With everything going on in the worldwide lockdown, sharing a meal with friends, family or prospective dates via a virtual video service is the latest trend! Moreover as a result of stockpiling, many are finding themselves with lots of goods at home that need using up.
With this in mind, Urban farmers Infarm have pulled together a few herby and delicious recipes to shake up the mundane stockpiled packets or tins of chickpeas and seemingly endless bags of potatoes, turning them into something fresh and delicious with just a few extra tweaks and additions.
Chickpea Soup
Ingredients (serves 4):
150 gr of dried chickpeas
2 carrots
1 bunch of kale
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
70 ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
8 glasses of water (you can use less depending on the size of your pot but it will change the consistency)
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Rinse and soak the chickpeas overnight in a bowl of water. Transfer into a pot, cover with water and boil for 2.5 hours until soft (perfect for all your new found time).
Chop the garlic cloves, onion and carrots into mid sized pieces.
Heat up the olive oil in a soup pot and then add the garlic and onion before tossing in the carrots. Whilst stirring season with the red pepper flakes, cumin seeds, smoked paprika and a few twists of black pepper.
Add the cooked chickpeas, the 8 glasses of water and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Once cooked, put half of the soup aside in another bowl and blend it with a hand mixer until it has a smooth texture. Pour the pureed soup back into the soup pot, add the kale and give it a stir. Salt to taste.
Tips: you can toast the cumin seeds beforehand for extra flavour. If you don’t have the time to prepare the dried chickpeas overnight, you can also buy ready-to-eat chickpeas in a tin.
Potato and Gremolata
Ingredients (serves 4):
6 medium-sized sweet potatoes
2 lemons
½ cup parmesan
5 Tbls. breadcrumbs
5 Tbls. parsley
3 Tbls. sage
5 garlic cloves
1 chilli pepper
3 tablespoons yogurt
Preparation:
To make the gremolata, finely chop the sage and parsley, finely dice a chilli, grate 2 cloves of garlic, zest 2 lemons and grate the parmesan. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well.
Pour the mixture onto a baking tray and put in the oven for 20 minutes at 190C or until it becomes completely dry and golden. Stir occasionally that it dries out evenly, this stage is important for the gremolata’s crispiness and shelf life. Once ready take out of the oven and put aside.
Turn up the oven to 250C and roast the sweet potatoes for about 40 minutes or until their skin starts to crack and the flesh caramelises on the baking pan. Make sure not to cover the pan.
Once ready, place the sweet potato on a plate and cut lengthwise. Garnish with a generous dollop of yogurt on it and 2-3 Tbls of the gremolata.
Tip. Store the gremolata in an airtight jar to add flavour and texture to stews, salads, fish and roasted veggies.
Tip 2. You can substitute sage with rosemary or thyme.
Rice noodles with charred cauliflower and ginger-lime dressing
Ingredients (serves 2):
Pasta
1/2 cauliflower, cut into medium-sized florets
125 gr rice noodles
5 radishes, cut into quarters
6 basil leaves, sliced
½ red chilli, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Water
Salt
Dressing:
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Juice and zest from one lime
2 cm ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tsp. Sugar
Preparation:
In a medium size pot bring salted water (like you would for pasta) to a boil and add the cauliflower florets. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the florets are slightly softened but still quite firm. Drain the florets but keep the water as we will use this to cook the rice noodles later.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add florets, cut sides facing down. Saute without moving them on medium heat for 6-8 minutes until a nice golden brown caramelisation starts to form. Reduce heat to keep warm.
In the meantime add rice noodles to the pot. Cook for 3 minutes, take off heat, drain and put in cool water to let the starch out. Drain and add fresh water. Repeat a couple of times until the water is clear.
For the sauce combine all ingredients in a jar. Close tightly and shake well until they form a homogenous sauce.
In a large bowl combine the noodles, cauliflower, dressing, basil slices, radishes and chillies. Stir gently, making sure all ingredients soak up the dressing evenly. Serve.
Tip: For a creamier dressing add 2 Tbls. of tahini to the sauce ingredients.