Good Food: Warm Spring Salad

PIN ITWe’ve been lucky to have been blessed with good light and warm sunny spots in every home we’ve camped out in over the past months of transitional living. I love a good sunny spot to warm my hands and feet, to read a book (I’ve just started really reading again, it feels like a guilty pleasure that I forgot all about – and now I’m up at all hours of the night reading ‘just one more chapter’), to drink a cup of tea, to read stories with Bo, to draw pictures… but most of all, to eat lunch.

There is something very simple about enjoying good food in the warmth of the spring sunshine.

Simple is good. This recipe is both of those things.

Side note: Any awesome book recommendations? Preferably ones that can be found in a regional library – OR if you live in the South West, one I can borrow? I’m devouring books like lost friends now that I’m no longer studying… I just can’t get enough.

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WARM SPRING SALAD + KALE/CASHEW PESTO

Ingredients

For the Warm Salad:

6-12 small organic carrots (large would work well but you’ll have to slice them lengthwise)
2 beetroot
1 heads garlic
fresh lettuce greens
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp raw honey
1 tsp water
sesame seeds

For the Pesto:

3 cups packed kale
1/2 cup parmesan
1 cup soaked cashews
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 clove garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
good quality olive oil
salt + pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 180c.

Wash and prepare root vegetables (peel or scrub as you see fit), chopping the beetroot into quarters and place in a deep dish baking pan along with the garlic cloves. Mix water, oil, honey and balsamic together and liberally splash the vegetables with the dressing, sprinkle the tray with sesame seeds and place in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes.

I bake the veggies until they are tender and still have plenty of texture, when the seeds are toasted and the dressing has caramalised nicely in the pan.

In a high powered blender/food processor add parmesan, cashews, sunflower seeds and garlic and pulse until you have a gritty sandy texture. Add kale (tough stalks removed), about 1/2 a cup of olive oil, a couple of good pinches of quality sea salt and the lemon juice and process until you reach a smooth consistency, add a little more olive oil if necessary to achieve the consistency you desire (I like mine quite thick, but a little more olive oil will make it smoother).

Layer the warm veggies in a bowl with fresh greens, top with generous dots of pesto and enjoy warm and delicious.

Tastes an awful lot like spring, doesn’t it?
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