Kale, roasted almonds and oranges salad with a velvety garlic-chocolate-balsamic sauce

M and I live in London. It’s always moving, buzzing with life, vibrating with restaurants, bars and cafés to discover, buildings to visit, parks to loiter in… you name it, London has it! And we enjoy every minute of our life here.

Except when we don’t anymore. There always comes a point when we are longing for the smell of damp earth, the silence of nature, the ruffled noise of leaves and the appeasing greenery of the countryside. We are lucky that London has so many green spaces and parks, but it doesn’t replace a weekend in a truly rural area. 

When we lived in Paris we simply used to go to the country house for 2 days and would come back fully regenerated. As we do not have this luxury here, we made the most of our Easter weekend!

Hang in there you won’t believe it: we went camping in Northern Wales! Yep, that’s how bad we missed nature: we wanted to be alone, in the woods, far from civilisation. 

Now, it doesn’t sound very exotic, but I can assure you that there is little need to go far to see beautiful scenery, observe the busy lives of birds, sight one, no two deer during a hike and sleep among golden pheasants and woodpeckers. And don’t get me started on the sheep. No I know they are not wild, but (Northern) Wales is the land of sheep. They are everywhere! On the grass, the meadows, the roads, the gardens… And guess what!?  They are not all the same! Brown, fluffy whites, creamy, skinny, patched… all lovely and peacefully grazing in the sun with their youngsters. For my Easter I saw lambs jumping around rather than in my plate, it was refreshing  ;)

M used to be a scout, even a chief, so camping was all natural for him. Now you have to imagine that I used to be the kind of little girl who would recoil at the sight of mud and certainly wouldn’t dream of sleeping in a tent in the middle of the forest. No thank you, I was happy with my dreams of princesses and white castles.

Well nature has grown on me since then and exhausted with the urban noise, pollution and greyness (where on Earth did that White Castle go??), I arrived home one evening announcing to M that we were going wild camping for Easter weekend. He looked slightly puzzled but didn’t comment and set up to organise everything (I would have forgotten all the useful things like the pocket light or the pots and pans…what do you mean it’s pitch dark in the forest once the sun has set!??).

So off we went, randomly choosing hiking spots, walking, breathing, panting, regenerating and planting our tent where we found a nice, flat (what do you mean duh?) hidden spot in the forest.

Now I have to confess we spent the last night in a Bed & Breakfast. It was pouring rain since the middle of the afternoon and the wind was blowing wildly. I would have enjoyed the noise of the rain and the wind once I was comfy IN the tent, IN the duvet, but the prospect of pitching the tent, unpacking our bags, lighting a fire and having dinner in the downpour was not exactly alluring… BUT our B&B was lost on the far side of a lake, in the middle of nature, the owner was a lovely lady and we had an amazing Welsh/English breakfast in the sun, in very flowery china and with home-made jam. I nice end to our trip!

The following recipe is not Welsh, but I discovered it in the Green Me Up blog when we came back and it reminded me of the colours of the forest. I have modified the original recipe slightly to make it more chocolaty. Qu’est-ce que vous voulez, on ne se refait pas!

Serves 2

For the salad

4 handfuls of washed and cut kale leaves*

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon of walnut oil (I didn’t have walnut oil so I used olive oil instead)

1 shallot

1 orange

1 handful of roasted almonds**

For the sauce

3 plump garlic cloves (fresh garlic is the best but non fresh will be perfect too

1 teaspoon of olive oil

2 full teaspoons of creamy honey

40 ml of water

1 teaspoon of powder cocoa

30g of cooking chocolate (min 70% cocoa)

30 ml balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of almond purée

*Preparing the kale: cut around the stem of the kale leaves. Then cut the leaves roughly with a knife. Wash and spin the kale as you would with salad.

**Roasting almonds is probably the easiest thing ever. Just pop them into the oven, use the grill and…roast! It varies but when you start seeing cracks and smoke emanating from the nuts it’s ready. It works with hazelnuts and other nuts as well. I always make a lot and keep them in a bowl ready to use/eat.

The sauce: Peel and slice very thinly the garlic cloves. Mix the olive oil and the vinegar in the pan and heat gently. Add the garlic almost immediately and let it roast. Once it’s slightly golden turn off the heat and set aside.

In a small pot, start heating the water and once it’s warm (not boiling), add the cocoa and the chocolate. Mix on the heat until you obtain a smooth sauce. Add the balsamic vinegar and gently bring to a simmer for about 20 seconds. The sauce should never boil to avoid cooking the chocolate. Keep mixing often during the process.

Turn off the heat and add in the almond puree and the garlic with the honey and olive oil sauce. Mix well and keep it aside to let it cool down and thicken.

In the meantime, prepare the salad.

The salad: Energetically massage the kale with the teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and the ½ teaspoon of oil for 5-10 minutes. Cut the shallot in small pieces. Peel the orange and separate the segments. Cut them in half. Roughly cut the roasted almonds into smaller pieces. Mix all the salad ingredients.

Orange glazed carrots - Intro to veggie nutrition

I have decided to become vegetarian for both ethical and health reasons. In order to do a smooth switch of diet I am actively researching nutrition information about the various nutrients you need and where to find them.

Funny I never used to worry so much about nutrients when I was an omni... I just ate lots of meat and dairy products as well as a little vegetable and some fruits and just assumed that I had all I needed. I was that person who struggled to fit those 5 to 10 daily fruits and vegetables in my diet and was super proud when I reached 3 (including the tomato slices in the lunch sandwich).

Now it seems I didn’t get all I needed and this going veggie endeavour has actually made me wiser.

It’s quite a nightmare to try to navigate in the nutrition world when you are not a professional. 

First because the information is very complex and cannot be summed-up into “so this is what you need, go and eat this and that and you’ll be set”. Duh? Well, it’s always nice to think that you can make information understandable so I will still try but this will have to be over the course of several posts. 

Second, because nobody agrees. It’s one of these fields where scientists and researchers battle with studies and databases. You can read somewhere that veganism is very good for your health and elsewhere that you will be missing nutrients. Some sources also give you different nutrient contents for the same food. And then that content changes according to whether the food is raw or cooked and depending on how it’s cooked. A bit of a nightmare for a beginner. 

However, thankfully there do seem to be a few elements where everyone agrees. SO, what did I learn exactly?

First that the majority of sources seem to agree that a vegetarian diet is healthier than an omni diet.

Image source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/healthy-eating.asp

 

Second, everything that you find in meat you can find elsewhere. You just need to eat more of a varied number of food.

Image source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/health_conscious.asp

 

Third, women need a lot more iron than men and should make sure they get enough. 

Image Source: http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=33485

In terms of cooking, what does it all mean? I have not eaten meat for 3 weeks now and have never eaten such a varied diet, tested such different meals and food combinations. So in terms of cooking it’s far FAR from the lone carrot and green salad which people imagine vegetarians eat.

You can find an example below. And there are plenty of others to come. Enjoy!

Speaking of carrot… For the past 26 years I have hated cooked carrot. I have a feeling however that it was mostly due to the way it was cooked, all bland in water or too predictable roasted in butter or oil. Abel and Cole came up with a recipe (http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/glazey-orange-carrots) which appealed to me even though it involved cooking those darn carrots. We tried it and it was simply delicious. M & I were literally scraping our plates.

The good news is that it’s also super easy and fast to make (about 20 minutes, including 15 minutes of cooking).

The original recipe mentions is feeds 4. We don’t agree, it feeds 2 and you will want more so don’t hesitate to double the proportions and refrigerate in a sealed container for a few day.

Ingredients

3-4 large or 8-10 small carrots

A mug of freshly squeezed orange juice

A the zest of 2 or 3 oranges, freshly grated

A bit of butter

Cut the carrots into batons or, if they're small, halve lengthwise for long, elegant pieces.

Arrange your carrots in a single layer in a lidded frying pan or shallow pot. Add juice and zest.

Cover. Cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 mins. 

Shake the pan from time to time. Check the juice level, too. Add more juice or a little water, if necessary, to keep the carrots moist.

When the carrots are tender and the juice has reduced to a sticky glaze, remove the lid. The carrots should be softened but still retain some firmness. 

Add a bit of butter or oil, and some pepper to taste.