One of my favourite things about the neighbourhood we live in here in Brisbane, is the farmers market that sits right on our doorstep on Saturday mornings. When living in London, the desire to buy the weekly shop at a market was greatly outweighed by the necessary 30+ min journey just to get to one. Here however, between 6am to 2pm each week I can walk 200m from our building to Davies Park, grab an excellent coffee (I mean, the coffee is excellent everywhere here) and get my fruit, veggies, meat, fish and eggs all for the equivalent of around £50. To put that into perspective, it works out to about half of what I was spending per week back in Blighty.

So as you may have guessed it, this delightful side dish came about as a result of a recent market haul. I grabbed a beautiful bunch of carrots - tops and all - with the intent of simply roasting them. But looking at those tops I thought there’s got to be a way of utilising them, instead of them going to waste. A fiend for pesto shall always be just that, and I quickly blitzed those leafy greens up together with the necessary ingredients that I seem to always have on hand (pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and of course parmesan) while those multicoloured carrots were roasting to sweet perfection.

This recipe makes enough pesto to use another time - try stirring whatever you have left through pasta, topped on eggs or as a base for your next sandwich.

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Roasted Carrots + Carrot Top Pesto

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 large bunch of carrots with tops

2 tablespoons pine nuts

10 tablespoons mild/light olive oil

50g parmesan, grated

1 garlic clove

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200c (180c FAN)

2. Remove the tops from the carrots and place in an roasting dish. Drizzle with two tablespoons of olive oil, and season generously with salt

3. Roast in the centre of an oven for 25-30 minutes or until tender

4. While the carrots are roasting, get to work on the pesto. In a blender add the carrot tops, garlic, pine nuts, a pinch of salt and the remaining 8 tablespoons olive oil and blitz until combined.

5. Transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated parmesan. Add more salt as needed, and an extra glug of olive oil if you see fit.

6. Once the carrots are roasted, serve with a few dollops of pesto.

So... hi. It's been over two years (!!) since my last post, possibly the longest hiatus from a blog the world has ever known.  

Truth be told, a lot has happened. When my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer in May 2016 everything changed, and by November that year I left my job to look after her - simultaneously the easiest and most difficult decision I have ever made. In short, it was the most painful time of my life and everything took a backseat while I navigated through heartache and grief - including this blog. 

Fast forward to today - a little over a year since she passed away - and I feel like I'm slowly coming out of the fog and starting to pick things back up. A conversation with a friend asking me about whether or not I'd update this blog again prompted me to post this - something a little fun on a sunny, chilled out Sunday.  

This is my dream food on a plate, a combination of all the good fats, protein, nutty brown rice and a mash up of flavours - plus it's pretty healthy too. I like to hit the salmon at a high temp for a short amount of time so it's just cooked through with a nice finish on the outside. Add as many or few components as you like - avo and a pop of pickled cabbage work a treat for me. 

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Roasted Miso Salmon with Brown Rice + Scallions

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the fish:

2 salmon fillets

1 tbsp brown rice miso paste

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

For the rice:

400g cooked brown rice 

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 

Small handful slivered almonds, roughly chopped

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Garnish:

2-3 scallions, peeled

Micro greens

Avocado

Pickled red cabbage

Method

Preheat oven to 220c (200c FAN) 

1. Mix together the miso paste, maple syrup and orange juice and pour over the salmon fillets - leave to marinate for as long as you can spare. 
2. Transfer the fillets to a baking tray and cook in the centre of your oven for 15-16 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, toss the rice with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, almonds and sesame seeds and season to taste with a little salt if required. 
4. Plate the salmon alongside the rice, top with the peeled scallions, micro greens (if using), a side of avo and a heaped tablespoon of pickled cabbage. 

Episodic memories are those that form feeling toward a particular time or place. Personally I find these memories awaken when the seasons begin to shift from spring to summer, and a plethora of imagery comes bounding into view, leading to a babble of memories of idyllic nostalgia; the smell of Nivea suncream, the sound of the sea lapping methodically on the shore, slithers of blinding sunlight creeping through thick pine in the Troodos mountains - you get the picture. Ultimately these lucid dreams of summer result in me spending hours Google searching 'best beach holidays in Europe 20-whatever it is' and vowing to steer clear of ice cream in preparation for the big reveal come beach day. 

And so is life, 6 weeks prior to my departure for 10 days of unadulterated bliss, sea, sun, mountains, food and family I begin this torturous countdown that involves many a salad, and not so many an ice cream. My better self tells me it will be worth it, my lazy, sugar-loving self hisses at the former with pure hatred. 

I proceed with varying levels of sadness, denial and hesitation, but occasionally I find moments of victory is salads like this. Largely raw, eye pleasingly colourful and packed with protein, fiber, zinc, vitamins A & C, antioxidants and more wonderfully restorative and essential nutrients, this was quickly added to my arsenal of 'eat clean' recipes.

Using Madras curry powder in the dressing adds a unique smoky undertone, while the lemon juice keeps it fresh and zingy. If I wasn't avoiding dairy I'd have added a dollop of plain Greek-style yoghurt, or a few crumbly bites of feta. Oh, to dream (about everything I will inhale once I'm actually on holiday). 

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Curried Carrot + Chickpea Salad

Serves 4, or 2 as a main

Ingredients

1 large carrot

240g cooked chickpeas

10 small asparagus spears

Handful of radishes, around 5 or 6, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons capers

30ml olive oil

1 teaspoon Madras curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Juice of half a lemon

Mixed salad greens - I used a mix of fennel tops and sweet leaves

Method

1. Using a julienne peeler, slice the carrot into thin strips. If you don't have one of those peelers you can use a mandoline to slice the carrot into ribbons, and then cut the strips by hand. You can also use the mandoline to slice the radishes. 
2. Remove the spears from the asparagus stalks and set aside. Use a vegetable peeler to create shavings from the stalks. 
3. Place the chickpeas, carrots, asparagus shavings and radishes in a bowl and set aside whilst you make the dressing. 
4. Combine the olive oil, curry powder, cinnamon, lemon juice and a good amount of seasoning, whisking well to combine. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss well until evenly distributed. 
5. Blanche the asparagus tips in boiling water - submerge them for a couple of minutes before rinsing under cold water.
6. Serve the dressed salad on a bed of leafy greens and scatter over the capers and asparagus tips before adding a final drizzle of olive oil. 

Let this be the saddest hey y’all of the year.

I’ve been having a bit of an off week with my mind all over the place and my financial situation pretty dire, a given towards the end of January. Let’s face it, January is the worst month of the year, December’s ugly sister, 31 days of sadness. This song is and isn’t helping.

Whenever I start feeling like this, you know, questioning the meaning of life and my existence, I try and counteract the feelings of borderline self-loathing with things that will perk me right up, from the inside out. I’ve started running again, I’m not really drinking, I’ve quit smoking (hurrah!) and I’m eating clean. Well… kind of.

When I’m on a health kick I look at incorporating seasonal ingredients into my diet more so than usual, after all seasonal produce is not only fresher and tastier (strawberries, I rest my case), but it’s like, totally zen reconnecting with natural food cycles.

Blood oranges are right in season at the moment, and they are disguising themselves as oranges all about town. I realised that I hadn’t had a blood orange for a while, probably since it was last in season, and so the below was born. The almond milk makes these oats creamy and slightly sweet, and the roasted blood oranges add a fresh and tangy punch. This breakfast is my happy place right now.

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Roasted Blood Orange Oatmeal

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g coarse oatmeal

750ml water

Pinch of salt

250ml almond milk

4 blood oranges

Coconut oil

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

Unsalted pistachios

Pumpkin seeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°c (180°c FAN)

1. Halve the blood oranges and remove the peel. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with a little coconut oil and a sprinkle of sugar. Roast for around 10-15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile make the oatmeal. Add water and a pinch of salt to a pan and bring to the boil. Add the oats and stir, then bring up to the boil again. Reduce the heat to low and add the almond milk. Simmer the oatmeal stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes.
3. Divide the oatmeal between two bowls, top with extra almond milk, the roasted blood oranges, chopped pistachios and pumpkin seeds.