Roasted Root Vegetables with Kale and Ricotta

In the winter, the grocery stores stock many more types of root vegetables and so it’s the perfect time to try out new dishes with them. Simply roasting them and serving them with nutty rice enhanced with a bit of brightly coloured kale and creamy ricotta is an easy, hearty meal.

Ingredients:
1 celeriac
1 swede/turnip
3 carrots
3 garlic cloves
olive oil
sea salt
brown basmati rice (about 50 g per person)
75 g kale
50 g ricotta

Instructions:
1. Peel and dice the vegetables. Place them in an oven-safe dish and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt. Roast them in the oven for 35 minutes at 180 C.
2. Meanwhile, rinse and boil the basmati rice as instructed on the package. Wash the kale and add it to the rice when there are just 5-10 minutes left of the cooking time.
3. Stir the ricotta into the rice when it is completely cooked.
4. Serve the vegetables over the rice.

Kale with Pine Nuts

You see a lot of kale at Christmastime in grocery stores, and I try to use ingredients that are seasonal. I wanted to lightly stir-fry kale, toast some pine nuts with it, and add a tablespoon or two of yogurt. The strong flavour of the dark, cabbage-like kale together with the pine nuts smells and tastes like winter. The dish looks like a pine tree and is hearty and warming.

I served this as a side dish with mezzaluna pasta stuffed with pumpkin and pine nuts. That was store-bought, because I simply don’t have the time to make fresh pasta. But maybe one day...

Ingredients:
150 g kale
oil
1 tsp sugar or honey
pinch sea salt
50 g pine nuts
Greek yogurt, if desired

Instructions:
1. Lightly stir-fry the kale in the oil. After a minute or two, add the sugar or honey and the sea salt. Continue to stir-fry while stirring for another few minutes.
2. Add the pine nuts and a touch more oil if needed. Toast until golden brown.
3. Serve with a dollop of yogurt, if desired.

Kale, Tofu, and Coconut

Greens are great. I’m especially partial to spinach (I don’t agree with Douglas Florian’s anti-spinach poem, funny though it is!), but sometimes I think I should try some other greens. They’re healthy and flavourful. So the other day, I was tempted by a package of kale at the supermarket. I fried it lightly in rice bran oil and mixed it with toasted coconut and tofu, then served it over whole-grain rice. Kale and coconut go well together, crispy with just a touch of sweetness. I added chilli sauce, of course, but it was good and hearty without it too.

Ingredients:
1 package tofu
½ cup unsweetened coconut pieces
1 package (about 200 g) kale or other green
oil
rice to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Bake the tofu at 200 C for 15 minutes. You can also skip this step and just add the tofu to the pan later, but I like baked tofu.
2. Lightly toast the coconut in a dry frying pan over low heat for a few minutes.
3. Wash the kale and fry it in the oil in a pan until slightly crispy. Mix it with the coconut and add the tofu.
4. Stir-fry for another 5-10 minutes, then serve over rice.