Sweet Potato Stacks with Kale Pesto, Buckwheat and Butter Beans

Another recipe from our Winter Solstice Celebration, this recipe is a go to for me when we have retreat guests, ticks all the boxes and is easily adjustable for food intolerances…use asafoetida instead of garlic, change nuts up, omit beans if need be….make it your own. I often end up with extra buckwheat mixture with is great on crackers or on it’s own as a quick snack.

Ingredients

4 cups / 120 g Kale, tough ribs removed, leaves roughly chopped (I’ve used silverbeet also)

1 cup / 140 g raw Walnuts

1 Garlic clove

1 organic grated Lemon and zest

Fine Sea Salt

1 teaspoon pure Maple Syrup

2 to 3 tablespoons cold-pressed Olive Oil , plus more for garnish

2 Sweet Potato (approx 1 kg)

Knob of Coconut Oil or ghee

Freshly cracked Black Pepper

1 cup / 200g Buckwheat

1½ cups / 250g/1 Can cooked Butter Beans (any white bean will do)

125 g soft Goats Cheese or Cashew Cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put the chopped kale in a food processor and add the walnuts, garlic, lemon zest and juice, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, maple syrup, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Blend on the highest setting until the desired consistency. This pesto is quite dry, so add more olive oil if desired. (The pesto will keep in an airtight glass container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.)

Slice sweet potato into rounds approximately ¾ inch / 2 cm thick; aim to have 12 to 16 slices. Lightly coat the slices with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, rinse the buckwheat well, then put it in a saucepan and add ½ teaspoon salt and 2 cups / 500 ml water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the buckwheat is tender and the water has been absorbed.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked buckwheat, butter beans, and enough kale pesto to coat everything well. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble, put 1 round of sweet potato on a plate. Spread the round with goat/cashew cheese and top it with about ¼ cup / 50 g of the Buckwheat mixture. Top with another round of sweet potato and repeat on the other plates. Enjoy immediately.

Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower and Pea Mash

Autumn is here and winter just around the corner, we tend to go for heavier meals. This is a beautifully nourishing and comforting meal with a few nutritional boosting twists.

Shepherd’s Pie with Cauliflower Mash
Serves 4

150g (2/3cup) green lentils
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 spring onion chopped
10g (1/3 cup) chopped parsley
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
500g minced lamb (veg replace 1 cup cannellini beans)
2 carrots thinly sliced
250ml Passata (pureed tomatoes)
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp Tamari
1 tbsp brown rice miso
250 ml (1cup) hotish water
45g brown rice flour
4 bay leaves
1 large kale leaf or a handful of spinach


Rinse lentils, soak if time allows overnight or for a few hours
Place in a saucepan with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15mins or until tender, drain and set aside

Preheat oven to 180c

Heat the olive oil in a fry pan or oven proof pan
Add the onion, spring onion, parsley, basil and oregano stir for a few mins and then add garlic
Increase heat add lamb, breaking up chunks with wooden spoon, cook until evenly browned
Add carrot, passata, paprika and tamari stir to combine
In a small bowl dissolve miso into hottish water and add to pan
Add rice flour, bay leaves and lentils
Reduce heat and cook for 20mins stirring often
Stir in kale or spinach and remove from heat


Cauli and Pea Topping

500g Cauliflower, chopped into florets, don’t worry to much its going to be wizzed
280g (2 cups peas) fresh or frozen
Handful fresh mint leaves
130g (1/2 cup) Greek style/thick yoghurt (omit for dairy free use coconut yoghurt or double olive oil)
2 tbsp olive oil
50g (1/2cup) Parmesan optional

Steam Cauliflower florets over boiling water till they are not soft, remove steamer basket and add peas to boiling water and cook for a few mins. Transfer to a blender or food processor, add mint leaves, yoghurt, olive oil. Blend to a consistency of your liking maybe chunky or smooth.

Pop topping on your lamb and lentil mixture, after transferring to a casserole dish if necessary.
Scraping a fork over top for a fancy pants look or leave rustic.
Bake 30mins
Sprinkle with parmesan if using and freshly ground black pepper
Cook for up to another 15mins until top if goldenish and bubbling

Serve with baby spinach or a simple green salad for added veg.

Yoghurt Making

Yoghurt making is one of the easiest and quickly rewarding things to add to your kitchen repertoire. It saves a truckload of money as well you know you and your family are getting a top quality yoghurt with no added anything just milk and culture. Once you get into a rhythm you can have a constant supply of yoghurt. If you can get a hold of a traditional culture it’s possible to keep it going for the rest of your life, never having to buy commercial yoghurt again. If beginning with a store bought (try to find one with only milk and live culture no added milk solids) you may find it is only potent for a few generations of yoghurt. this is due to commercial yoghurt using isolated bacteria strains and not the complex colonies found in traditional yoghurts

I use an easiyo thermos type vessel but you can use a variety of methods to maintain a warm temperature to culture yoghurt.

Ingredients

1 Litre of whole Organic unhomogenised milk

Starter: 1 Tablespoon of previously made yoghurt or a good quality organic yoghurt (I use Paris Creek) equivalent of approx 5% of milk

Equipment

small saucepan
Thermometer that reads from 40 to 100 degrees

Method

Heat milk slowly, stirring often to avoid bottom scalding, to 86 Degrees. Then allow to cool to 46 degrees, the cooling process can be sped up by placing pot in a cool water bath
Take out 1/2 cup of warm milk and thoroughly mix with starter, add rest of milk, pop in to jar then into Thermos vessel and bathe in boiling water half way up yoghurt jar.....and leave. I do mine at night and refrigerate in the morning. The longer the fermentation the less lactose present in finished product.

If using a incubation chamber set at 46 degrees the yoghurt will coagulate in about 3 hours however incubation at 43 degrees for longer will produce a thicker yoghurt according to Sandor Katz The Art of Fermentation