Tenderheart Cook #20, #21 and #22

Roasted Carrots with black-eyed peas and basil green goddess

The Quick Lowdown:

• Ingredients: there were seventeen ingredients in this. I didn’t have the carrot-top gremolata, which was made using another recipe in the book. It is also hard to get black-eyed peas around here. I got them dried, so I had to cook them first.
• Prep-work: This was pretty easy. There wasn’t much cutting and I made the dressing using our stick blender.
• Dirty dishes: Cutting board, knife, saucepan, roasting pan, colander, stick blender and jug, serving dish.
• Taste: It was tasty, the dressing was really good and would work in a variety of situations. I wasn’t that keen on the black-eyed peas, I think I’d prefer this with black lentils.
• Family-friendly: Maybe. My adult family all ate it.
• Regular rotation worthy: This would be a good salad to take places. The dressing would be handy in the fridge to dress a grain bowl.

Tumeric Roasted Broccoli

The Quick Lowdown:

• Ingredients: this had a very short list of ingredients, made even shorter by the fact that I didn’t have coriander leaves or toasted almonds and didn’t bother to get them.
• Prep-work: Easy. You mix yoghurt, tumeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper together then coat the broccoli in it and roast in the oven.
• Dirty dishes: Cutting board, knife, roasting sheet.
• Taste: I really liked this.
• Family-friendly: If your family likes roasted broccoli, then yes.
• Regular rotation worthy: I would cook this again. Edited to add that I had this again last night with the leftovers for lunch.

Eggplant, “char siu” style

The Quick Lowdown:

• Ingredients: I had everything I needed in my pantry. Required soy sauce, hoisin sauce and rice vinegar or wine to make the sauce.
• Prep-work: Easy. You need time before hand to let the eggplant marinate (30-60 minutes)
• Dirty dishes: Cutting board, knife, saucepan, roasting sheet, bowl.
• Taste: It was a tasty alternative to the way I’d normally eat eggplant.
• Family-friendly: Probably not.
• Regular rotation worthy: This would be really good as part of a selection of dishes for dinner, but it was fine for my lunch with some rice.