Winter Salad with a Home Made Balsamic Glaze

Last Thursday to Saturday I facilitated the 29th Vegan Foundation Cooking Course where four wonderful people attended. It was a treat for all of us to have such a small group and some very creative food was made.

In the past I have written about how life transforming the Vegan Foundation course is for people who attend. I’ve also written about how fantastic it is to have a course that is committed to 100% organic produce. And in addition I’ve mentioned the importance of attending a vegan cooking course with a facilitator who has lived healthily as a vegetarian for a few decades and vegan for the past 5 years.

What I haven’t written about though is another benefit that this course has and that is the Vegan Foundation Cooking Course really shows you how you can make things from scratch.

You learn how to make sauces, dips, cheese and jam, to name a few that you can so easily pick up in supermarkets, which all come in some form of packaging. Cooking from scratch, making your own ketchup, pickled beetroot, tomato sauce for pasta and cashew cheese (for everything), free of preservatives and nasty additives as well as reducing the waste of packaging is how eating used to be when I was growing up.

Then in our very busy lives we thought it was much easier just to grab for a pre made version. However, nowadays many people are realizing that the pre made goods you can purchase are never as good as the ones you can make yourself and that the ones you make yourself don’t create unnecessary wastage. It feels like the planet is becoming one big wastage disposal outlet. We can make a big difference by making our own products.

One of participants in the last Vegan Foundation Cooking Course said she wanted to learn how to make a balsamic glaze so she didn’t have to keep buying plastic bottles of it. So as part of the signature dish lesson a balsamic glaze was made. Both ingredients we used to make the balsamic glaze can be found in bulk food shops where you can take your own reusable containers to refill.

So this week I share with you a winter salad using the veggies I have in my fridge left over from the course and share with you the very delicious balsamic glaze that Lucy and Chloe Created.

Winter Salad with a Home Made Balsamic Glaze

Ingredients

4 large potatoes

½ cup water

¼ cup olive oil plus 2 tbsp olive oil plus a quick splash

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ cup lemon juice

Generous salt

Pepper

2 tbsp rosemary (no need to chop just remove from stalk)

½ cauliflower cut into florets

1 large bunch kale

1 cup cooked lentils or beans (whatever you have)

Salt

½ cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp agave, maple syrup or rice malt

Method

Place the potatoes in a baking dish with the water, ¼ cup of olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes in a hot oven (190°C) then check to turn the potatoes. You may need to add a bit more water. Add the rosemary and cook for a further 20 to 30 minutes or until tender and crisp.
Place the cauliflower with a sprinkling of salt and a quick splash of olive oil in a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
Once the cauliflower is baked place the torn up kale in the tray, rub through the 2 tbsp of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and cook for 10 minutes or until wilted. Remove and then cut smaller if you wish.

Balsamic Glaze

Place the balsamic vinegar and sweetener in a saucepan and place on a medium heat. After 5 minutes turn to a simmer and leave on the heat for up to 20 minutes.
Turn off and let cool. Once cool see if it is thick enough to pour. If it is still thin then place on the heat again for another 5 to 10 minutes. Be mindful that it does thicken a little as it cools.

To assemble the salad, mix the cooked potatoes, cauliflower, lentils and kale. Place on a serving plate and drizzle on the balsamic glaze.

# If you make this recipe please share on facebook or instagram to #veetsvegancookingschool

Sample Food Festival

I have been asked to do a vegan cooking demonstration at this year’s Bangalow Sample Food Festival. If you are local or holidaying in the Shire please come along at 10:30am for my Vegan Made Easy cooking demo. I am really excited that they want to include so much vegan food in this year’s festival. Yullis, No Bones and Wildflower Patisserie will all be there doing their vegan thing. It’s exciting.

Come Join the Revolution

You really can make a difference to the world around us and I feel the best place to start is with what you eat. Reducing meat intake is going to help the planet no end. Cutting it out of your diet is going to make an even greater impact. Many people tell me they want to go vegan but are struggling with the transition. The Vegan Foundation Course will help set you on the right track and help you become truly inspired to create delicious food time and time again. I hope you can join one of the courses, if not this year then next year.

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