Lemon-Dill Petite Pois Falafel with a Chargrilled Asparagus and Red Onion Salad

Well, hello Spring! I've missed you asparagus!! This has easily become my new favourite salad: chargrilled tender asparagus, soft sweet chargrilled red onions, avocado, mixed baby leaf with a simple drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar then topped with these fantastic spring fresh lemon dill petite pois falafel. Phew! This is definitely a main dish, knife and fork kind of salad....It's also what we are having for Easter dinner this very evening with a nice chilled glass of white wine :-) 

This salad also works beautifully as a filling and satisfying wrap...

Same ingredients as the salad but instead of the balsamic dressing I've added a crazy simple "cheats" garlic cream sauce. Hint: it's just vegan sour cream, garlic powder and a pinch of salt! Apologies - I did get photos of the wrap with the sauce but they all looked positively obscene, lol! Anyway, it's just a white cream sauce, nothing you need a photo of ;-) For the wrap I also fried up smaller falafel than I do for the salad then simply wrap it up in a warmed flour tortilla. It's gorgeous!

♥

The falafel themselves are wonderful, recipe is adapted from Cassie Best's recipe for Pea Falafel on BBC Good Food. Mine took a few attempts to get right, I was mostly having problems with texture. They were initially much too soft inside, almost like deep fried balls of houmous (actually, that doesn't sound too bad!) Not what I was after though of course. In the end I reduced the liquid by omitting the lemon juice, upped the dry ingredients by adding my vegan parmesan - which also adds wonderful flavour and making sure I only briefly pulsed the mixture. Over mix and you'll end up with houmous. 

The other aspect that made a big difference was the brand of chick peas I used. Apologies as this will only apply to those of you in Ireland or the UK but I used Tesco's own label tinned chickpeas here which are smaller and much more firm than most tinned chickpeas making them perfect in falafel. After all, traditional falafel is made by using dried chickpeas that have just been soaked then they are cooked from deep frying. I've always found that much too risky to attempt at home so these firm little cooked chickpeas are a god send! You can still use the larger, softer type chickpeas more common in tins, but do be careful not to overprocess....

~ Recipe Notes ~

• As you can tell from the length of this post, the recipe is rather involved. I recommend making the falafel batter the day before so it is ready to fry.

• I've used smoked sea salt throughout the recipe here as I feel it really adds to the chargrilled flavour of the asparagus and red onion but obviously you can use regular sea salt if that's all you have.

• I've had the salad both with the onions and asparagus warm and with them room temperature. Both are good but I definitely give the edge to having them warm. It's easier in that case to make them first and just give them a quick re-heat in a frying pan before assembling the salad.

• I didn't do it here in these photos but my Tamari Roasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds are an awesome addition to this salad! 

• .....and yes, if you don't fancy making the falafel, this salad is just as good without it :-) 

Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta

(First, a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me in The Vegan Woman's 2013 Food Blog Guide!! Second place is such an honour and there was such lovely things said there. Makes it all worthwhile. Thank you.)

Now - Finally! A new recipe!! I should say that I haven't been completely inactive on the blog front, if you follow the daily blog you'll know I've been revisiting a lot of my older posts and trying different variations of things and updating those posts accordingly. 

I made things like....

 ...Kahlua Chocolate Mousse from the Triple Layer Mousse Dessert in individual cups...

 ....a gorgeous pizza loaded with roasted veg, toasted pine nuts, black olives, rocket and drizzled with balsamic vinegar...(ok, that's not an updated recipe but it was so good I had to show it here!).....

 ....these salad rolls by Rawthentic but made my own spicy nut butter dip (stunning!!).....

.....a variation of my Crispy Fried Tofu in Spicy Teriyaki Sauce for my tofu hating husband replacing it with sugar snap peas, asparagus and chick peas...a wonderful option for the tofu haters!.....

For Easter dinner I made these bunny rolls using my Light and Fluffy Pull Apart Rolls recipe - ok, they turned out a little bit like bunny/kitty hybrids but they're cute so we'll forgive that!

♥

So, I have been busy updating the blog, there's just not been a NEW post for awhile....until now! 

Back to the feature post  - Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta. This is a lovely salad: cool, creamy and zesty with perfect hits of peppery almond feta, crunchy pine nuts and fresh mint and featuring my all time favourite veg - asparagus, now in season :-)

I opted for barley here as I love it but only have one other recipe on the blog using it - the Barley Hotpot so I figured I was well due a barley post. Then I saw this barley salad on The Kitchn and was inspired to make a salad with it. You can of course use any grain you like here if barley isn't your thing - couscous, bulgher, quinoa, rice, even orzo, but we both really liked the different texture barley brings to this.

The shining star here is the peppered almond feta. It is just that - the almond feta with a lot of coarsely ground black pepper added and I love it so much I honestly think I might just always make it this way from now on! It's not an overpowering amount of black pepper, just a nice gentle hit of it which naturally goes beautifully with the lemon flavours in this.

The dressing is a slight adaptation of this Creamy Lemon Dressing but I replaced the sour cream with the "yogurt cheese" from Miyoko's "Artisan Vegan Cheese" cookbook. It sounds complicated but it literally is just drained soy yogurt. Draining the yogurt off makes it much thicker giving you a really creamy dressing. This does mean that this recipe requires making 2 homemade vegan cheeses and thus takes a couple days to do but nothing is complicated, just a bit of waiting. Just note that you'll need to start this a couple days before....

Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta
serves 4 as a main salad

• 200g / 1 cup pearl barley

• ½ cup or more of the Creamy Lemon Dressing (recipe follows)

• 150g asparagus, ends snapped off and sliced into 1 inch pieces

• 2 shallots, sliced or chopped

• 25g / 2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts

• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

• some Peppered Almond Feta (recipe follows)

Creamy Lemon Dressing - note this makes extra!

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (generally the juice of 2 large lemons)

• zest of 1 large lemon

• 3 cloves of garlic, pureed (I use a fine microplane grater)

• 2 tsp dijon mustard

• 2 tsp syrup sweetener *

• ½ tsp sea salt

• ½ cup olive oil

• ½ cup yogurt cheese (recipe follows and makes extra)

* I love to use Sweet Freedom syrup here which is vegan but tastes so much like honey it's unbelievable....but you can use light agave or maple syrup here.

First make the yogurt cheese - line a sieve with 3 layers of cheesecloth, place it over a bowl and add 500g or 2 cups of plain (not sweet) soy yogurt:

Fold over the overhanging cheesecloth to gently cover the yogurt then leave it out to drain at room temperature for 24 hours.

The next day you should have quite a bit of liquid drained off - see, that's the stuff you don't want watering down your dressing!!

....and you should have a much firmer amount of yogurt:

Tip this into a bowl, cover with cling film and chill until needed. I highly recommend getting Miyoko's cookbook as she has great cheese spread recipes using this stuff. Makes better cream cheese than Tofutti's!! I like to add some salt, dried dill, onion and garlic powder for a great bagel spread with the leftover yogurt cheese here.

To make the salad dressing, add the lemon juice, zest, garlic, dijon and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk well. Slowly start adding the olive oil whisking all the while until fully incorporated. Add the ½ cup of yogurt cheese and whisk well. Now add the sweetener to taste - I used 2 teaspoons. Keep in mind the dressing might seem quite strong in lemon flavour at this point but it mellows a LOT in the salad. This is definitely one of those salad's where everything only comes together taste wise at the very end :-)

Peppered Almond Feta:

Just make the Almond Feta as per the recipe on the blog here but add ½ tsp of coarsely freshly ground black pepper while blending. For me that was 40 grinds with my pepper grinder set on coarse. It should look nice and speckled like this:

Follow the instructions as stated, draining overnight in the fridge then baking it off the next morning. I also baked mine slightly longer for this one as I wanted a more crumbly feta in the salad - 45 - 50 minutes instead.

NOW the Salad!

Wash the barley very well under several rinses of cold water. Place in a large saucepan and cover well with cold water. Bring to the boil then simmer covered for about 1 hour, stir now and again. (Alternatively you may just want to follow the instructions on your pack of pearl barley as I have found every pack I buy says something different!)

Drain and rinse the barley under cold water, shake off any excess water then place in a large bowl.

Boil the asparagus in salted water until just fork tender, depending on how thick the asparagus is this may take 3 minutes or 6. Have a bowl filled with ice water ready, drain the asparagus, run under cold water then plunge them into the ice water. This will stop them cooking and help them retain their bright green colour and crispness in the salad. Once cold drain then tip onto a clean tea towel and pat dry with paper towels just to remove any excess water as you don't want that watering down the salad.

Add the asparagus to the barley with the shallots, toasted pine nuts and fresh mint. Pour over about ½ cup of the dressing and fold it in with a rubber spatula until well mixed. 

Now, I don't add the feta at this stage as when you mix it in it will turn creamy and disappear a bit. I prefer to crumble the feta onto my salad just before eating and gently mix it in with my fork while eating to keep it chunky. That being said my husband actually preferred the feta stirred in until creamy and if you are making this salad for a buffet then just make it easy for yourself and add the feta now. I haven't given an amount of feta here, just eyeball it,  you won't need all the feta but do use a good amount, it's those hits of peppered feta that MAKE this salad!

Cover the salad with cling film and chill well - I found this salad best the next day when the flavours have more time to mellow and infuse.

To serve, add another little drizzle of dressing then crumble over a good bit of peppered feta (unless you added it earlier) and a sprig of fresh mint. 

Sorry there is no nutritional information for this one but it was impossible to calculate as the dressing and feta amounts are random.

NOTE - click here for some ideas on what to do with all the leftover salad dressing, yogurt cheese and feta - including spreads, pizza and salad!

♥

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Warm Portobello Mushroom, Asparagus and Black Eyed Bean Spinach Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Well, in keeping with my promise to bombard you with asparagus recipes for their short lived season, here's another one for you! Those of you who follow my daily food diary will know I was having this for lunch quite often as I just couldn't get enough of it. I chose to add the black eyed beans simply for some added protein but the flavour and texture is really nice in there as well. That being said you can replace with your favourite bean or just omit them altogether.

As for the oil, lately I've been using this locally produced Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil from Donegal and have been really impressed with it. I don't know how much of a difference it's made in the flavour of this dish as opposed to using extra virgin olive oil but it's delicious and I'm now a convert ;-) I particularly love that I can use an oil that's been locally produced as not surprisingly, olive oil isn't produced in Ireland!

Oh, and if you don't like asparagus, you'll be glad to hear this will be my last asparagus post this season :-D


Warm Portobello Mushroom, Asparagus and Black Eyed Bean Spinach Salad with Balsamic Dressing: Serves 1


50g baby spinach
50g black eyed beans, from a tin drained and rinsed.
50g asparagus, sliced into thirds, try and use thin stalks here.
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced
1 large shallot, sliced
1 tsp virgin rapeseed oil, or extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
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1 Tbsp virgin rapeseed oil, or extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, pureed
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp salt
couple grinds of black pepper


First make the dressing by measuring the oil into a small bowl. Slowly add the vinegar, whisking all the while until fully incorporated. Add the mustard and whisk until thick and smooth (no more little mustard dots should appear). Whisk in the salt, garlic and pepper. Set aside.


Measure the spinach and beans into a large bowl and set aside. Heat the oil in a large frying pan then add the mushrooms, shallots and asparagus. Fry on high heat for a couple minutes and add a pinch of sea salt and a couple grinds of black pepper. Reduce heat to low and fry until the mushrooms are cooked and the asparagus is tender. There shouldn't be any liquid left as well. 


Give the dressing another good whisk then pour over the spinach and beans and toss really well. Place in a bowl or on a plate then top with the hot mushroom/asparagus mixture. Serve immediately.

♥

Nutritional Information: using virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Calories: 275

Protein: 9.1g

Fat: 19.1g

Sat Fat: 1.4g

Fibre: 5g

Carbs: 20.5g

Sugar: 3.1g

Sodium: 636mg

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Baby Spinach, Strawberry and Maple
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Balsamic Dressing

Warm Roasted Butternut Squash  and
Pecan Salad

Roasted Red Pepper and Asparagus Almond Feta Flan

♥ Pastry filled with roasted red peppers, dill almond "feta" and topped with asparagus ♥

 Just out of the oven 

 Together with a simple side salad and chilled champagne it made for a perfect Spring inspired Easter Dinner 

So yes! This was our Easter dinner this year and it turned out so beautifully that this AND the Grand Marnier Spiked Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding are going to be the yearly Easter dinner tradition from now on :-) Not that I won't be making other times of the year of course as it's absolutely delicious and would  also make great picnic food. I got the idea for this from the November 2008 edition of Cook Vegetarian Magazine. The recipe was by Michel Roux, pastry chef extraordinaire but was a decidedly vegetarian dish using butter and egg pastry and filled with eggs and cream. I've otherwise kept the concept the same here, a pastry lined flan dish filled with roasted red peppers and asparagus.

It didn't take me long to figure out how I was going to veganize this one. Ever since I discovered that the almond feta can be baked straight from mixing to make a pasta bake like I used in the Greek Style Orzo Spinach and Almond Feta Bake  I knew this would work. For the same reasons asparagus and parmesan go so wonderfully together so does asparagus with this almond feta. For the pastry I've gone uber simple here and used Jus-Rol ready rolled shortcrust pastry (sorry Michel!). It's labelled vegan, is easy to work with and tastes great but if you want to make your own pastry you could use my basic pastry recipe. 

His roasted red peppers were a little more complicated than what I've done here as he made mixed semi-confit peppers, that would be grilled peppers, skinned then left to marinade in a herbed oil. I felt there was no need for that here as the almond feta is so packed with flavour anyway so I simply roasted them using my quick roast method where they are roasted, peeled and chopped.

I kept the almond feta recipe the same but added some freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and then stirred in some chopped fresh dill. It's my favourite herb and the flavour go so well with the 'feta' and asparagus but you can use whatever herb you like or leave it out altogether. The only change I would make next time is in cooking the asparagus. He boiled his until fork tender then laid them on top and the whole thing was baked. I did this but my asparagus got a little overcooked in the oven. My gut instinct was telling me there was no need to pre-boil them and I think I was right. I would say if you are using large asparagus to par-boil them for a few minutes but if you are using thin asparagus like I did there is no need, simply roast it all together.

We got 6 servings out of the flan and felt they were just right, after all the almond feta is fairly rich and just like with the Greek Style Orzo, Spinach and Almond Feta Flan I served this with a simple side salad - just good quality Irish butterhead lettuce and rocket with some chopped tomatoes, and my favourite mustard-dill vinaigrette. Just like with the orzo dish it's sharp tanginess compliments the richness of the almond feta here perfectly.

Also like the orzo dish, I know this one can be modified greatly to suit your tastes. If you don't like asparagus, tenderstem broccoli would be lovely. Or use zucchini sliced thin and lengthwise to fit the tin. Alternatively you can go for a Mediterranean Flan and fill it with roasted peppers, black olives, spring onion, toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil in place of the dill. Actually, I think that will be my next version of this, sounds too good not to try!! :-)

♥

Warm Salad of Roasted New Potatoes, Sautéed Asparagus and Shallots in a Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette

Firstly, I want to direct you all to the beautiful award you now see on my blog courtesy of The Vegan Woman. My write up there pretty much says it all but I just wanted to again thank everyone who recommended my blog here as well as The Vegan Woman and the judges there. I really am overjoyed to have come third and simply cannot thank you all enough!!

Now, I hope you all like asparagus as I am on a quest to jam in as much asparagus recipes that I can before their short lived season. Consider this post #2 of 4.....maybe 5 ;-) I actually made this ages ago, you might recognize it from the daily food diary, but felt I should wait until closer to asparagus season to blog it. Which means that yes, I made mine with imported out of season asparagus, you see the sacrifices I make for you all?? ;-)

There is not much new to this salad, roasted baby new potatoes with asparagus are a pretty classic combination and there are a load of different versions out there for sure. I have loosely based this one on Oh She Glow's recipe, mostly adopting her method for roasting the potatoes and sauteeing the asparagus. The dressing is pretty much the same as the one I use in my German Potato Salad with appropriate modifications, like olive oil instead of corn oil.

It's simply an absolutely delicious salad, all the flavours work so well together from the creamy new potatoes and crisp asparagus to the mustard, dill and shallots - love it!

Warm Salad of Roasted New Potatoes, Sautéed Asparagus and Shallots in a Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette: 

250g baby new potatoes, washed and dried.
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
smoked sea salt and freshly ground pepper (or regular sea salt)
♥
100g asparagus, sliced into 1" segments
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
smoked sea salt (or regular sea salt)
♥
1 large shallot, diced fine
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp smoked sea salt (again, regular is fine!)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp dried dill, if using fresh use about 1 tsp
few grinds of black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Dice the potatoes largely leaving the skins on. Toss in a bowl with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Lay out on the sheet and roast for 25 minutes, turning them once. They should be lightly golden in places and fork tender.

While they are roasting, make the dressing: Add the olive oil to a bowl and slowly add the vinegar, whisking all the while until emulsified. Whisk in the dijon mustard until fully incorporated then whisk in the salt, pepper, dill and mustard seeds. Stir in the shallots and set aside.

Heat the olive oil for the asparagus in a frying pan and add the chopped asparagus and a pinch of salt. Fry with a lid on, stirring now and again until the asparagus is just fork tender, about 6 minutes.

Tip the roasted potatoes into a large bowl and add the asparagus. Pour over the dressing and toss well. Scrape it all into a bowl and serve. I have also eaten this cold and it's just as good, just note that the asparagus will lose some of it's vibrant green colour then.

Serves 1.

♥

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 389

Protein: 7.8g

Fat: 19g

Sat Fat: 2.8g

Carbs: 50.9g

Sugar: 3.8g

Fibre: 7.6g

Sodium: 629mg

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Light Lemon Pepper Asparagus Linguini

This is a revisit....or rather, a photographic revisit ;-) I've been making this for years now, it first appeared on my first vegetarian blog (with parmesan) and then on this blog back in 2009 but with such a bad photo I've since deleted the post! I'm so happy my photos have improved since then :-)

I originally based this recipe on one I found online years ago. Sadly the link seems to be no longer available so I cannot give credit but it was featured as a light low calorie pasta dish using the asparagus stalks to make the sauce instead of heavy cream and/or tons of cheese. It's a really nice light and fresh tasting pasta perfect for the upcoming asparagus season. (My most favourite season!)

You can stir in some melty mozza cheezly into it before serving for extra flavour; some nutritional yeast sprinkled in works too. I have tried both before to try and replace the parmesan that the original recipe called for....However, I personally like the simplicity of this dish without anything more added and just letting the natural lemon, pepper and asparagus flavours shine :-)

I served mine with a couple slices of garlic bread and a chilled glass of white wine - a lovely dinner.

♥

Light Lemon Pepper Asparagus Linguini: serves 2

150 grams asparagus - tough stems removed, about 1 bunch.

1 1/2 tsp salt (don't worry - it's for the cooking water!)

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Zest of 1 lemon

150 grams linguini, dry weight
lots of freshly ground black pepper
fine sea salt to taste

♥ The only ingredients! ♥

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Snap tough ends off asparagus. Cut stems into 1 inch pieces and reserve tips separately. Add salt and asparagus stems to the boiling water. Cook stems until very tender, 6 - 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and refresh under cold running water. Reserve.

Add asparagus tips to boiling water and cook until just tender, 3 - 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and refresh under cold running water. Reserve, still keeping them separate from stems.

In a food processor, combine asparagus stems, olive oil, lemon zest and just under 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Process until smooth and set aside. Return the remaining water to the boil and add pasta and cook until almost al dente (check package instructions). Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Return the pasta to the pot with the sauce, asparagus tips, and lots of freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cook, stirring over high heat until sauce is thickened, about 3 - 5 minutes. Add more pasta cooking water, a little at a time if sauce gets too dry. Serve immediately.

♥

Nutritional Information: per serving

Calories: 314

Fat: 5.9g

Sat Fat: 0.9g

Fibre: 3.8g

Carbs: 55.6g

Sugar: 4g

Sodium: 612mg

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Coconut Asparagus Frittata with Sweet Chilli Lime Sauce

 ♥

Gosh, I made this AGES ago!! I have had about 5 or 6 things lined up to blog but am unbelievably busy these days and just haven't had the time. Big news for us - we are moving to Ireland this summer!! I really cannot wait, we are building a house out in the country (a very eco house I might add ;-) and it's coming along beautifully. But, needless to say, building a house while not only moving house but moving country takes up a lot of time!! I'm afraid my online life will have to take a back seat for awhile, don't expect me on twitter at all really and I'll try and update this blog now and again but it won't be as frequent. When we move at the end of July we'll be moving in with my in laws (who live next door) for a few months while the house finishes up so I won't be able to blog at all then really. Well, who knows, maybe I'll do some vegan restaurant reviews from Cork or something!

Anyway, back to the food! This is just a twist on the post below, I loved the flavour of those crepes so much I wanted to see how it fared as a frittata. It cooked up fine and tasted great but the texture isn't great to be honest. It turned out quite gummy, although I still went back for seconds!! So, why blog it? Well, as my husband pointed out the texture was really like set polenta. Which although not my favourite thing obviously lots of people do like it so thought I would throw this up here too ;-)

Recipe is the same as the Coconut Crepes but I poured the whole crepe batter into a small non stick frying pan brushed with some peanut oil. Cook over medium heat and when it is sort of half set add some pre-steamed asparagus and the finely chopped spring onion. Continue to cook until golden underneath then place under the grill to continue cooking the top. Grill until golden on top. When I first cut mine open it looked like it could do with some more cooking so grilled it a little more as the middle wasn't quite set. I didn't bother with the almonds or peanuts this time but again, that sauce is essential with this - it really makes the dish.

So, it wasn't a bad attempt but I must stress that the crepe version is miles better and will always be the one I make.

♥

Coconut Crêpes with Asparagus and a Sweet Chilli Lime Dipping Sauce

I took one bite of these and instantly knew these would become a dinner staple, they are seriously delicious!!! The recipe was on BBC Good Food and I found it intriguing as I just wouldn't think to use asparagus this way. It's hands down my favourite vegetable so I'm always keen to find new ways of using it. Plus the 'in season' British stuff is out now so a good time to use it!

I had to veganize the crêpe recipe they used and am pleased to say it turned out fantastic, I sort of combined their flavours with the quantities I used in my Wild Rice Crêpe recipe. Only thing was these were possibly a little more delicate to work with. The first one had to be scrapped, as seems to always be the case when I make crêpes ;-) The next two didn't tear or rip but it was touch and go....so just bear that in mind when making these. That being said I later ate the first crepe, all ripped up and cold just by dipping it in the sauce and it was just as good. So don't stress if they tear just serve it all together in a bowl!

Oh and that dipping sauce is perfect with these and omg good, I just swapped the honey with some light agave and added a bit more garlic. I also used bird's eye chilli's as that's all I had, I made sure I removed all the seeds and membranes and it still packed a punch. So you may want to only use 2 or a different chilli altogether, depending on how hot you like things.

They included some roasted peanuts in the dipping sauce but I thought they would be better in the crêpe itself. Their version had some hard boiled egg in the filling (bleurgh!) so without it my filling would just be steamed asparagus. I then forgot to buy peanuts so lightly toasted some almond flakes and added that. I really liked the flavour in their and the thin crunchiness was really nice. Later, I made these for my husband with the peanuts and while he liked the flavour of the peanuts in their preferred the texture of the almonds. The peanuts were just a bit too hard.

Whatever way you go - those crêpes with that sauce and the asparagus is amazing! I got 5 crêpes out of this with my large crêpe pan....

Coconut Crêpes with Asparagus and a Sweet Chilli Lime Dipping Sauce:

200ml reduced fat coconut milk

200ml water

120g plain flour

30g chickpea flour

1 Tbsp cornstarch (cornflour) or arrowroot

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

♥

4 spring onions, finely chopped

1 Tbsp peanut oil, for greasing the pan

♥

25 spears asparagus, 5 for each wrap

25g flaked almonds or finely chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

♥

2 Tbsp light agave syrup

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, strained

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Bird's Eye chilli's, deseeded and membranes removed, chop fine

First make your batter, simply whisk everything together until super smooth, or use the blender. Cover and place in the fridge for about an hour.

Next make your dipping sauce. Whisk the agave, soy and lime juice and well mixed then whisk in the garlic and chillies. Set aside to let the flavours mingle up a bit.

Take the batter out of the fridge and give it another good whisk. Heat your crepe pan on medium heat and brush on some peanut oil. Using 1/2 cup measure pour the batter in the centre of the pan and swirl it around making sure it coats all the pan. Immediately sprinkle on some of the spring onion before it sets. Now, turning these are a little tricky. The best way I found was to loosen the edges and pick it up and move it to a plate. I then brushed a little more oil on the pan, picked it up again and placed the other side down. I also wore a pair of (clean!) washing up gloved to do this otherwise I would have burnt my fingers!! Once both sides are cooked, it should be ever so lightly golden at spots, it's a bit more hardy. Turn over onto a plate so that the spring onions are facing up. Continue with the rest of the batter and meanwhile start steaming your asparagus: 3-5 minutes should do it.

When ready to serve, simply place 5 asparagus in the middle of the crêpe and sprinkle on some of the almonds or peanuts, if using. Fold the bottom over then roll them up, you could cut them on the diagonal or just leave whole.

Give the dipping sauce another little mix and serve on the side. I spooned a little bit of the sauce over the crêpes and do recommend this as it's an easier way to eat these than dipping them.

♥

Nutritional Analysis: based on 2 filled crêpes with sauce

Calories: 516

Protein: 14.8g

Carbs: 69.8g

Fat: 20.7g (if you use all the peanut oil )

Sat Fat: 1.4g

Fibre: 7.3g

Sugars: 14.3g

Sodium: 1200mg *this is only if you use 2/5 of the sauce recipe, which is unlikely, so really it's not that high :-)

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Asparagus, Almond and Chickpea Brown Rice with a Lemon Tahini Dressing

This is another gem from Heidi Swanson where she had posted it as 'Ten Minute Tasty Asparagus and Brown Rice'. However she uses pre-cooked brown rice which I've never seen here so with brown rice taking about 25 minutes to cook I had to call it something else!

It is so, sooooo good - especially that dressing! I'll be using that in loads of things, I'm thinking drizzled over falafel in pita would be yummy.....and last night I was dipping stuffed vine leaves into some of the leftover dressing and that was very good too :) I also loved the asparagus quickly stir fried like this, I usually always steam my asparagus but the crunchiness was really nice this way. I used brown basmati rice, simply as I prefer it to regular brown rice but as she says you can use any grain you like, even pasta.

Recipe is here .

2012 Edit - I am actually going to post my version of this now as we have it so regularly now I've made quite a few little changes along the way, mostly with calories and portion size as we initially found it way too big but also with the instructions and ingredients.

Also, her recipe stated that it serves 4 - 6, if you get 4 servings out of that recipe it comes in at 826 calories per serving, that's more calories than a Big Mac and small fries!! Obviously this is bags healthier but calories are calories. With 6 servings it comes out at 551 calories and my made over version is 384 calories, is nice and filling and JUST as tasty :-)

Asparagus, Almond and Chickpeas with Wholegrain Basmati Rice and a Lemon-Tahini Dressing
Serves 2


1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
100g chickpeas, drained and rinsed (from a tin)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, halved and sliced
150g asparagus, cut into 1" segments
1/8 tsp salt
25g flaked almonds, toasted
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1 Tbsp tahini
1 scant Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp hot water
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp salt
zest of 1/4 of a lemon
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75g dry weight wholegrain basmati rice

First make the dressing by whisking everything together but the hot water until smooth then whisk in the hot water. Set aside.

Toast the almond flakes in a dry frying pan until just golden and set aside.

Get a large pot of salted water on for the rice and cook according to package instructions. For mine, once the water comes to a boil tip in the rice, give it a stir and put the lid on. When it comes back to the boil reduce to a simmer and simmer for 25 minutes. Drain and put back in the pot, put the lid back on and let it sit off the heat for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile get the olive oil heating up in a wok or frying pan with a lid, when it's nice and hot add the chickpeas, shallots and a good grinding of black pepper and fry until the shallots are soft and the chickpeas start to brown slightly. Initially keep the heat quite high then reduce to low. The chickpeas may pop a bit here so take care. Add a splash of hot water to deglaze the pan and stir well, making sure you loosen up any cooked on bits. Add the asparagus and the salt give it a good stir then cover and let steam until the asparagus is bright green and tender, and any residual water is absorbed, about 3 - 5 minutes. When there is about a minutes left add the garlic and stir well.

Uncover and stir in the rice and flaked almonds and stir well. If the dressing has thickened up a bit too much you can add a touch more hot water to it. Turn the heat off and add the dressing and stir well until all the rice is lightly coated. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving

Calories: 384
Protein: 11.8g
Fibre: 7.1g
Carbs: 44.9g
Sugar: 3.7g
Fat: 20.2g
Sat Fat: 2.2g
Sodium: 295mg

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