AIR FRIED SPROUTS WITH PEARS & TANGY MUSTARD SAUCE: vegan, easy-peasy, eat hot or cold

This recipe for sprouts bathed in a creamy mustard sauce is an exciting iteration of the usual Christmas side dish...and they don't take up oven space!

Sophisticated Sprouts: Eat hot, cold or at room temp
(see kid's version below) 

The dish seems an unusual combo of ingredients for the festive season but was so intriguing, 67goingon50 investigated.  

The original, found on the Cotter Crunch page, inspired 67 to experiment; voila  --a version with fresh fruit and smaller chunks of sprouts.  This recipe does Double Duty; a sophisticated adult dish or a more child-friendly treat.  

  

But there is no doubt about it; Cotter's sauce is a harmony of lovely flavours and adds a wonderful something-something to any dish.  Be generous without going overboard.

The salad is not difficult to make and since it can be eaten hot or cold, leftovers are a godsend.

Substitutions are provided so don't worry about following the recipe exactly.  

Ingreds:

Sprouts:

4 cups washed and trimmed

1/3 cup red onion slices (opt) or quartered walnuts

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar.

Salt and pepper

1 small pear, juicy but not too ripe, peeled, cored & in bite sized chunks 

Sauce: (this makes a fair amount; half will probably do)

1/2 cup mayonnaise/Hummus/thick plain dairy or plant yoghurt (67 advises 2 tbsps hummous, if using, then half mayo & half thick plain yoghurt )

1/4 cup dijon or whole-grain mustard

1/2 tsp onion powder or granules 

1/4 tsp sweet paprika (or smoked paprika with generous pinch sugar)

1 tsp lemon or other fruit juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Options:

1-2 tsp honey or maple syrup

1 tsp dried herbs

salt and pepper

Method:

SPROUT SIDES & GLORIOUS FIRST COURSE SOUPS

Christmas Dinner can be frantic and the temptation to cut out a course or 2 is strong...

Our favourite meal of the year - Christmas Dinner - will be here before you know it

67 confesses to occasionally considering not having sprouts or a first course soup just to save on time and effort.

With sprouts, it's because it's not easy to find a new low-fat recipe every year that tastes good, pleases the tastebuds and intrigues the entire family.  And yet, year after year, 67  manages to find something.  This year's treat Fruity Air-fried Sprouts with Tangy Mustard Dressing is no exception: it's  imaginative, tasty and satisfying.  Find it here.

67goingon50's first course soups for Christmas dinner are strongly recommended.  Usually part or wholly make-ahead, they can be a jewel in the crown and reward  effort with sensational first class flavours and textures.

Here  are some of the Blogger's classic, favourite recipes:

FIRST COURSE SOUPS 

These superb 67 soups are a grand first act, taking the edge off the appetite but preparing the palate for the feast to come.   

Silky Mushroom & Sherry Potage, sophisticated, no cream or potato; Vegetarian and kids' options 

 CELERIAC & APPLE POTAGE: (No.1 fav of all time) Silky, delicate, heavenly, dairy-free 

Veloute of Smoked Haddock: a special occasional indulgence; creamy with little dairy, rich thick & saatisfying

SPROUTS

Air Fried Sprouts with tangy mustard sauce

Oven-roasted Sprouts, Parsnips & Baby Corn: VEGAN one tray wonder; perfect consistency

Christmas Slaw: Sprout, Pear, Walnut & Cranberries, kids  love this 

Sensational Simple Sprouts: the cook's best friend in the frantic minutes before the food hits the table; easiest sprout recipe ever; popular with all ages

Stir-fried Sprouts & Corn: kid-ult pleaser; quick, easy & healthy

 

SOME FRUGAL OPTIONS FOR THE BUDGET CONSCIOUS OR LUNCHES DURING CHRISTMAS WEEK

 

 

White Bean Soup, VEGAN, Dairy Free with Veggie Bacon Bits; lovely!

 

Spinach & Bean Soup: VEGAN, strikingly delicious,  quick & substantial

Egg-Flower Pea Soup, kids adore this vegetarian soup with vegan option; low-fat/cholesterol/salt 

More Christmas recipes on the How to...Page (Nav Bar above): Christmas Year by Year/Special Occasion, about 2/3 of the way down the page

Please leave a comment in the box below

These recipes were developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and  may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.

BEAT THE CURSE OF FRUGAL INGREDIENTS WITH YELLOW SPLIT PEA SOUP: low-salt, high protein

It's all on on Welcome to the Blog (nav bar above) 

with the latest food & shopping news

***

With food prices as they are, many cooks are beginning to find it's not easy to make budget ingredients taste wonderful, look good and reappear repeatedly without the family moaning. 

But this wonderful Canadian Yellow Split Pea soup - thick, rich and substantial - is an exception.  

Triple Duty Split Yellow-Pea Soup: Vegan base topped with cream cheese for vegetarians; with ham; with beef  

'Really comforting delicious high protein  soup.' Taster

67 can't stress enough how exceptionally flavourful this soup is, how comforting and how healthy. 

It is also delightfully low cost.   Split yellow peas are probably 1 of the cheapest pulses around: 28p for 100 gm or £1.40 for 500g (organic just 40p more per 500g).  25K bags (for sharing ) from Whole Foods is £32.25.

From a wellness point of view, thick soups with high-protein pulses ease stress, medically as well as financially, by calming and building up the body. 

Canadian Yellow Split Pea Soup is also Triple Duty: the easy vegan base  is topped or mixed with vegetarian or carnivore additions. It has endless varieties.  

Take your pick of cooking methods.  Cook it on a stovetop, in a slow cooker or a sturdy pot over an open fire.  Serve it chunky or blitzed to a puree.  

The soup's a 67 favourite and no apologies are offered for repeating it. Because we can too easily get used to 'good enough' when it comes to budget food.

Directions for the soup are easy but you will need a bit of time and organisation. There's a bit of chopping & a bit of measuring and you  need to soak the peas the night before.  On cooking day, your kitchen will be filled with the mouthwatering aromas.  

Cost: Not much, maybe £1.50; more for organic ingreds  
Feeds: 6 generously; leftovers freeze well 

Ingreds:

Split yellow peas:   

   1 cup dried yellow split peas

   tap water to cover

   2 tsp turmeric

   2 garlic cloves, unpeeled (opt) 
   
The soup:     

   med onion in med dice
   1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
   two sticks celery, coarsely chopped
   1 large potato or sweet potato in med dice (opt)

   1-2 tbsp olive oil

   1 garlic clove, grated or minced

   1/3 tsp smoked paprika
   1/4 tsp marjoram (opt)
   1/4 tsp dried basil
   1/8 tsp cumin
   1/4 tsp salt
   1/8 tsp pepper

   1/8 tsp dried thyme

   1 bay leaf

   
   1 litre vegetable stock 

(For Potage of Ham & Split Yellow Pea: ham bones and/or 110 gm/4 oz shredded ham hock OR back bacon with fat removed OR sliced ham)

Ham (buried in soup) & Split Pea Potage cooked to a luxurious thickness - you can stand a spoon up in it -  add stock to make it go further.

After cooking is complete add all or some of:  

   pinch chilli flakes or a finely diced small chilli (opt)
   couple of generous handfuls spinach or kale
   1/3 cup button mushrooms, in large dice

Method:

1. PEAS.  Soak overnight in plenty of water; remove any bits floating on top; drain.  Cover peas with an inch of fresh water, add unpeeled garlic cloves & turmeric, bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to simmer; cook 20 mins.  Take off heat; remove garlic cloves; separate peas from liquid; set both aside & cool 1 hour.  Unless using straight away store in fridge 4 hours or overnight  (This step can be completed the day or morning before needed.  
2. When ready to prepare soup, put a large heavy-bottomed pot on high; when hot, add oil, onions, carrots, celery & potatoes; immediately reduce heat to low; stir; add garlic; cover pan partially with lid; cook 20 mins, stir occasionally 
3. Mix enough split pea cooking liquid and stock to make a litre;  add to pot with herbs and split peas 
4. Bring to a boil; skim off any froth; bubble 5 mins.  (Add ham bones/ham if using).  Then either...
5. Slow Cooker: cook on low 6-8 hours  OR
6. Stovetop: Simmer with lid slightly ajar 3-4 hours
7. Now and again, check the level of the liquid ; more stock may be needed.  The split peas are ready when they are soft but still  holding their shape 
8. Take half of the mix; coarsely puree and return to pot OR process all to a rough puree
9. Stir in zest & juice of lemon 
10. Serve piping hot with choice of additions and garnishes (below)
11. For a fullly rounded meal, add a side salad and/or chunky breads like easy-peasy Cheese & Walnut Soda Bread or Cornbread with Corn Niblets, Scallions & Chillis, simple toast or the ultra-frugal simple & delicious Breakfast Biscuits (doubling here as dinner rolls) 

1. Vegan/Vegetarian Garnishes:

• Memorable Crunchy Croutons 
• Vegan 'Bacon Bits 
• Spinach or kale:stir into completed soup, leave a further 20 mins or until kale is no longer raw
• Mushrooms: slice thickly; fry gently in oil until golden; scatter over or heap in centre of soup 
• Cream Cheese

2.  Carnivores/Pescatatarian Garnish:

• Shards of ham hock or sliced ham
• Mini beefballs blanched in boiling water 5 mins
• Flaked smoked fish.

Comments:

'It's a really comforting soup.' Semi-retired council administrator

'My all-time favourite is the ham & split pea potage: it has the flavour of ham but not the salt!  The vegan/vegetarian versions need something salty, crunchy or strongly flavoured to give it a kick; otherwise it gets boring.' Retired writer

Tip:

• Defrost frozen soup overnight, add a half cup of water or stock and heat gently until hot through
• Split peas are excellent for the histamine-sensitive* (usually the over 50's); split peas are low in histamines;lentils and pulses are high.  
• One suggested ratio for split peas to water is 2 litres of water/stock per each 500gm/18oz split yellow peas.

History: 

Long before lentils and beans were modern go-to ingredients, yellow and green split peas were a staple in poor Canadian provinces on the Atlantic Coast.  A single recipe, studded with plenty of root veg, would be stretched with stock/water and bits of protein or more veg as the days went on (the blogger never keeps soup longer than 3 days unless frozen). 

In the UK, split peas have not traditionally been used but are now readily available in supermarkets and health food shops.  Standard yellow split peas cost £2.80  per kilo; organic is a little  more. 

The potage is so good, you might want to share a 25 kilo bag of split yellow peas from Whole Foods with friends, splitting the £32.25 cost.  

NOTES ON HISTAMINES: Histamines are chemicals in the body responsible for allergic responses; they can't be avoided.  Histamine intolerance doesn't mean the body is sensitive to it but does indicate there's too much of it in the body.  Research into Histamine intolerance continues; it's poorly understood and not easy to diagnose.  However limiting foods which produce high levels of histamines can help.

More budget conscious on NavBar: Recipes 1/Frugal...

Please leave a Comment in the box below 

                                              

This recipe  has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.  

KIDS' & DADS' HELP-MUM COOK-IT-YOURSELF NOVEMBERMAS SUPPERS

 

HELP-MUM-GET-THROUGH CHRISTMAS 2023

Judging from the demands for these recipes every year at this time, kids & partners love to make - and eat! - family meals while Mom concentrates on the big event...

'I guess if I want any dinner, I'll have to do it myself!'

And, with no apologies, this post on helping the Chief Cook & Bottle Washer (usually but not necessarily Mum) get through the Christmas marathon resumes.

The recipes won't be difficult for Dad/partner/another relative to organise, with or without the kids' help.  And many of the recipes are budget-friendly or skinny or low/no sugar or make-ahead.  Or all of the above.  

Please note: prices do not reflect recent inflation; note the dates on the indidividual posts.

The dishes, surprisingly easy, have been road-tested on human guinea pigs of all ages with enthusiastic responses.  

STARTERS

Silky Noodles in Broth

Cheats' make-your-own Rustic Tomato Soup: easy protein-rich with pulses; frugal; anti-inflammatory, Triple Duty

Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup: classic & irresistible; wallet-friendly; vegan option. Not that long ago, this soup was the rage in Chinese restaurants.  Thick, luscious and nubbly, it was punctuated with succulent chicken and gorgeous threads of egg - exciting, tasty and richly satisfying.

Silky Noodles in Broth, Triple Duty: great use for leftovers, easy, quick, tasty; serve in sturdy bowls that don't tip over easily, with Chinese ceramic spoons if you have them.  For very small kids, serve warm, not hot; cut up noodles in manageable lengths and maybe serve with forks, like spaghetti

White Bean Soup, Creamy: money-saving dairy-free white bean soup; high protein; Triple Duty; wonderful in basic form but easily tweaked for sassy variations

Caponata: Mediterranean Aubergine Dip/Spread for kids' palates which older kids will love to make themselves; with  a hint of Sweet & Sour; stovetop; easy 




Hard-boiled eggs pillowed in White Sauce: childhood favourite; lower-fat; frugal; easily digested

 


SIDES/SALAD

Mediterranean Tomatoes: so simple; so sensational; so wallet-friendly

Apple & Cashew Nut Slaw: crunchy & sweet with a touch of maple syrup; so pretty looking kids will happily tuck into the fruit & veg 

Low-fat un-fried Rice: 'cleaner' version of Fried Rice  without the fat or expense; soft plump grains with lashings of peas & omelette; very simple prep; great with spare ribs 

Family Delight Baked Beans: Thrifty; nearly Sugar-free; better than you-know-who's and better for you; Triple Duty, Slow-Cooker; Vegan & kids'  option, prep & cook ahead; plenty of ideas on how to serve 

MAINS