Zucchini, almond and pomegranate salad

About two months from now, I will be offloading zucchinis to anyone who will take them, perhaps swapping them for stone fruit in my local barter group. But right now, I’m enjoying the magic of the first harvest. Of small, emerald green zucchini and flowers like sunshine, drawing in the bees.

I grow zucchini every year – you can read how here. There will be a time for roasting or grilling or steaming them, but at the start of the harvest I love them in a simple salad. Pick or buy your zucchini small and sweet, and shave them into delicate strips. Toss them into a simple salad with nuts, fruit, and other greens of choice. Wild purslane has appeared in the path beside my community garden plot, so I'm using it in my salads as well. 

This recipe is for a salad of textures as much as it is of flavours. The burst of bright juice from every pomegranate seed. The cool silk of the zucchini. The subtle herby velvet of the purslane. The nuttiness of the buckwheat. The sweet crunch of almond, and the sharp acidity of the vinaigrette. It’s a true summer salad.

Zucchini, almond and pomegranate salad

Serves 1 as a main or two as a side

1 small zucchinis

Half a pomegranate (or strawberries, pear or tomato)

1 cup of greens (lettuce, baby spinach, bok choy, rocket, foraged greens etc)

½ cup almonds and buckwheat (or other nuts and seeds)

1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses (or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice)

½ tablespoon of olive oil

Toast your nuts and seeds in a dry frypan over a medium heat, stirring or tossing them for five minutes, then set aside to cool. Using a potato peeler, mandolin or a sharp knife, shave the zucchini into strips. Collect the seeds from your pomegranate (or chop your fruit) and slice your greens. Toss these all together and arrange on a plate. Put the molasses and oil in a small jar, screw on the lid tightly and shake well. Drizzle over the top and serve immediately.

 

Pomegranate, apricot and coconut konnyaku jelly

My family celebrates Christmas with a vegan and gluten free meal – it’s getting better every year too, as we discover and perfect great recipes. We also come out of the meal feeling satisfied but not overly stuffed as can often occur with the usual celebration.

This year I took charge of dessert. I made a stupendously good, brandy-soaked traditional pudding and surprised everyone, including myself, with this beautiful layered konnyaku jelly.

When I first discovered konnyaku jelly it was a revelation – it was so firm I could pick it up with my fingers, and when I bit into it, the jelly was light, refreshingly sweet and actually crunchy! I’d never had jelly you could chew before but it was delicious.

Konnyaku comes from pounded roots of a yam-like plant called konjac, and has little flavour of its own so can be used as a base for all sorts of interesting savoury and sweet jellies. I found it at a local Asian grocery store.

Christmas was the first time I had made the jelly myself and it was so good it’s worth sharing.

Pomegranate, apricot and coconut konnyaku jelly

One packet Happy Grass konnyaku jelly powder

1 litre water, plus another 100ml water

A handful of pomegranate seeds
2 tbs rice malt syrup

1 can coconut cream

1 can apricot nectar

The seeds of a vanilla bean (optional)

Boil the water. Put the packet of jelly powder in a pot and pour in the water, whisking to avoid lumps. Bring to a boil then turn the heat down to a simmer for three minutes, continuing to stir. Turn off the flame and stir in the malic acid sachet that comes with the powder.

Add the vanilla bean seeds and rice malt syrup, stir to combine, then separate the jelly into three portions. To the first portion add another 100ml of boiling water, stir well and pour enough into a metal bundt cake mould to fill the first third of the mould. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds into it and set aside for 10 minutes. To the second portion add 150ml apricot nectar and heat gently, stirring, until the two liquids combine. Gently pour this layer over the first. To the third portion add 150 ml coconut cream, using the same approach, and add this layer to the mould. Refrigerate the jelly overnight to set fully.

To remove the jelly from the mould just push gently on each side of the jelly to release it, then flip the mould onto the plate and lift – the jelly should slide right out. I served it with extra pomegranate seeds.

I poured the excess jelly into small silicon chocolate moulds. These jellies could be pushed out of their moulds and eaten after just 10 minutes.

How to create the perfect salad

I love a good salad as much as the next person – and by good salad I don’t mean one of the pre-packaged lettuce, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot variety.

A wonderful part of growing your own veg and eating with the seasons is that you can make a salad out of just about anything edible in the garden. For example, thanks to all the rain, my broccoli plants are super leafy monsters. These leaves are just as edible as the florets, so it seems almost criminal to waste them. There’s also chickweed wandering amongst the garlic, flowers galore on the borage, broccoli and Asian greens, and even a couple of dandelions worth picking. Growing wild beside the path are a couple of huge ancient carrots – way past eating but their ferny leaves aren’t.

For me, there are four elements to a seriously good salad:

Super fresh greens (or purples) – think lettuce, silverbeet, Asian greens, cabbage, purple cabbage, beetroot leaves, cucumber, parsley, celery, fennel or coriander

Protein and good fats – nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil – this balances the “greener” flavours and the fat increases absorption of vitamin K from the greens

Sweetness – try carrot, capsicum, apple, pear, grapes, tomatoes, strawberries, goji berries or roasted pumpkin

Acidity –a good dressing or vinegarette – it’s dead easy to make your own by combining olive oil and apple cider vinegar, like I have in the recipe below.

A great salad is just a matter of balancing the strong with the mild, mixing up the flavours and textures. Making it pretty and colourful honestly makes it taste better because of the messages good looking food sends to the brain, and all that colour also ensures you’re getting a wide variety of nutrients.

Use just a small amount of the bitter herbs and vegies like the dandelion, and finely shred the more robust leaves like the silverbeet. Include a good handful of nuts and seeds, and diced or sliced fruit. Smooth out the flavours with a good fat like avocado or olive oil, and a good dose of a decent vinegar for acidity.

Chickweed with dandelion flowers, carrot tops, borage flowers, broccoli and silverbeet

The below ingredients are simply what I had available in my community garden plot and in the pantry – substitute whatever you have handy in your garden or can pick up at the shops or the local farmers markets. Vegies that are freshly picked and in season are always best. If you want to save money but buy organic, I find my local farmers markets sell organic fruit and veg at half the price of the supermarkets.

I'd love to hear from you - what's your perfect salad combination?

My perfect salad with Spring flowers

Silverbeet (rainbow chard)

Broccoli leaves, florets and flowers

Tatsoi leaves and flowers

Borage flowers

Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Chickweed

Leafy carrot tops

Goji berries

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar.

Put the oil and vinegar in a small jar, screw the lid on and shake well to create a vinaigrette. Finely chop the greens, add the vinaigrette and toss to coat – feel free to massage in the dressing using your hands to help tenderise the greens. Add the nuts, seeds and fruit and toss again. Decorate with the flowers and serve immediately. Really easy, really good.