My oven got the better of me. Don’t get me wrong, I love raw fennel and shredded carrots, but fennel roasted with a little lemon, salt, and pepper and simply steamed carrots have a sweetness that the raw versions just don’t understand. Plus I had leftover roasted red cabbage from my mackerel with soy-caramel sauce recipe crying out for a bed of quinoa. I guess the sympathetic cook in me just wanted to let the poor cooked vegetable take a nap.
I rounded the dish out with my friend’s homemade sauerkraut (a new jar, not the one from a year ago…), my home-sprouted sprouts (SO simple and economical since I work from home and can rinse my jar of sprouts several times a day. Taking the jar to the office or school would be a little odd, but I do encourage it. I mean, I know people who bring a dozen bananas to work every day and I don’t judge them. A jar seems relatively sane. Well, maybe I do judge them a little, but I’m happy for them at least. I could never give up the amazing restaurant meal I had at La Porte yesterday in favour of potentially permanent full-body detoxification and balance. Life has bumps, so does the body, and getting in and out of balance is a constant effort. I just want to get out of balance with delicious food sometimes. I mean, no gluten or dairy at least, so give me what pleasures I’m allowed to have.
Rant done, lets get back to my almost raw bowl.
Roasted Fennel, Cabbage, Steamed Carrots, Raw Sauerkraut and Sprouts on Quinoa with Parsley
Make this with whatever vegetables you have. You can steam or roast things together or separately as you wish. I leave out the roasted cabbage in the recipe below because it’s much better roasted under something with flavour and fat (fish or meat), so if you want cabbage, just chop it up and serve it raw. Try adding a little orange juice or some orange segments for sweetness.
Ingredients (Serves 2):
1 bulb fennel, stems removed, bottom trimmed, cut into thin slices
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup quinoa
2 large or 4 small carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
1/2 cup sauerkraut
1/2 cup sprouts (mixed alfalfa, sunflower, pea, mung bean or whatever you want)
small handful parsley leaves and stems (a lot of the flavour is in the stems, but if you don’t like cruching them, just use the leaves and save the stems for broth or puréed pastes or smoothies)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Celcius. Roast the fennel by spreading it on a baking tray on a piece of parchment paper. Toss it with 1/2 tsp salt, a sprinkle of pepper, and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Place in oven for 15 minutes, then turn fennel slices and return to the oven for 5 more minutes if needed.
Cook the quinoa by bringing 3 cups water to a boil. Add the quinoa and simmer for 9 minutes. Set a steamer over top of the quinoa to simultaneously steam the carrots (you can also roast the carrots, but they take a little longer than the fennel. Both are good options). Remove the carrots when soft (this depends on how big your pieces are, but somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, so hopefully it’ll work out with the quinoa. A little extra quinoa-boiling is fine).
Drain the quinoa and let dry in a colander while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.
And by “ready” I mean take them out of the fridge or the sprouter. Scoop a portion of the quinoa into a bowl and top with everything else. I don’t like adding a sauce directly to the bowl bcause I find the flavour gets diluted, so I serve it on the side as a dipping sauce. Here are some ideas:
Tahini Goddess Dressing
1/4 cup tahini
1 tbsp miso
1 tsp honey (optional)
1 tbsp water (or more) to thin
Optional extra ingredients: 1 tsp balsamic vinegar (or other sweet vinegar), 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp orange juice, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tbsp minced shallot
Sesame Dressing
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp miso (or 1/2 tsp tamari or nama shoyu or soy sauce)
Optional: 1 tsp hoisin or oyster sauce, 1 tbsp orange juice, or 1 tsp lemon juice
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