Root veggie bearnaise

.
I love Bearnaise sauce but most of all I love tarragon. This carrot parsnip puree actually tastes surprisingly close to Bearnaise but is much healthier. It's a fun and unusual side dish. Serve with meat (I've tried both steak and lamb and I'm sure chicken would work too) and a salad. And don't forget a good red wine!

From Enjoy Wine & Spirits Magazine #7, March 2010.

~1 lb (400 g) carrot
~1 lb (400 g) parsnips
water

1 onion
4 Tbs white wine vinegar
4 white pepper corns
1 bunch tarragon
5/6 cups (200 ml) water
½ stick (50 g) butter
salt

Peel and cut carrots and parsnips in smaller pieces. Strain the water and puree the carrots and the parsnips with a immersion blender.
Finely chop the onion. Boil onion, white pepper corns, tarragon in white wine vinegra and water. Make sure all the liquid is absorbed. Throw away the pepper corns.
Add the tarragon-onion mix to the carrot-parsnip puree and butter. Add salt to taste.

Quinoa and Pomegranate Salad

.
From The Clean Eating Mama. This was so good! I will definitely make it again! It made quite a lot so there's plenty of left overs - I can hardly wait for tomorrow when I can eat it again!

I made some small changes - I used fresh parsley in stead of dried and I since I love feta I decided to double the amount. I also doubled the pomegranate - I have never cooked with pomegranate before so I didn't know how much I would need. The original recipe called for ½ cup but I decided to use the whole fruit and that ended up being a full cup. I didn't have any poultry or Italian seasoning but google informed me both of them were mostly sage, parsley and some other herbs so I added some thyme and onion powder and more sage to make up for that.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
½ cup Quinoa (I used black quinoa but red or white would work just as good - the black added some nice colour contrast though)
1 cup water
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbs sage
½ Tbs thyme
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup finely chopped carrots
3 Tbs toasted pine nuts
½ - 1 cup pomegranate arils
6 Tbs dried cranberries
4 Tbs feta crumbles
1 - 2 Tbs chopped fresh basil
drizzle olive oil to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare and cook the quinoa as the directions state. Add parsley, sage, thyme, salt and onion powder to the water. Cook until all water has been evaporated, approximately 20 minutes. With 5 minutes left add peas and carrots.
Let cool in a large mixing bowl. After it has cooled stir in the pomegranate, feta, pine nuts, cranberries and basil. Drizzle some olive oil over. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with salmon or chicken.

Roasted beetroot with feta

.

Beetroot are in season - cheap and yummy! I love to just boil them (pick the small ones) and serve warm with butter and salt. However, this time I decided to try something else.

1 lb beetroots
olive oil
Feta cheese
salt, pepper
honey

Boil the beets until almost done (soft when tested with a needle). Immidiately rinse in cold water and peel (I strongly recommend to use an apron since the beet juice is bright pink and it tends to be messy). Cut the beets in smaller pieces and put in a dish, pour a little bit of olive oil and honey over. Tear the feta in pieces and crumble over the beets. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast in 400'F until the cheese is staring to melt and go brown. Serve as a side dish.

I served it along with a grilled chicken together with mashed cauliflower, hummus and a green salad.

Mashed cauliflower

.
A great healthy substitute for mashed potatoes or any other carb.

1 head of cauliflower
heavy cream
salt, pepper
(garlic, cheese, chili powder)

Cut the cauliflower in smaller pieces and put in a pot. Add cream and boil until the cauloflower is soft, apr. 10-20 minutes. Mash with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. The variations are endless - you can for instance let a clove or two of garlic simmer with the cream and cauliflower. Or for a more luxurious (not your every day) mash add a big piece of goat cheese.

*I've tried different versions of this several times now but this seems to be the best one. The first recipes I found called for steaming the cauliflower or boiling it in water/broth, but I find the cauliflower tends to hold on to the liquid and make the mash too wet/runny. I have no exact measurements for the cream - it depends on the size of the cauliflower. Add enough to cover the bottom of the pot but not enough to cover all of the cauliflower. Too much cream and the mash becomes soup!