Check out these great recipes from Tasty by Chelsea Winter.
New Zealand's bestselling and most-loved cookbook author Chelsea Winter is back with her superb seventh cookbook, Tasty! This stunning cookbook crammed full of scrumptious plant-based and cane sugar-free recipes that you can use with whatever additions work for your family.
Here are two delicious recipes from Tasty that will get your mouth watering!
Golden Spinach & Feta Pie
PREP 1 hour
COOK 45–55 minutes
SERVES 6 with a salad and bread
Extra virgin olive oil (you’ll need a bit!)
300g (10½ oz) firm tofu
600g (1 lb 5 oz) spinach
3 onions or 1 onion and 1 leek, very finely sliced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2–3 tbsp hot water
2 tsp vegetable or imitation
Chicken stock powder
1 tsp white (shiro) miso paste
¾ cup plant-based milk
¾ cup chickpea flour
1⁄3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Zest of 2 lemons
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fine black pepper
½ tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
½ cup plant-based feta, crumbled
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh dill or 2 tsp dried dill
¼ cup finely chopped fresh mint (optional)
TO ASSEMBLE
10–12 sheets filo pastry
extra virgin olive oil or melted plant-based butter
3 tbsp sesame seeds, for sprinkling
Isn’t it a glorious-looking thing? I spent a lot of time perfecting this recipe — it’s
not so simple to re-create a spinach pie in the absence of cheese and eggs, but
by hook or by crook, I got there. The puffs of crispy golden filo delight me every
time and make for such a cheerful and inviting-looking dish. It’s the perfect light
dinner or tasty lunch to make when you’re enjoying an abundance of spinach or
silverbeet from your garden (or when you have a couple of bags of frozen
spinach in the freezer!).
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan bake and brush a 30cm (12 in) oven dish
with a little olive oil.
Break the tofu into a chunky mince texture and press very firmly in a clean, dry
tea towel to absorb the excess moisture.
Add 3 tbsp oil to a pan over a medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook until
golden brown on the bottom, then stir and continue to cook until mostly golden
all over. Set aside in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Add a few centimetres of water to a large saucepan, cover and bring to the boil.
Add the spinach (jam it in there if necessary), cover and cook for a minute or so
until wilted. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. When cool enough to
handle, squeeze out the excess liquid. Chop the spinach roughly, then pull apart
with your fingers to loosen any dense chunks. Set aside.
Return the pan you used for the tofu to a medium-low heat and add ¼ cup oil.
Add the onions and/or leek and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes until soft and
golden and starting to caramelise. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Combine the hot water, stock powder and miso in a small bowl or mug and stir
to combine. Transfer to a medium-large mixing bowl and add the milk, chickpea
flour, yeast flakes, lemon zest and juice, oregano, salt, pepper, nutmeg (if using)
and 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Whisk to combine.
Add the fried tofu, cooked spinach, onion mixture, feta and herbs and stir
to combine.
To assemble the pie, lay a sheet of filo in the prepared dish, brush lightly all
over with oil or butter, then repeat with another three sheets.
Pour in the filling. Sprinkle with a little salt and cracked pepper and then cover
with four more layers of filo, oiling each one as before. At the end, scrunch up
the sides into the dish. For maximum pizazz, scrunch up a few more oiled filo
sheets and arrange them on top.
Brush with a little more olive oil, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and bake in the
lower half of the oven for 45–55 minutes or until a deep golden brown all over.
TIPS & SWAPS
You’ll need two 400g (14 oz) bags of fresh spinach to yield 600g (1 lb 5 oz) once the thick stems have been removed. It’s fine to swap some or all of the spinach for silverbeet (be sure to discard the white stems before weighing it) but it will take a little longer to wilt. Alternatively, you can use 500g (1 lb 2 oz) of frozen spinach — just defrost it then squeeze out the water.
Add a couple of finely chopped spring onions or some chopped fresh chives for extra zing.
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Oaty Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
PREP 30 minutes
COOK 12–14 minutes
MAKES about 12
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
½ cup coconut sugar
¼ cup maple syrup
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
2 cups rolled oats (see tip)
1 cup ground almonds
½ tsp baking soda, sifted
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup sugar-free, plant-based chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
I feel compelled to warn you that these cookies are as addictive as they are simple to make. A dangerous combo! There are always one or two recipes from a book that get me like that and this is one of them; it’s difficult to eat them in singles. And with that flavour combo, who’d be surprised? It’s basically a no-fail, one-bowl wonder and will probably become a regular in your kitchen if you’re baking for lunchboxes. I use sugar-free chocolate drops from the supermarket so the boys don’t ping off the walls, or even raisins or chopped dried apricots for a toned-down, more healthful (but still scrumptious) rendition.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) regular bake and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Place the peanut butter, coconut sugar, maple syrup, banana, vanilla and salt in a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Whizz the rolled oats in a food processor until they’re semi-blended; you want a variety of larger chunks and finer flour. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the ground almonds, baking soda, cinnamon and chocolate. Mix well.
Add the peanut butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or a fork to combine into an even doughy batter. If it gets too hard to mix, you can always use your clean hands.
Roll into about 12 golf-ball-sized balls. Place on the prepared trays and squash flat with a fork or the palm of your hand, so they’re 1–2cm (½–¾ in) high.
Bake for 12–14 minutes, or until golden brown all over. If they’re not quite there, put them back in for 2 minutes but keep an eye on them.
Allow to stand on the tray for 5–10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, store in an airtight container in the pantry (or tightly sealed in the freezer for a couple of months).
TIPS& SWAPS
If you can’t eat peanuts, use almond butter instead. You could add a few finely chopped almonds for texture.
You can use whizzed-up sunflower seeds instead of the ground almonds if you prefer.
If you can’t eat oats, use quinoa flakes instead.
Tasty
by Chelsea Winter
Epic, flexible plant-based comfort food for everyone – cane sugar-free with plenty of gluten-free options.
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