My life is about food, food and more food, which often is rather rich and high in fat and sugar. To counter this, and to attempt to rein in the thickening waistline, I like to eat lots of salads and raw or lightly cooked vegetables when I am not eating for this site, reviewing or recipe developing. Maybe I need to rebrand myself as a professional eater?
Lightly cooked tenderstem broccoli is the star of this simple vegan salad, which is served with rich tasting semi confit tomatoes and scattered with crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds. We are in the middle of the tenderstem season at the moment, which runs from June to December.
To cook the tenderstem either steam for a few minutes, or place in a microwaveable container with a tablespoon of water, cover and buzz for a minute. It seems as if the tomatoes use lots of oil, but pour the remainder into a jar and keep in the fridge and use for salad dressings.
- 100 ml good olive oil
- Sprig woody herbs – oregano thyme
- 4 medium tomatoes quartered
- 2 tbs pumpkin seeds
- 2 Handfuls baby spinach leaves
- Handful tenderstem – lightly cooked
- Squeeze lemon juice
- Pinch Chilli Flake
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Pour the oil into a deep sided frying pan, add the herbs and tomatoes and slowly heat to almost boiling. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
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Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until they start popping. You will need to keep a close eye on them and continually shake the pan to keep them moving and to stop them burning.
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Arrange the spinach between two plates, top with the tenderstem and tomatoes, drizzle over the lemon juice and some of the oil. Sprinkle over the chilli flake and toasted pumpkin seeds.
keen on food
really intriguing idea of con fitting vegetables instead of duck. I will have to try this. Maybe with something meaty as well like aubergine or pumpkin..
Jacqueline
Great entry Helen. I used to have a lunch box like that, until I dropped it and one of the hinges broke off. Whoops!
Ren Behan
Lovely lunch, I too have never tried confit tomatoes, sounds intriguing. Thank you for linking up to Simple and in Season x
Katie
This looks deliciously healthy Helen – I adore tenderstem broccoli in warm salads – remember that one we made at Leiths with roasted butternut squash mmmmmm! Thanks for linking up :-)