dinner date - nutty rice salad

This week's post comes courtesy of Sarah.


This simple and tasty salad is based on a recipe given to us by good friend Mary Bollard. After all the rich food over the summer holidays, this salad was fresh and delicious. It can be served as a side salad but is also substantial enough to eat a bowl full on its own. I also thought it would be a good thing to take to a BBQ to keep the vegetarians happy.

Nutty Rice Salad
1 cup uncooked brown rice
¼ cup soy sauce
3 spring onions, chopped finely
1 red capsicum, diced
½ head broccoli, steamed
½ cup chopped dates
½ cup cashews, chopped coarsely
½ cup each of roasted sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds

Dressing
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbsps lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp honey

Cook rice, mix the soy sauce through and leave to cool. Put ingredients for dressing in a jar and shake together. Add all remaining ingredients and the dressing to the rice and mix well.

dinner date - pumpkin, feta and brown rice tart

The other week it was just my sister Sarah and I for dinner (who is vegetarian) so I made this tart for our dinner. This is an old favourite of ours, the original recipe featured in the Healthy Food Guide many years ago, and we adapt it according to what veges we have on hand. This time we filled it with broccoli.

The crust is made by mixing cooked brown rice with mashed pumpkin and crumbled feta, so tastes similar to a risotto cake. The exact quantities are not really important, so use more or less of the crust ingredients depending on what you have available (just not too much pumpkin or the crust will be a bit wet.) I like to make the crust quite thick and substantial. Likewise for the filling, just use whatever veg takes your fancy...

To cut down on prep time I tend to cook extra rice when we are eating it for another meal, and freeze it and do the same when I am cooking pumpkin. This makes it faster to whip up on a weekday and you use hardly any dishes. It is really delicious. Topped with a spoonful of tomato chilli jam and served with a crunchy green salad it made a very tasty dinner and lunch the next day.

Pumpkin, brown rice and feta tart

crust

4 c cooked brown rice
2 c cooked pumpkin - roasted/steamed/boiled and roughly mashed
1 pkt feta
1 egg

filling

4-6 eggs, beaten with salt and pepper to taste
1 head of broccoli, chopped and cooked
(or use about 2 c of any other cooked veg that takes your fancy)
Parmesan

Preheat oven to 180c.

To make the crust, combine all ingredients and press mixture into a 25cm loose bottom cake tin that has been lined with baking paper. Or a quiche dish would be fine too.

Bake for 30 minutes until the crust dries out a little. Fill with the cooked veges and pour in the beaten eggs. Grate Parmesan over and bake at 180c for another 45mins or until set.

Cool slightly and enjoy warm or at room temperature.

packed lunches

It's always a struggle to think of something to take to work for lunch.... I find sandwiches just oh so boring. In an inspired moment, we decided to make this delicious red rice and quinoa salad with orange & pistachios (Lewi actually made it, although I did go to the supermarket to get the ingredients).


This salad is great for lunch, being both delicious and nutritious. And the lovely mixture of colours makes it especially attractive. I was the envy of everyone in the lunch room! Here's the recipe:

Camargue red rice and quinoa with orange and pistachios

(from Ottolenghi The Cookbook)

60g shelled pistachio nuts
200g quinoa
200 Camargue red rice
1 medium onion, sliced
150ml olive oil
grated zest and juice of one orange
2 tsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 sprigs onions, thinly sliced
100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
40g rocket
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 170C. Toast the pistachios for about 8 minutes until lightly coloured. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly and then chop roughly. Set aside.

Fill 2 saucepans with salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer the quinoa in one for 12-14 minutes and the rice in the other for 20 minutes. Both should be tender but still have a bite. Drain in a sieve and spread out the 2 grains separately on a flat tray to hasten cooling.

While the grains are cooking, sauté the white onion in 4 tablespoons of olive oil for 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Leave to cool completely.

In a large mixing bowl combine the rice, quinoa, cooked onion and the remaining oil. Add all the rest of the ingredients, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve at room temperature.