I had a Friendsmas potluck last week and while I was mulling over what to take along I had a scroll through the app. Seeing a Mystery Box from Fruit World Royal Oak was all the inspiration I needed. I decided to roll the dice on the box and let it decide the shape of my dish. While I cook from recipes occasionally, I’m happiest in the kitchen when I’m being experimental, so this came relatively naturally to me.
The veggie box was huge! It was packed with mostly veggies, a few bits of fruit and to my surprise some herbs, spices and even a Peking duck sauce. I did a cost comparison on a supermarket website and it came to almost $70 vs the $10 I rescued it for on the app!
Yes, some of the veggies only had a day or two left, but that’s kinda the point and since I was looking for something for that day, it really didn’t matter.
The key to a good salad is keeping things simple, adding seeds/grains/nuts for texture, plus of course a good dressing. For a dressing, you’ll want the right ratio of oil to acid. I ended up adding more honey and sugar to this one than I usually would as the tamarillos and grapefruit were quite tart, plus I was heavy-handed on the cayenne pepper on the veggies, so needed to balance the flavours of the whole dish.
There is a lot of flexibility in putting together a dish like this, so I’ve included some alternatives in the notes below. I always suggest using what you already have in your pantry and fridge - it’s easier, cheaper and a great way to prevent food waste!
For this one, I decided that roasting some of the veggies with the spices was the way to go for this one, then using the tamarillo and grapefruit for the dressing. The red fruits, topped off with spring onions and pumpkin seeds resulted in a very festive-looking dish with very little effort. Almost all of the ingredients were from the app, except for a couple of pantry staple dressing ingredients.
Vegetables
6 Parsnips
1 Red Onion
1 small Kumara
1/2 Butternut
½ Cauliflower
2 Zucchini
3-4 tsp Honey
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Cayenne Pepper, Salt and Pepper
1 cup Quinoa
Dressing
2x Tamarillos
1x ruby grapefruit, juiced
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
3 tsp Honey
1-2 tsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Grainy Mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste
To Serve
2 Spring Onions, chopped
Handful of Pumpkin seeds
Preheat the oven to 200 C
Peel and chop the vegetables. Spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Then drizzle with honey and olive oil and mix to combine. Put in the oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and starting to go crispy on some of the edges.
Put the quinoa in a pot with 1:2 ratio of water, I used 1c quinoa, so 2c water. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a low heat and allow to cook for 15-20mins or until all of the water has been absorbed.
While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the dressing. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust if needed.
Allow the vegetables and quinoa to cool at least a little before mixing all ingredients together. Pour over the dressing and top with spring onions and pumpkin seeds and enjoy!
Notes:
I often wouldn’t peel the vegetables, but the parsnips in the box did need the skin removed.
You could use any vegetables that roast well in this dish and adjust the quantities based on how much you need to make. Carrots, beetroot, turnips, broad beans or kohlrabi would all work well in this.
Likewise, sub out the fruit in the dressing for what you have. As we head into summer, berries, peaches and nectarines would all work really well. If you don’t have citrus to add, double the amount of vinegar instead.
I added the quinoa because I had it, you could easily leave this out or substitute for something like pearl couscous, freekeh or bulgar wheat.
This is the perfect side or works well for an easy midweek meal.
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