friday recipe + a giveaway!: buckwheat pasta with winter veg and walnuts

I remember trying buckwheat noodles for the first time when I was about ten (that was thirty years ago!) my 'hippy' aunty cooked them for me and I thought they were delicious, for 'hippy food'.

Now I'm all grown up I still have a taste for hippy food and when Orgran contacted me to see if I'd like to create a recipe using their buckwheat pasta I said sure! And the good thing is a lucky reader can win some too along with some other Orgran goodies.

Buckwheat is a great alternative for anyone wanting to avoid wheat and gluten because despite its name buckwheat does not contain wheat. Or gluten. I like this pasta because it holds its shape and has a slightly nutty taste to it.

All the other ingredients in this dish I bought at the Wednesday market in Main St Mornington where there is a fantastic range of organic, seasonal fruit and vegetables. Plus I found delicious Victorian walnuts fresh out of their shells.

I'm running a day behind with this post so we have a Friday recipe instead of Thursday recipe and weekend reading will appear, well, on the weekend!

School holidays started today and we are on the road to stay with friends in Bermagui.

I hope you have some fun things planned, like staying in your pyjamas and not having to pack lunchboxes!

Now on with the recipe and the giveaway. The recipe is more for grown ups, if your kids like kale and cabbage and garlic and walnuts with pasta give them a high 5 from me. And for those with kids who don't like all that, pesto is perfect with this pasta too.

ORGRAN GIVEAWAY DETAILS

For your chance to win some Orgran buckwheat pasta and other Orgran goodies to the value of $25 just leave a comment below telling me your family's favorite pasta topping and the winner will be selected by random number generator and announced here next Friday July 3rd at 8pm. Please make sure that you are contactable by email. **This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Kellie from dear olive.**

*sometimes readers can't work out how to leave a comment, you can click on comment and then select 'Anonymous' and then leave your name and email address in the comment if that makes it easier for those who don't have google accounts. Now I've probably really confused you.

Buckwheat pasta with winter veg and walnuts 
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 red onion thinly sliced
12 walnut halves chopped and toasted in a fry pan
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 packet Orgran buckwheat pasta
6 kale leaves chopped (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1.5 cups finely shredded cabbage
lemon zest and juice of 1 small lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt + cracked pepper

To make

Cook the whole packet of the buckwheat pasta to directions on packet.
The key to not having mushy gluten free pasta is to set a timer and drain the pasta immediately, don't fall into the trap of thinking oh an extra minute won't hurt while I finish chopping the onion - it will hurt!

Heat a large fry pan over a medium heat and pour in the olive oil.

Cook the red onion until it is soft and transparent.

Add in the garlic, cabbage and kale and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the pasta, lemon juice, lemon zest and parsley, stir until combined with the vegetables.

Stir in the walnuts, season with salt and pepper and give another splash of olive oil if it is looking a bit dry.

If you love parmesan you might want a bit of that grated in too. Mushrooms would be nice too! Oh and peas! Pretty well endless ideas...and of course chilli if that's your thing.

Serve + enjoy.

in my kitchen

When I started this blog I didn't want it to be 'just another recipe' site and as I haven't posted a recipe in quite a while I am living up to that aim!

Once I have my new camera I will get back to some recipe posting but for now I thought I'd share some  notes about dishes that my family have been enjoying. It is Springtime here but we are still waiting for warm weather so our meals have been more like winter fare...

- into an oven proof pot I place a whole chicken, chunks of potato, sweet potato, carrot and onion 1 litre of chicken stock and some dried herbs. Put the lid on and place in the oven at 180 degrees for 1-1.5 hours depending on the weight of your chicken (1 hour for every kilo is the rule of thumb) you could turn the oven down to 160 degrees and cook it slower. The end result is a delicious broth, moist tender meat and flavoursome vegetables. So easy and so delicious. It was Pete's idea to do this, it is similar but different to this by Michelle.

- leftover rice? I decided to use up some rice by gently frying chopped onion in butter adding the rice and over a medium heat, heating the rice through and then adding chopped preserved lemon and silverbeet (or spinach) you could add some chopped almonds too. This is heavenly served with fish which I am lucky enough to have in ready supply - king george whiting or flathead - thanks to my fisherman husband and eldest son.

- my favorite breakfast lately has been a very simple green smoothie made with one frozen banana, a handful of baby spinach leaves and about a cup of filtered water all blended until smooth. If you are new to green smoothies this may be a bit too plain, you can add a handful of berries, you could also replace the filtered water with coconut water or for a sweeter version freshly squeezed orange juice, better still thrown in the whole orange (peeled).

-Pete came home from the local market on the weekend with a jar of black olive tapenade after we enjoyed it spread simply on a piece of toast for an afternoon snack I decided to use the rest in a pasta dish. I cooked gluten free spirals and while that was happening I pan fried some red onion, broccoli florets, garlic, silverbeet and parsley and then once the pasta was cooked I added the vegetables and tapenade and dinner was ready.

-home made pasties were a hit with everyone, they take a bit of work but it is a labor of love knowing every ingredient that goes into them is wholesome and organic.

- I stumbled upon a super quick and nutritious snack for the boys one afternoon on the holidays when River told me for the 15th time in an hour that he was hungry (?!!) I looked in the cupboard and saw some rice noodles, boiled the kettle, chopped up an avocado, opened a tin of dolphin friendly tuna, poured boiling water over the noodles, cut a seaweed sheet into shreds with the scissors, drained the noodles and then assembled all in bowls, splashed over some ponzu sauce and there you have it an 'instant' winner.

I hope there are some little morsels of inspiration for you in that list.

On a side note, I am planning to buy my new camera on Saturday (fujifinepix S4900 for those interested!) so next week we will back on track with some visuals. I had the very annoying experience of being ripped off shopping online for a camera, I ordered and paid for the camera three weeks ago, the camera hasn't arrived and the website has disappeared without a trace. I am going to attempt to get my money back through my bank or theirs...buyers beware!

Happy cooking xx

pasta is not a dirty word

Poor old pasta. In these gluten-free, carbohydrate phobic times, eating a bowl of pasta has become problematic. I've never been an all or nothing kind of person so have never cut carbs completely out of my diet or my family's but I do think that our modern diets are too heavy on carbs and too light on vegetables. And there's one thing for certain, many kids love carbs and loathe vegetables!

What to do?

Well, when River was about 3 years old I talked to my Chinese doctor about this very situation and her response was to vary the grains that the pasta is made of.

The majority of pasta you see on the supermarket shelf is made from wheat which more and more people are finding that they have a sensitivity to or realise that their diets are too heavily based on wheat like for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wheat is a whole topic in itself but for starters go here .

We eat pasta about once a week or every ten days and avoid eating wheat, I buy gluten-free rice or corn pasta, spelt, amaranth or kamut pasta. The health food aisle in your supermarket stocks pasta that is made from grains other than wheat and your local health food store will most likely have an even wider range.

Now for the vegetables. Well, the good news is pasta sauce is a wonderland for concealing vegetables. If it isn't already, the grater should be your best friend. Grated carrot and zucchini are two of my favorites to include. That said, I don't really believe in hiding vegetables at every meal to get children to eat them.

Raising happy, healthy eaters begins with us the parents. Our attitude to good food, the example we set and having clear, consistent expectations are the foundations in my book. Speaking of books, for more tips on curing fussy eaters read 'French Kids Eat Everything' by Karen Le Billon.

There's no force feeding at our table but what we serve for dinner is dinner, there are no other options. When it comes to veggies most children go in and out of liking carrots, pumpkin, broccoli - insert vegetable name - one day and screwing their face up at the sight of them the next. The key is not to make a big deal out of it and not to give up putting vegetables on their plate. Yes it gets a bit boring having the same old 'eat your veggies' talk but it is our work, laying solid nutritional foundations for our children is an important job. Don't give up!

Back to the pasta. The dish pictured above is corn spaghetti (500g) tossed with roasted veggies, a whole jar of Meredith Dairy goat cheese (including the olive oil and herbs from the jar thrown in), semi dried tomatoes, fresh peas and roasted pine nuts. Roasted veggie pasta is one of my favorites, quick and easy.

Now, tell me your favorites? Or have you given up grains? Tell me why and how that's going.