Home Cooked Delights

Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Walnut Parsley & Garlic

{ Ingredients }

1–1.2kg / 2.5 lb sweet potatoes (4–5 medium sweet potatoes), peeled and cut in halves or quartered wedges, depending on size

2–3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

Topping:

½ cup raw walnuts

1 large clove of garlic, peeled and roughly diced

½ long red chilli, roughly sliced

Handful of fresh parsley (about 10 g/0.5 oz)

Pinch of salt

Zest of ½ lemon

Preheat the oven to 200ºC / 395ºF. Line a flat baking tray with parchment paper. Place sweet potato wedges in the tray, inner side up, and drizzle them with olive oil. Sprinkle evenly with 1 teaspoon of salt. Place in the oven, middle shelf for 30 minutes. At a 15 minute mark, rotate the tray for even cooking. In the meantime, place the topping ingredients in a food processor and grind into small crumbs. Set aside. If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop the ingredients finely with a knife. Once cooked, remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and season with a little more sea salt (about half a teaspoon or so). Sprinkle the walnut and parsley crumbs evenly over the top. You can garnish the final dish with a few whole parsley leaves and walnuts, if you like. Serve while hot.

Tip: Pre-roast the sweet potatoes for 25 minutes and store covered with cling wrap in the fridge. Reheat at 200ºC for 5-10 minutes then sprinkle with the crumbs just before serving. You can make the topping ahead of time too and store in an airtight container.

+ Serves 6-8 + Prep: 20 min. Cook: 30 min.

Pisto (Amazing Spanish Vegetable Stew)

{ Ingredients }

1 large eggplant, diced

Salt

Good quality olive oil (cold-pressed)

1 large brown onion, peeled and diced

½ long red chilli, diced (or 1/2 teaspoonchili flakes)

1 small to medium bell red pepper/capsicum, diced 1 green bell pepper/capsicum, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 ½ cans crushed tomatoes or tomato passata (organic, if possible)

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon honey or coconut sugar (optional, omit for Whole30)

2 small to medium zucchini, peeled and diced

Dice the eggplant into cubes and sprinkle generously with salt. Leave for 15-20 minutes. This removes some of the bitterness from the eggplant and draws out the moisture so that the vegetable doesn’t need as much oil to fry in. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a large, deep frying pan or a casserole dish and heat over medium heat. Add the onions, chilli and diced peppers. Cook over medium heat for 12-14 minutes, until well softened. Then, add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes covered with a lid, stirring a couple of times. In the meantime, dice the zucchini and set aside. Rinse the eggplant under water and pat dry slightly with the kitchen towel. In a separate frying pan, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring halfway, until slightly browned off. Remove the eggplant and add a little more olive oil. Add the zucchini and cook for 4-5 minutes as well, stirring a couple of times. Finally, add the prefried eggplant and zucchini to the pot with the tomato mixture and stir through. Cook together for 25 minutes over medium-low heat, covered with a lid. Stir a few times. Let it sit for 5 minutes after cooking before serving. You may garnish pisto with fresh parsley, basil or coriander if you wish.

Note: Store leftover pisto in an airtight container for 4-5 days or freeze for up to 2 months. It can be reheated or enjoyed cold the following days.

+ Serves 8 + Prep: 20 min. Cook: 60 min.

Moroccan Lamb Casserole (Slow Cooker)

{ Ingredients }

1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee

1 medium white onion, chopped

½ teaspoon salt7

00 g /1.5 lb lamb steak, diced

1 large carrot, sliced thick

4 peels of lemon (not 4 lemons, but rather 4 small peeled ribbons of the rind)

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 ½ teaspoon cumin powder

1 ½ teaspoon coriander seed powder

½ teaspoon allspice (optional, a few cloves can be used instead)

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 large cloves of garlic, sliced

6–7 dried apricots, sliced in thirds

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 ½ cups water 1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup toasted almond slivers

Handful of chopped fresh parsley

If your slow cooker vessel is heatproof, place it on the stove over medium-high heat. Alternatively, use a large frying pan or saucepan for this first step. Add the onion, coconut oil and salt and sauté for 2 minutes. Follow with the lamb, carrots and lemon peel, and stir through for a minute. Now add the spices and stir through to release the aromas before adding the rest of the ingredients (except for almonds and parsley). Stir through and bring to a boil. Place the vessel with the lamb stew back on the slow cooker base and set to HIGH for 4 hours, MEDIUM for 6 or LOW for 8 hours. If using a different saucepan, transfer the contents to the slow cooker vessel and set the timer as mentioned above. After 4 or more hours, as per your heat setting, transfer the slow cooker vessel to the stove and set the heat to high. Again, if the vessel is not heatproof, transfer the casserole contents into a saucepan. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, allowing some of the liquid to evaporate. Add the almonds half way through and mix together (reserve a few almonds for garnish). Taste for salt and feel free to add some chilli, if you like. Serve with cauliflower rice, regular rice or some greens.

+ Serves 4 + Prep: 10 min. Cook: 4 hr 15 min.

Recipes Irena Macri, www.irenamacri.com