Three tasty ways with greens

THANKS for all the fantastic feedback on my alkalising post. It seems the local shops are running low on lemons and watercress and suddenly women everywhere are looking more fabulous than usual – and I didn’t think that was possible!

In keeping with the theme of simple ways to alkalise your body, this post is all about easy and tasty ways to include green vegetables in your diet. These are all things that family Laing eats on a regular basis!

Roasted Cauliflower

Move over boring, steamed, white dullness. Quake in your dairy boots, cheese sauce. Roasted cauliflower is where it’s at. And here’s how to make it:

• Pre-heat your oven to 200/GM6 (or just put this in at the end of your normal roast).
• Break an organic cauliflower into florets and spread them in a small roasting tin.
• Liberally splash them with olive oil and pink salt (or sea salt), bearing in mind that where oil meets vegetable and heat = delicious crunchy bits.
• Cook for 20 minutes or until you see brown bits.
• Make a dressing of 1tbsp each of olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard (opt) and season with black pepper.
• Pour dressing over cauliflower and serve warm – you can also add toasted almonds or cashews.

Steam Fried Greens

Who thinks cabbage is dull? What can you do to make curly kale less, well, earthy. My favourite way of cooking anything from spring cabbage to curly kale is so easy and tasty I’m not sure I even want to share it!

• Heat a large pan with a little oil (groundnut, olive or coconut) and a knob of butter.
• Wash and prepare your greens. Sliced is best. You can use any cabbage or brussel tops for this but I love kale or pointed cabbage best.
• Add the greens to your pan and add a couple of tbsp water (for the steam frying) and a slug of either chinese cooking wine, white wine or sherry.
• Season with salt and pepper. Black mustard seeds go well with this too.
• Put the lid on the pan and leave to cook for around 10 minutes, shaking or stirring occasionally, or until cabbage stalks are tender.
• Serve immediately.

Super Salad

Most nap times see me glued to my desk and taking time out for a proper lunch is, I’ll be honest, a rarity. So creating a quick salad which can go with anything or just be munched at my desk is ideal.

• Grab a bowl, a chopping board, a knife and open your fridge.
• Base your salad with dark green leaves like watercress and spinach then chuck in a small apple, chopped, some celery and walnuts.
• Now add what ever else you might have in your fridge. Some left over roasted veggies (squash is great), pre-cooked beetroot and tomatoes. Anything goes.
• Dress your salad with some olive oil, sesame oil and balsamic plus seeds, salt and pepper.
• You could have this with a roasted sweet potato or a piece of smoked mackerel.

Tonight I’ll be trialling a watercress soup recipe so assuming it’s a success, that’s what’s coming up next!