Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 sticks of celery, washed and chopped into cubes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 ½ tsp smoked pimenton
1 tsp harissa (I like Belazu Rose Harissa best)
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed
1 stalk Kombu (optional)
750ml vegetable stock
6-8 stalks of curly kale
Salt & pepper
Sprouted seeds to serve (optional)

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Allow to saute gently over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until softened. Add the sliced garlic and stir, allowing to cook for a moment before adding the beans, the harissa, and the smoked pimenton.  Keep stiring to combine the spices.

Pour in the vegetable stock and allow the soup to cook for at least 30 minutes, giving the flavours time to combine and the beans to cook. It’s a great idea when cooking with beans to include a stalk of dried kombu seaweed (available from deli’s and healthfood shops) which helps to soften the beans but also boosts the mineral content of any dish. If you include it, remove from the soup before serving.

Wash the kale well and cut out the stalks. Chop both the stalks and the leaves and add the stalks to the soup as they will take longer to cook. Add the chopped kale leaves to the soup 5 minutes before serving to ensure the kale leaves are not overcooked and are bright green in colour. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning as required. Ladle into bowls and serve sprinkled with mixed sprouted seeds.

Categories: all the veg, detox delicious, healthy food recipes, and Sustaining Soups.

Ingredients :

2 red peppers
750g plum tomatoes
1 courgette
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
fresh basil
3-4 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Place all the vegetables into a roasting tray, sprinkle with olive oil and season.  Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and squash the garlic out of the skins with a fork.  Discard the skins.  Drain the liquid from the roasting tray and reserve.  Using a spatula, spoon all of the contents, along with the fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes,  into a food processor or liquidiser and blend.  Refrigerate or freeze until needed.  Heat gently over a moderate heat to serve with pasta or add 500ml vegetable stock for a wonderful soup.

Categories: all the veg, Autumn, detox delicious, family feasts, healthy food recipes, Ireland AM; Healthy Family Food, and tv3.

Easy, quick and very healthy. Serve as an alternative to potatoes or if introducing them for the first time to children, cook half and half. Sweet potatoes are high in vitamins and minerals, particularly beta-carotene, potassium and vitamin C. They are also high in fibre and have a low GI rating.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Place the sweet potatoes in a roasting dish, drizzle with the olive oil, season and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the chopped red chilli, stir and cook in the oven for a further 10 minutes or until soft and crispy at the edges.

Great as an accompaniment to fish and chicken.

Categories: all the veg, Autumn, detox delicious, and healthy food recipes.

This is a delicious and easy to prepare soup using smoked Spanish Pimenton. It really is worthwhile searching out good quality Pimenton, as it gives a wonderful smoky flavour without overpowering the dish. Try good delicatessens, Spanish food suppliers or better still ask someone to bring you some home from holidays. This soup is even more delicious the next day, so I would recommend doubling the recipe and saving some.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 ½ smoked Spanish Pimenton
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
4 large tomatoes, chopped
200g fresh beans (borlotti or cannellini) or you can use tinned
1.5 litres vegetable stock
Salt & pepper
Freshly chopped flat leaf parsley to serve

Method:

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and then add the onion, garlic and red pepper. Stir to cook for 5 minutes and then add the Pimenton and the sage. Stir and continue to cook for a further few minutes before adding the tomatoes, beans, vegetable stock and seasoning. Allow to cook on a very low simmer for at least 30 minutes if using tinned beans, or up to two hours if using fresh beans.

Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

Categories: all the veg, Autumn, detox delicious, healthy food recipes, and Sustaining Soups.

Warming braised lentils with mushrooms and a zingy gremolata. perfect as a seasonal starter for dinner parties. If you can find them, beluga lentils work really well cooked in this way also.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 large Portobello mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp tamari soy sauce
sprig of fresh thyme, chopped finely
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed plus 1 clove, finely chopped
200g puy lentils
250ml vegetable stock
50ml red wine (leave out if on detox programme)
zest of 1 lime
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the chopped onion and crushed garlic. Stir for 5 minutes and then add the lentils, red wine and vegetable stock. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the lentils are soft, 20-30 minutes approximately. You may need to add some extra water during cooking.

While the lentils are cooking, remove the stalks from the mushrooms and wipe with a dry cloth to clean if necessary. Place in a heatproof dish. Mix together the olive oil, tamari and fresh thyme and drizzle over the mushrooms. Bake for 10-15 minutes approximately or until soft, basting halfway through cooking with the juices in the pan.

Prepare the gremolata by mixing together the chopped clove of garlic, lime zest and chopped coriander.

To serve, spoon some of the lentils onto each mushroom and top with the gremolata.

Categories: all the veg, Autumn, detox delicious, and healthy food recipes.