Recipes for Winter

Parsnip Nut Roast (serves 4)

1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
150g toasted cashew nuts
150g dry breadcrumbs
1 generous tbsp flour or 1 egg
3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 tsp thyme and rosemary finely chopped
150ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (gas 4).
Simmer the parsnip until soft, then drain and mash.
Fry onion in a little butter for about 5 mins until soft and golden brown. Stir in garlic and herbs and turn off heat.
Grind cashew nuts, then mix all ingredients together.
Spoon into a greased and lined loaf tin.
Use the back of a spoon to smooth the top then bake for about 1 hour.
It is done when it starts to brown around the edges.

Kale and Avocado Salad

Amended by Katie from an original recipe by Karen Knowler. Highly recommended even if you don’t like kale.

5 large handfuls of green curly kale (don’t worry if there is too much as it reduces in the massaging)

Sea salt 1 ripe avocado, chopped

2 cups (quite tightly packed) of spinach leaves, torn

2 spring onions, finely sliced

4 sun-dried tomato halves, soaked in water for an hour if dried and chopped

Juice of half a lemon Cayenne pepper  

Chop kale into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and half tsp sea salt. With your hands massage the oil and salt into the kale until the kale is reduced, soft and shiny.

Then, again using hands, massage avocado into the kale, squeezing so that the kale is coated with avocado, but leaving a few small pieces amongst the leaves.

Add lemon juice and toss. Add to the bowl the chopped tomatoes, torn spinach, spring onion and sun-dried tomatoes. Mix all the ingredients well and serve with a very light dusting of cayenne.