Lemon Pesto Dressed Broccoli with Olive Tofu

Now then, this won’t do much for debunking the myth that vegetarians only eat greens and tofu, but it happens to be one of my favourite light meals.

When I want to get my broccoli on, I steam a whole head – including the peeled stems – and add lemon juice and salt to it. In my opinion, good quality broccoli needs little more, but I am a broccoli head. Sometimes I have to be careful not to steam my own head. *Titter* This version is a little more elaborate – the lemon juice had hemp oil and veggie pesto added to make a tangy dressing, and just before the broccoli was cooked, I threw some cubes of olive tofu into the steamer to heat them up. Man, I love this olive tofu: it really makes giving up cheese a lot easier. I thoroughly recommend you explore this savoury soya delight: http://www.veggiestuff.com/acatalog/taifun-organic-olive-tofu.html

High in protein, low in carbs and fat. Which means you get to have cake for pudding. Score!

Salad Soup

In winter, most people would rather something warm than a salad, but feel compelled to buy leaves for health reasons. This is what was behind my friend giving me half a bag of wilting salad, and why I decided to try to make something a bit more comforting out of it.

I boiled an onion, a chopped potato and a few cloves of crushed garlic with some bouillon until the potatoes were starting to disintegrate, then I added the spinach, rocket, watercress and red chard. After taking it off the heat I added a handful of frozen peas, which after a few minutes cooled the soup down enough to blend it.

A dollop of soya yogurt (the remains of the sojade from the reviewing session) and some freshly ground black pepper made this a delicious and nutritious soup.

Butterbean, Leek and Pea Salad with Fennel Dressing

This is a beautifully delicate and satisfying salad.

Fry a leek in butter. When it's almost done add a handful of frozen peas and cooked butterbeans. Let the excess moisture evaporate, then add some chopped fennel fronds and lemon juice.

Add a bit of salt and pepper if that's your thing, and serve on lettuce leaves with some toast and olive oil on the side.

Other herbs will do if you don't have fennel. I got a fennel buld with massive fronds in my organic veg box so I chopped it up and put it in a jar with olive oil to preserve it. Coming up are some other recipes that use this fennel in oil...

Hot Salad

This salad is hot.

Shit hot.

There are actually two:

- Cannellini beans, onion and tomato

- Avocado, red pepper, celery, cashew and sesame seed on lettuce.

The first does what it says on the tin, but there's a secret ingredient. (Whisper it) ... (Sugar).

So, finely slice some an onion, fry for a few mins, add a teaspoon of (preferably dark muscadavo) sugar, then fry it for a furhter five mins or as long as you can wait. This is caramelising the onion and is amazing if you have the patience to wait a long time. Add a can of cannellini beans and diced tomato, cook it up till the tomato's just getting soft. Yummy.

Next salad: roughly chop two stick of celery and a red pepper. Dry fry a handful of cashews and a handful of sesame seeds then add the veg and a bit of olive oil and tamari or soy sauce. Let it sizzle till it's at your preferred ratio of cookedness/crunchiness. Add avocado and mix it in till it's warm. PLEASE make sure it's nicely ripe - an immature avocado should be treated like a 15-year-old. There are no two ways about it, you just have to wait until it's ready.

Erm, meanwhile wash the lettuce and place it on the plates, then sprinkle with lemon juice. The avocado and cashew salad is nice on top of it but do as you like. It's your food.