side dish

Cabbage Wedges with Miso Butter

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Cabbage is a much maligned vegetable, with many of us having unpleasant memories of watery over cooked soggy cabbage. Cooked with a little care, cabbage is yummy and very good for you. According to nutritionists, we should all be eating more of it. Its nutrient dense, packed with fibre, and generally good for your gut health.

This is really tasty, and fairly easy to prepare with the oven doing the work. The cabbage goes sweet and slightly charred at the edges and the miso butter adds a salty richness to it. I had this along with some chicken I roasted in the oven at the same time. (I’m such a cheapskate I never turn the oven on just to cook one thing). If you don’t eat meat this is also delicious served on a bed of rich creamy hummus.

What’s even better it has only 3 ingredients, and is almost too good to be described as just a side dish. I used a sweetheart cabbage, and because of its shape, it made more sense to cut it into wedges. You can make this with other types of cabbage. Cut them into steaks if you prefer.

Serve 4 (but if using a large cabbage, up the ratio of butter and miso paste)

Ingredients

1 Sweetheart cabbage (tough/damaged outer leaves removed if necessary and cut into quarters with the core parred back but not removed completely as this with help the wedges stay in one piece)

40 Grams Butter (melted)

1 Tbsp Miso Paste

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (Celsius), and prepare a baking sheet (I usually line mine with foil because I’m lazy and it cuts down on washing up)
  • Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave (or in a pot if you don’t have one), and then stir in the miso paste until thoroughly combined
  • Lay your cabbage wedges on the tray and brush evenly with the miso butter, before baking for 15-20 minutes (depending on the size of the wedges) until the cabbage has softened
  • Serve immediately

Creamy Canellini Beans with Sundried Tomatoes

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It’s comfort food weather, and if like most of us you’re trying to increase the amount of protein you’re eating these are perfect.

I can eat a big bowl of these on their own with some crusty bread, but they also make a tasty side dish.

This is quick and easy to make, using tinned beans but you can use dried beans but these usually need soaked overnight and should be cooked according to the instructions on the packaging.

Ingredients

2 x 400ml Cannelloni beans (drained)

1 Tbsp Tomato puree

125ml Vegetable stock

2 x Cloves of garlic (finely chopped

1 Large sprig of rosemary or 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1 Tbsp Oil

1 Onion (finely chopped)

4-5 Sun dried tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Heat the oil in a large pan and fry onion gently until it starts to caramelise, stirring occasionally.
  • Stir the tomato puree into the pan and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the beans and vegetable stock.  Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • With a fork or potato masher gently mash about a third of the beans.  This will release the starch in the beans that will help thicken the beans and give the beans a creamy texture.
  • Stir in the sundried tomatoes and rosemary, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Courgettes/Zuchinni stuffed with Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Courgettes can be pretty boring, and during Summer they are cheap snd plentiful.  I found myself with a couple of largish courgettes and these can often be watery and tasteless.

I decided to try pimping them up with some some dried tomatoes and feta, and they were yummy.  This makes a good lunch dish or you could serve them as a side dish and is fairly quick and easy.

Serves 2

2 Large courgettes

100 Grams Breadcrumbs

100 Grams Feta Cheese (crumbled into 1-2cm lumps

50 Grams Sun dried tomatoes in oil (roughly chopped)

1 Tsp Fresh oregano, or 1/2 tsp of dried (you can use any herbs you have, rosemary also works well, but use a bit less as it’s stronger)

1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes

A little extra oil for brushing the courgettes with

Combine the stuffing ingredients in a large bowl

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • Trim the top and bottom of the courgettes and cut in half length ways, use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds in the centre of the courgettes
  • Brush with oil and place cut side down in a baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes
  • In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients
  • Remove the courgettes from the oven and over to the cut side with a spatula
  • Fill the scooped out centre of the courgettes with the filling before returning to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until the filling is golden brown

Greek Rice

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Good side dishes can make a meal.  I love this with roast chicken but it’s also yummy with fish, barbecued meats, or griddled halloumi.

Rice can be a bit meh, but herbs and lemon give this a really fresh taste.  I used chicken stock, but you can swap this for vegetable stock if you’re vegetarian.

Ingredients

100 Grams Uncooked rice (I used basmati, but if you’re using a different type of rice then make sure to rinse it first so it fluffs up)

1 Small onion or shallot (finely chopped)

1-2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Olive oil

200 mil Chicken/vegetable stock

1 Lemon (juice and zest)

1 Tsp Dried Oregano (or 1 Tbsp fresh oregano)

1 Tsp Dried Dill (or 1 Tbsp fresh dill)

Method

  • Heat the oil in a large pot with a lid, and gently fry the onion/shallot over a medium heat until it starts to become translucent, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute
  • Add the rice, salt and stock and cover the pot with a lid, before bringing to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and the rice should continue to cook with the residual heat until the rice has absorbed all the stock (if you’re using brown rice you may need to cook for longer)
  • Grate the zest of the lemon with a fine grater, before squeezing the juice and setting to one side
  • Stir the lemon juice and zest into the rice and cover with a lid again for another 5-10 minutes before checking that the rice is fully cooked before stirring in the herbs.
  • This can be eaten hot or cold.

Roast Red Cabbage with Orange Dressing

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Side dishes can be a bit meh, and this is a tasty and healthy way of getting more vegetables way into your diet.

I like this served on a bed of humus, and it makes a really good vegan meal. It’s also really good served along side roast meat, and takes very little prep.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

Half a red cabbage divided into 4

Zest and juice of 1 small orange

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil (plus extra to grease the baking tray and drizzle over the cabbage)

1 Tbsp White wine or cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius), lightly grease a baking tray
  • Divide half the cabbage into 4 (remove most of the stalk in the centre). Lightly drizzle with oil and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until tender)
  • To make the dressing, grate the orange zest, and then squeeze the juice into a bowl. Stir in the oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper
  • Remove the cabbage from the oven, and drizzle with the dressing before serving