Tenderheart Cook #2, #3 and #4

This is the next update on my challenge to cook through the Tenderheart Cookbook. The cookbook is divided up into chapters for each vegetable which came in handy this week as I was getting to the end of our veggie box, and I had lettuce, cabbage and Choy Sum to use up.

Stir-fried Lettuce (p54)

I somehow ended up with a large portion of two iceberg lettuces plus gourmet lettuce that came in the veggie box. The first iceberg I used up in some fried rice, the fancy lettuce in a side salad which left one more iceberg lettuce … a perfect opportunity to try this recipe. A simple stirfry of lettuce with soy sauce.

• Ingredients: a small number of standard ingredients
• Prep-work: Very little. You’ll only need to chop the garlic and green onions and tear up the lettuce.
• Dirty dishes: Great. I only used a wok, knife and chopping board.
• Taste: Light side dish. The taste was as you would expect, but not my favourite.
• Family Friendly: yes, but maybe a bit too far for children with very western palettes.
• Regular rotation worthy: Probably not, but will keep in mind if I’m left with some lettuce that needs to be used in a hurry.

Choy Sum and Fetta Galette (p39)

I usually enjoy a fairly easy meal on Sunday because we have church at 5 pm, and I’m often tired from my long run. This hit the spot. A rustic galette made with buttery, turmeric pastry, topped with mascarpone and choy sum and sprinkled with fetta. The choy sum forms a huge mound that cooks down during cooking.

• Ingredients: mostly ingredients I’d usually have on hand, except for the mascarpone I had to pick up from the little grocer round the corner.
• Prep-work: You have to make the pastry, but I did this in a food processor, so it was pretty quick. Very little chopping and fuss.
• Dirty dishes: Not many. Knife, chopping board, food processor, baking tray.
• Taste: I enjoyed this. The turmeric pastry was buttery and yummy, and the filling was an excellent combination of greens and mascarpone and fetta. It was supposed to serve four, but Hubby and I ate the whole galette.
• Family Friendly: maybe, depends on if your kids like fetta cheese and eating their greens!
• Regular rotation worthy: Yes. It hit the spot on my Sunday afternoon. I made the pastry before we left for church, and it rested in the fridge. Once we arrived home, the galette was quick to assemble, and it only took 30mins to cook in the oven.

Cabbage Carbonara-ish (p118)

This one sounded a bit interesting … probably something I wouldn’t have tried if I wasn’t working my way through the whole book, But I was intrigued by the concept. Spaghetti carbonara, with the bacon replaced by onions and cabbage slowly, cooked down and the eggs flavoured with a bit of white miso.

• Ingredients: mostly ingredients I’d usually have on hand. I had to restock my white miso.
• Prep-work: Very little.
• Dirty dishes: Knife, chopping board, dutch oven and a large saucepan.
• Taste: I didn’t love this, but I didn’t hate this.
• Family Friendly: maybe, there’s pasta, but there’s also cabbage. No spice or overly strong flavours.
• Regular rotation worthy: No. Hubby had seconds, but he didn’t rave about it.
• Recipe here.