Farmbox x pantry recipe No.1
I’m so excited about vegetables lately… I don’t know if it has to do with the restrictions we encounter in home confinement. I can’t stop washing, photographing and talking about them lately (family members = eye roll). I love laying them out and looking at the different color and texture combinations…
Anyhow (yes I’m weird), the daughter of a friend has set up a weekly service delivering amazing organic farm produce to our doorstep. The veggies come from a farm called: “The Garden of..…” in Los Olivos near Santa Barbara. I didn’t find much info on the farm, but read the article that I’ve linked in. The produce is amazing, especially if you’re into your lettuce!
Lately it has been difficult for us to locate many favourite foods or ingredients for a particular recipe. A good opportunity to take to experimenting in the kitchen a little more. Here is a first recipe inspired by the contents of my farm box plus whatever I could find in my pantry. I’m proud of having found use for a pair of old oranges that have been shrivelling up in my fruit bowl :-)
Roasted Root Veggies, Orange & Lentil Salad with Hot Smoked Salmon
Ingredients:
1 cup green lentils
1 bay leaf (if you have one)
1 piece hot smoked salmon
4 small beets (or two large ones)
3 carrots
1-2 oranges
2-3 green onions
handful chopped parsley
handful of rocket leaves (baby spinach, watercress or any salad leaves)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
handful feta or goat's cheese (crumbled)
For the dressing
1tsp creamed horseradish
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp raw honey
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Wash the beets and carrots. Cut the carrots into batons and coat them with a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of ground cumin and salt. Pre-heat the oven to 420*F. Cut off the beet leaves (reserve them since they are delicious and super nutritious). Roast the beets for about 30min then add the carrots to the baking sheet and roast for another 25min or so.
Meanwhile bring the lentils, bay leaf and 4 cups of water to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for about 20min or until tender. Tip into a sieve and quickly rinse with cold water for a few seconds, so they don't clump together.
To make the dressing, whisk together the horseradish, mustard and honey. Season generously with salt & pepper (the dressing should taste quite salty), then add 1-2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (or whatever you have at hand) and 2- 4 tbsp olive oil, mix well until homogenous.
Cut off the skins of the oranges, then slice the flesh into rounds or half moons if the oranges are really large. (Works really well with sanguinello, tangelos, satsumas or tangerines, but avoid grapefruits)
Roughly chop the parsley and green onion. I prefer to use mostly the green parts. (If you have fresh dill, cilantro or chives at hand, that would be fantastic). In COVID-19 times we’re using whatever we can find. In my case it was green onions and parsley.
Once the beets have cooled down, peel off the skins and cut them into little segments. I like them quite chunky, but everybody’s preferences are different.
Toss the lentils, oranges, salad leaves, roasted veg and half of the herbs into a salad bowl, fold in the dressing. Serve the salad on a large platter, flake the hot smoked salmon as well as the feta on top, then sprinkle the rest of the chopped herbs over it. Voila! Bon Appetit!
Extras: If you have a sweet tooth, you can also throw in a handful of raisins or dried cranberries. For a little crunch, sprinkle with some (salted roasted) pumpkin seeds.
