Tuna with Lemon and Caramelized Red Onions, Arugula

Jamie's Winter Vegetable Salad, Take Two (Vegetarian/Gluten Free Version)

Another version of Jamie Oliver's stellar winter salad, this time with chicories, roasted squash, beets and red onion, oranges, avocado, and pumpkin seeds. I didn't even miss the chicken or chunks of bread (or pomegranate seeds).

Chicory, Fennel, and Citrus Salad with Avocado

I'm preparing for the cleanse I postponed in December. Tomorrow I'll start juicing, and today I'm eating nothing but raw veggies and fruit. This salad is great for any lunch, but it's especially good for a pre-cleanse meal- you don't even need oil for dressing, because the juices from the citrus make their own.

Red Lentil Dal, Chicory and Orange Salad, Avocado

I cooked the lentils with some finely chopped onion, coriander, turmeric, cumin, cayenne, and fresh ginger.

Mixed Chicories, Orange, Olive and Feta Salad

I make some variation of this all the time during the winter. The colors are so pretty, and the salty/sweet/bitter/acid flavor combination is a winner!

Another Green Couscous

This one comes from Jamie Magazine and is a little bit quicker to prepare than the Ottolenghi recipe (due to the lack of caramelized onions)- I think it took me about 15 minutes altogether, and I've made it twice this week already! Full of broccoli, greens (Jamie uses spinach but I had kale), toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and seasoned with harissa, I found this to be very satisfying and quite healthy.

Chicory and Roasted Beet Salad, Curried Chicken Salad, Toast

I made the chicken salad with a bit of curry powder, toasted, slivered almonds, and a good amount of mango chutney mixed in. I dressed the chicories and beets with orange juice, and tossed some toasted pumpkin seeds in as well.

Winter Vegetable Salad

The latest issue of Jamie Magazine came in the mail yesterday and it's full of recipes I want to make (including a whole section on celery!). This salad was perfection: roasted root vegetables (beets and carrots in this case) and red onions, toasted chunks of bread, shredded chicken, pomegranate seeds, sunflower seeds and pepitas, and an assortment of beautiful baby chicories from the market, all dressed in a honey-orange vinaigrette. There are a lot of components, to be sure, but in all it took about 40 minutes to prepare (including roasting time), and I will definitely be making it again. I only wish my shoddy nighttime photography accurately depicted what a beautiful plate this was.

Chickpea and Kale salad with Cilantro, Red Onion, and Lime

Also: a little toasted coriander, cumin, and chili.

Here is why dried chickpeas are so much better than canned ones: because you can add flavor to them by cooking them with garlic, salt, and herbs, or even a little tomato. Canned chickpeas can be seasoned, but they won't take on the flavors in the same way. Also, the texture is so much better with ones you cook yourself; canned ones can be a bit mushy sometimes.

Pre-Cleanse

I have a confession: I am a closet juicer. I purchased my very own juicer recently and am completely in love with it. It's generally not a great idea to drink too much juice, especially fruit juices or starchy vegetable juices (like carrot or beet) because of the high sugar content, but I have been starting every day with a glass of leafy green juice (I like a combination of kale, celery, romaine lettuce, green apple, ginger, and lemon), and it makes me feel great. The wonderful thing about drinking your vegetables is that it gives your digestive system a break- you get to absorb all the nutrients in the food without having to process any of the roughage.

Although I normally only drink one glass of juice a day, I try to do a juice cleanse for a few days every season. In the past I've ordered juices from Blue Print Cleanse (some other great bottled options are Can Can Cleanse, Juice to You, Juicey Lucy's and Living Greens here in SF, Organic Avenue in NY, or Ritual Cleanse in LA), but the shipping time really depletes the enzymes in the juices that are so nutritionally important, and the cost is a bit prohibitive for regular cleansing, which is why I saved up for my own Super Angel 5500 juicer.

It's important to wean yourself off of most foods before you start juicing, to avoid shocking your body, so I like to spend the week before a cleanse doing just that. On Monday I stopped eating meat, Thursday I stopped eating (most*) refined sugars and white flours and had my last bit of dairy, and tomorrow (Saturday) I will start eating only raw vegetables and fruits so that on Monday my body is adjusted and ready to cleanse! In the past I've made some scheduling mistakes and started cleansing without a much prep time, and the resulting detox was pretty gross. I'm starting my three day cleanse on Monday, so in the interest of this blog being a record of what I eat, I thought I'd share some of the raw foods I'm eating this weekend, and the juices I'll be drinking next week.

Some of the easiest and best things to eat in preparation for a cleanse are raw greens, like arugula. I dress mine in a little bit of mustard and lemon juice, and I like to have some avocado with it for substance. Because I haven't gone completely raw yet, and I do love my fiber, tonight I also had half a roasted sweet potato with some salt and pepper.

*I must admit I was not super strict about this one- today I had some bhatura with lunch- but I won't be having any more grains (even whole ones) for the rest of the week.

Spicy Squash, Black Bean, and Herb Salad with Lime

Caramelized Fennel with Goat Cheese, Shelling Beans, and Arugula Salad

The caramelized fennel is a recipe from Plenty.

Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke and Cherry Tomato Salad with Haloumi

This is the first Ottolenghi recipe I haven't loved. I love all the ingredients individually, but there was something about the combination of the Haloumi (admittedly, the recipe calls for Manouri, but suggests Haloumi as a substitute) and the sunchokes that just didn't work for me. I roasted the sunchokes on a tray instead of in a covered dish as the book recommends- I wanted them to get a little caramelized and I thought that with all the liquid in the dish they would just steam. I think I probably should have just put the tomatoes on that same tray, instead of caramelizing them in a frying pan as the recipe specifies, if only to save dishes.

*Addendum! In my hurry to eat, I completely forgot to add the basil oil, which is supposed to be drizzled over the top of the salad. Not sure if that would have changed my opinion or not...

Green Couscous

Another one from Plenty; I guess if it weren't for the sections on eggplant and mushrooms, I would just give in and say I'm doing one of those "work your way through the cookbook" projects. But it's hard not to keep going back to the book, when every recipe I've tried has been a winner, including this one. It's couscous with lots of herbs (dill, mint, parsely, cilantro, tarragon), caramelized onion, toasted pistachios, chillies, and arugula.

Fig and Basil Salad with Goat Cheese

Inspired by yet another recipe in Plenty, with Genovese and Thai Basil, Arugula, and a pomegranate molasses dressing.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Lime, Chillies, Cilantro, and Yogurt-Tahini Dressing

Another Ottolenghi recipe (the squash is marinated in cardamom and allspice), made with the first of my homegrown butternut squashes! I am so proud of this little squash- he started as a seed that I saved last year, sprouted in my kitchen, planted and nurtured, and tonight he made a delicious dinner!

Tomato Party!

Erik came over and we made this dish from Plenty, which is actually called "Tomato Party." It consists of: couscous, fregola, roasted and fresh tomatoes, garlic, tarragon, mint, and oregano. It was good warm but I think it would be even better as a cold salad for a picnic or barbeque. Also, it made me think of this song.

Early Girl Tomatoes with Fleur Vert Goat Cheese and Basil

Green Bean and Pea Salad

This was adapted from Ottolenghi's Plenty. I bought the most beautiful, dark purple beans to use, thinking they'd look stunning next to the traditional green ones, but in the cooking process they lost all their color and this is what I ended up with. They are dressed in toasted mustard seed and coriander, red onion, tarragon, and lemon. I also added some baby beet greens to bring in some color.

Farro with Cucumbers and Radishes in Buttermilk Dressing

Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.