A Dip and Toast

Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Dip

from Market Vegetarian, Ross Dobson, Ryland Peters and Small, 2008.

This turned out to be a very easy dip to make and, what’s more, it was delicious.

All that had to be done was to roast the parsnips with some cream and a garlic bulb. It was then processed into a smooth paste. Easy.

It was eaten with spelt toasts from the same recipe book. I am finding that this is a book that I return to. It has recipes that are fresh and tasty and healthy as well.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Spelt Toasts

from Market Vegetarian, Ross Dobson, Ryland Peters and Small, 2008.

The recipe for spelt toasts calls for both spelt grain and spelt flour. I was unable to find the grain anywhere so decided that I would settle for using quinoa instead. This had to be pre-cooked before using.

The bread was made with yeast and so the usual process of waiting for a yeast and water mixture to become frothy started it off. Then the spelt flour and, in this case, quinoa instead of spelt grain was added, kneaded and then put aside to rise.

The mixture was then formed into a rough sort of loaf, a bit on the flat side, and baked. It turned out to look reasonably close to the photographs in the book when it was sliced and toasted.

The bread was a little heavy though nicely flavoured with a slight nuttiness. It went extremely well with the roasted parsnip and garlic dip.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔ 

Quinoa and Grilled Sourdough Salad

Quinoa and Grilled Sourdough Salad

from Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press, 2010

I’m still a bit uncertain about quinoa. It’s such a fiddly ingredient and seems (when I use it) to get all over the place. It’s flavour is also quite bland and sometimes you feel as though you aren’t really eating anything. Nevertheless, I will keep with it. No doubt I’ll eventually get to like it.

I always trust Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes so this was a good way to practise using this tiny grain.

The recipe was a simple one and a variation on Arab bread salad, fattoush. Basically it was a matter of cut and mix, though the quinoa had to be boiled first and the bread baked until crisp.

The result was reasonable. I’m still not convinced about quinoa though.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔