL AND CABBAGE SLAW WITH CASHEW LEMON DRESSING

ingredients
half a medium white or green (not Savoy)
2 medium tart apples
1 large bulb of fennel
3 medium carrots

Dressing
1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 30min)
1/2cup water
2tbs tahini
1tbs maple syrup
3 tbs cold press olive oil
juice of 2 medium lemons
salt nad pepper

method
  • Using a food processor (or a sharp knife) shred the cabbage thinly. It will yield around 3-4 cups of shredded cabbage.
  • Next thinly shred the fennel and grate the carrot, and apples.
  • Mix all vegetables together and set aside while making the dressing.
  • To make the dressing put the cashews, tahini, water, maple syrup, olive oil and lemon juice into the food processor and process till smooth. Stir into the salad.
  • Season with salt and pepper.


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ROSEMARY SUMMER VEGGIE AND WHITE BEAN STEW

ROSEMARY SUMMER VEGGIE AND WHITE BEAN STEW

My lovely neighbour brought me a huge bunch of rosemary the other day. She was cutting her out of control rosemary plant and didn’t want to compost the lovely herb. She knew I would be a grateful recipient of such a gift. I do have grow rosemary in my garden but I admit any surplus produce from the neighbours is more than welcome in my household.

At college, one of my friends used to bring rosemary oil before exams. The tiny bottle was travelling around the room and we all had a good sniff to help our concentration and memory. I am not sure if it had any impact but research shows that blood levels of rosemary oil component correlate with improved cognitive performance.

Rosemary is beneficial for our brain health, it may prevent brain ageing and protect against neurodegeneration. Carnosic acid, a component in rosemary, is able to fight off free radical damage in the brain and promotes eye health thus protecting against macular degeneration.

The herb is high in antioxidants that neutralise free radical damage. There is also evidence that rosemary has anti-cancer properties. Research shows it may be an effective anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumour agent. Cooking meat with rosemary reduces the formation of carcinogens associated with cooking meat at high temperatures.

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Rosemary is not one of those herbs you can just sprinkle raw over your meals. It is a very hardy, woody herb and needs to be cooked. I like to gently sauté it in olive oil first, this helps to release the flavour, but if you follow a strict no oil added plant based diet you can add rosemary to your pot of sauce or soup and still get the rosemary fragrance and flavour. I love adding it to roasted potatoes or butternut squash. The needle like leaves become very crunchy, it’s quite delicious.

I used 2 tablespoons of rosemary in my recipe, not an amount I would normally use but I am happy to say it didn’t overpower the delicate summer vegetables. Rosemary goes so well with the garlic and lemon in this light vegetable stew, it’s such a classic Mediterranean combination. Enjoy with some crusty sourdough bread or as I did with new season Jersey Royal potatoes (or any well flavoured new potatoes).

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ROSEMARY SUMMER VEGGIE AND WHITE BEAN STEW

1 Tbs of olive oil (I used extra virgin)
2 Tbs heaped fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, cut into bite size pieces ( I used thin skinned Romano pepper)
1 bulb of fennel, cut into bite size pieces
1 courgette, cut into bite size pieces
1 tin of artichoke hearts, cut in halve
1 tin of white beans, drained ( I like canellini)
1 cup of light vegetable stock (or white wine)
15 green olives, halved
lemon juice to taste (I used I whole lemon)


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  • Use a large lidded sauté pan or casserole. Heat the oil and gently sauté the rosemary, garlic and onion till softened. (For oil free version, use 1/4 - 60 mil of water, cover with lid and cook till softened)
  • Next add all the rest of ingredients apart from lemon juice, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Add lemon juice to taste, season and enjoy. I love the sauce that develops, it’s perfect mopped up with crushed potato or crusty bread.

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CRUNCHY FENNEL AND APPLE SALAD

CRUNCHY FENNEL AND APPLE SALAD

All this week I have been working on my food diary assignment for college (not quite finished yet). As our house move is nearing I have also made a insignificant attempt to start packing. So far I have managed what you could call a drop in the ocean. To my horror I will have to repack several boxes as I have used the wrong size for books... The removal man has spoken!

Yes I am slightly overwhelmed with the task ahead, the fact that I only have one weekend free of college this month is amplifying my panic. Stress and panic are not good for my IBS so I am downing barley grass each morning (YUCK) and try to focus on the positives ahead. I have calculated that August might be the month I will finally relax, and believe me I am very much looking forward to that.

My food diary assignment has been a very fascinating endeavor indeed. It has been rahter tedious but a great eyeopener. I have analyzed couple days of my diet and my conclusion has affirmed that apart from vitamins B12 and D, there is nothing missing from my plant strong food. B12 and D I take as supplements. Eagerly I am waiting for some sunshine to get vitamin D the most natural way. Unfortunately we are having a freaky kind of spring down here so the drops have to step in for now.

My mum-in-law said to me: “Seeing how much you eat I am surprised you are not bigger.” Yes I like my portions big however my food diary confirms that even I eat large volume my calories are well under control. It’s all good and confidence boosting! Yes, plant strong diet does your body good. I do wish plant based diet could also make me more efficient in packing....


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CRUNCHY FENNEL AND APPLE SALAD
This is a very yummy crunchy refreshing salad. No apologies for using lemon/miso combo as a dressing again, I am loving it! Any leftovers will keep till the next day you may just have to add more lemon juice to it as cucumbers loose water and dull the flavour.

Serves 4 as a side salad

ingredients
1 fennel
1/2 large cucumber (about 220g, 1/2lb)
80g radishes
1 large apple
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp of white or yellow miso (I used live miso)
1-2 tsp date syrup

method
  1. Slice the fennel, cucumber, radishes and apple into very thin slices. You can use a food processor, box grated or a Japanese mandolin. Of course sharp knife will do too! Put all the veggies into a large bowl.
  2. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Add to the salad bowl and mix well.
  3. Enjoy.

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FENNEL, RED PEPPER AND TOMATO SOUP

FENNEL, RED PEPPER AND TOMATO SOUP

You might have noticed that I absolutely love fruit and vegetables. It makes me happy when I come from a shop and construct a rather unstable pyramid in my fruit bowl. It makes me happy when I open my fridge and find an array of veggies to make a delicious salad or soup. I get excited when my veg and fruit box is delivered on Tuesdays. I can jump for joy over a gorgeous kohlrabi, plump aubergines, kale or super sweet butternut squash. I love the taste, colours, the culinary possibilities but I also appreciate their health giving properties.

Now there may be a new reason why to get excited about fruit and veggies. Scientists at the University of Warwick seem to have found a correlation between happiness (and mental well being) and consumption of F and V. More research will have to be done but I sure like the idea. According to the findings the ideal number of portions, to see the happiness benefit, is seven a day.

The British are struggling to get there 5 portions of F+V into their daily diet and would find the extra 2 portions near impossible. UK does have one of the lowest F and V recommendations. Let's look at Japan; their recommendations are 13 portions of vegetables and 4 portions of fruit daily. Need motivation? Here are some numbers:

UK Japan

breast cancer 26/100 000 8.6/100 00
heart disease 122/100 000 30/100 000
obesity 23% 3.2%

I know fruit and vegetable consumption is not the only reason for the above numbers but it surely has an impact. Get eating more veggies and fruit, for happiness and health, or simply because they are delicious.

The numbers:
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
The article on the happy research:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/10/study-if-youre-keen-to-stay-cheery-7-fruits-and-vegetables-a-day/263467/

Now get some veggies in with this fab soup. It is very kid friendly, looks like a tomato soup and they sure don’t notice the other sneaky vegetables.


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FENNEL, RED PEPPER AND TOMATO SOUP
This soup looks like a tomato soup but has a lovely taste of fennel. Don’t worry about chopping the veggies to precisely as it will be blitzed anyway.

Serves 4 generously (6-8 as a starter)

ingredients
1 large onion
2 fennel bulbs
1 large clove garlic
2 red peppers
1 Tbs tomato puree
700 (nearly 3 cups) tomato passata
2 cups of vegetable stock
handful of basil
fennel fronds or basil leaves for garnish

method
  1. First chop the onion and saute in 60ml (1/4 cup) of water in a large sauce pan.
  2. Cut out the hard core off the fennel bulb and chop into small chunks.
  3. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
  4. Chop the peppers.
  5. Add all the veggies to the onion. Add a bit more water and saute for about 5 min.
  6. Add tomato puree and cook for further minute.
  7. Add the passata and vegetable stock.
  8. Simmer for 30 minutes or till the veggies are tender (check the fennel, it must be tender).
  9. Transfer your soup into your blender together with basil and process till smooth (take care with hot soup in a blender).
  10. Serve garnished with basil leaves or fennel fronds.

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MORE FRUIT AND VEG Part 3: Salads - WATERCRESS, FENNEL AND ORANGE SALAD Part 2: Salads

MORE FRUIT AND VEG
Part 2: Salads
WATERCRESS, FENNEL AND ORANGE SALAD

There is no denying that salad is the most obvious way of getting some veggies and fruit in your diet. Unfortunately there is this idea of utter torture associated with salads. In many people’s minds dieting equals torture and dieting equals salads.

There are some horrid salads out there, the other day I was served such a salad, alongside my veggie burger in a restaurant. It consisted of big pieces of ice berg lettuce, thickly sliced white onion and one thick slice of tomato...That was it. I was not impressed and will not be visiting that restaurant again.

Growing up in Czech Republic the salad option was very limited when I was a child (things have improved now...), we had a cucumber salad, lettuce salad, tomato salad usually dressed with vinegar/water/salt/sugar or kefir. There were also lots of mayonnaise heavy salads and my Dad still likes to dress his veggies that way. Nostalgically I still make the sweet and sour cucumber salad but I have widened my horizons substantially.

Talking about progress I remember when my grandma returned from visiting her brother once, his daughter married a Frenchman and influenced (somewhat) my aunt’s salad preparation. My grandmother was horrified when she saw my aunt placing lettuce leaves into a tea towel and swinging the bundle furiously over her head like a lasso, creating an impromptu salad spinner. Also the shock horror when she dressed it with oil, mustard and vinegar!!! My granny was not impressed...I was intrigued.

I admit not all salads I make are an amazing culinary experience, sometimes I just pile lettuce leaves on my plate alongside a portion of my main dish. I am happy with that. Great sweet lettuce doesn’t even need dressing on it at times. Other times I want something a bit more exciting. Something that will wake up my taste buds. Like this watercress, fennel and orange salad.

WATERCRESS, FENNEL AND ORANGE SALAD
If yo want to make this salad ahead keep the watercress separate from the rest and combine just before serving. The orange juice will cause the delicate watercress leaves to wilt quite quickly.

ingredients
1 medium fennel
1 half of a medium red onion
1 pack of watercress, any thick stalks removed
3 oranges
1 Tbs olive oil

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method
  1. First, prepare your fennel, remove the thick outer layer, cut the bulb in half and cut out the hard core at the base. Slice the fennel as thinly as you can, I used my mandolin for that job.
  2. Slice the onion in the same fashion.
  3. Using a sharp knife ( a large bread knife works great too) to remove the orange peel and pith of 2 oranges. You can either segment the orange, or just cut into pieces. My orange segments looked rather small so I decided to cut the orange up, segmenting just wouldn’t work.
  4. To make the dressing juice the third orange (mine was small, you may only need half an orange if it is large), add salt pepper and the spoon of olive oil. Stir well.
  5. Combine the watercress, onion, oranges and fennel together, dress with the dressing and serve.
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FENNEL, ORANGE AND DATE SALAD


Nigella says: “When I am in the kitchen I am happy.” I do wholeheartedly agree. I so love to spend time in the kitchen when there is no rush, when I can indulge in long list of ingredients and processes. However these days are a bit of a luxury (that’w what makes them special).

On the other hand I love using just few ingredients and making a dish in minutes. Sometimes simplicity is the king. So what can you make with just three ingredients, namely fennel, orange and dates? A salad I say. I love the sticky ultra sweet dates with juicy oranges and the crunch of fragrant fennel. Raw fennel is a real revelation, it is rather sweet you could easily think this salad is a dessert. And it may come as a surprise but a portion of this salad will give you around 10% of your daily calcium. Tasty and good for you.

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FENNEL, ORANGE AND DATE SALAD
The dates I used are the big juicy Medjool dates, if using the smaller variety you will need to increase the number by half.

Serves 4

ingredients
2 fennel bulbs
2 -3 oranges
6 Medjool dates

method
  1. Peel any damaged layers of the fennel, cut of the tough stalks and cut out the core. Cut into pieces about 1/2 inch (1.5cm). Put into a large bowl.
  2. Zest 2 oranges, add the zest to your fennel.
  3. Using a sharp knife ( I find a serrated bread knife works great) peel of the orange peel and the white pith. Cut into bite size pieces. I try to match the size of the fennel. Collect any juice and add together with the oranges to your fennel.
  4. Now cut up the dates (again similar size) and add to the bowl. Add pinch of salt (optional). Toss together.
  5. The juice of the oranges will self-dress the salad however if your oranges are not very juicy add the juice of the third orange to dress the salad.
  6. Let it sit for about half an hour for the flavours to develop.
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