Saffron quinoa with brassicas, avocado and pomegranate

Here comes one of my favourite salads for the winter season. Flavours and veggies that reminds me of candlelit dinners, cosy mornings and Christmas gatherings - all tossed together in to this recipe!

If you ask me every festive buffet requires a semi raw salad - a salad where at least most of the components are raw - great thing as that will add lots of texture and freshness which goes very well with basically anything. Cook the quinoa prior to serving and massage/shave/slice/deseed the rest of the components (preferably put the brassica i ice cold water to get them really crispy!)- then just toss it all together just before serving!

Saffron quinoa with brassica, avocado and pomegranate

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 dl / 1.2 cups white quinoa

0.25 grams saffron, ground

100 gram kale (you might want to use black kale instead of kale if you’re pairing this one with my pumpkin tray recipe from the previous post)

50 gram red cabbage

1 fennel

1 avocado, sliced

1 pomegranate, deseeded

1 dl / 0.4 cups mixed seeds and nuts, toasted

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

flakey salt

How to

Cook the quinoa according to instructions on the packaging, together with the saffron.

Cut away the thick bottom steam of the kale, tear the leafs in to smaller pieces. Since they’ll the added raw to the salad you want the pieces to be quite small. Massage with olive oil and a pinch of salt until silky.

Shred the red cabbage thinly using a mandoline, a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife. Trim the fennel bulbs, then shred thinly on the width using a mandoline/vegetable peeler/sharp knife. Put cabbage and fennel in ice cold water for 20 minutes - this will make them extra crispy!

Toss together the cooked saffron quinoa, kale, cabbage, avocado, pomegranate and seeds/nuts!

* This is a recipe from “Två Dagar” distributed by Göteborgs-Posten. Photo by Stefan Edetoft

Roasted carrots and parsnips with ginger tahini dressing and pomegranate

Roasted baby carrots + baby parsnips. Drizzled with a ginger tahini dressing. And sprinkled with toasted almonds, lots of fresh herbs and fruity pomegranate seeds. Easy peasy planty side for ANY occasion!!

AND, if you want to make it a main dish you could serve with some cooked grains of your choice (quinoa, wild rice, sorghum, millet etc) and some kind of protein packed spread, for example my sweet potato and roasted garlic hummus (might be my favourite one in the world) or my Pea and cilantro hummus.

Roasted carrots and parsnips with ginger tahini dressing and pomegranate

4-6 servings, as a green side

Ingredients

500 g new season/baby carrots/carrots bought in a bunch (you could use any type of carrot really, but I find that the baby ones are even better for this recipe as I prefer to roast them whole - and with the peel on)

10 baby parsnips (see note on carrots above, same thing here)

2 dl / 0.8 US cups fresh parsley

2 dl / 0.8 US cups pomegranate seeds

1 dl / 0.4 US cups almonds

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

unrefined sea salt

Ginger tahini dressing

1/2 dl / 0.2 US cups light tahini (I prefer to use tahini made of non roasted sesame seeds as the flavour is not as sharp as if you would use a dark tahini)

3/4 dl / 0.3 US cups water

zest from 1 organic lemon + 2 tbsp freshly pressed lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to

Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the carrot tops if there are any (these ones are GREAT to use in a home made pesto, smoothie or herb hummus!). Scrub the carrots and parsnips (if the peel on the parsnips is too thick you might want to peel them - otherwise it’s great to leave on).

Put the root veggies on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt. Roast in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes, until they are slightly golden and the peel is slightly crispy.

Put the almonds on a baking tray. Roast in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes, until a nutty aroma fills the kitchen. Stir around halfway through. Let cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the ginger tahini dressing using a blender/immersion blender. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the roasted veggies on a serving plate, drizzle over ALL (important part, the dressing is great) the dressing. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, almonds and pomegranate seeds. And some flakey salt!

Best,

Thess

Recipe was first published in The Gothenburg-Post/Två dagar. Photo by Fanny Hansson.