How to increase the ingredients in your pantry with these ‘green energy’ recipes

Raw sisters Margo Flanagan, 26, and Rosa Power, 28, recently shared their knowledge of sustainable, healthy eating on the TVNZ show. My Green Dream Hometalk to Sam Clark about their latest cookbook, Again
Salad.

How was your experience My Green Dream Home?

RP: It has been a great experience working with different families and giving them achievable, sustainable tips that they can use right away. It is a myth that you need a lot of money. It can be as simple as eating what’s in season and knowing what to do with your vegetables. Extra salad it’s about celebrating what’s in season, with lots of sustainable tips about food waste and getting the most out of the vegetables you buy, saving time and money in the long run.

MF: And what My Green Dream Home what really stood out to us is that anyone can do it – from apartment dwellers to successful yo-pro couples.

What advice would you give to people who would like to incorporate these practices into their lives?

MF: The hardest part begins. People just need to give it a chance to realize how easy it is, or how cheap it is, or how good it can make you feel. We have a big emphasis on being “smart lazy”. If we look at the cost of living crisis, many people think that eating healthy is expensive and time consuming. We really try to give it a head start and make it fun and exciting, so people want to keep it.

RP: I think the first step is to change your mindset. As Kiwis, we tend to think about meat first, and there’s still a huge food culture. We don’t talk about that at all. Instead of writing a big, long shopping list, let’s go to the grocery store first and buy what’s in season. Every page in the book is like a tutorial. You can make one recipe with seven different ones by swapping out the ingredients and what you have in the pantry.

What is your favorite tool?

RP: Another thing we pride ourselves on is that we don’t tell people to buy expensive equipment to make our recipes. We use few tools, but we certainly have our favorites. So, a large cutting board, a large mixing bowl and a good knife.

MF: And if we want to go “out of haves”, the blender is good. I use my blender every day.

What do you cook when you don’t feel like cooking?

MF: Kimchi Pancakes from Two Raw Sisters recipe. They are going. I always have ingredients in my pantry. If I don’t have kimchi, I’ll swap it out for other vegetables, be it leeks or whatever’s in season, and top it off with our avo chilli oil. It takes 15 minutes and it’s a lot of fun.

RP: We have yum teriyaki sauce and it’s three ingredients: garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and if you really want, you can add ginger, chilli and all those extras. To do that, cook noodles, or grains like brown rice, using whatever vegetables you had in the garden or in the fridge at the time, then add proteins like beef, salmon or prawns on top. Quick and easy, less than 20 minutes.

Summer Vegetable One Tray Bake

Serves 6 / Takes 35 minutes

• 1 eggplant, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 bulb of fennel, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 2 zucchinis, thinly sliced ​​diagonally

• 1 red capsicum, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 red onion, cut into thin wedges

• 3 tbsp cooking oil

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 200g cherry tomatoes

• 1 cup rocket leaves

• ¼ preserved lemon, flesh and rind finely chopped

• 100g feta, broken

• ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 °C.

Place the eggplant, fennel, zucchini, capsicum and red onion on a large baking tray and drizzle with cooking oil and salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Add the cherry tomatoes to the baking tray, turn the oven to the grill function and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

This is best done in a tray. Top the vegetables with rocket, preserved lemon, feta and pine nuts, and olive oil on top. Gently mix everything together.

Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Differentiate

• Change the vegetables according to what’s in season. You can replace the paste with crushed olives, capers or sun-dried tomatoes.

Advice

• Pine nuts are delicious but expensive. Other delicious, cost-effective alternatives include almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

Corn Cobs + Crispy Spring Onion Chilli Oil

Feeds 4 / Takes 15 minutes

• 4 cobs corn, husks removed and each cob cut in half

• water

Crispy Spring Onion Chili Oil

• 2 tbsp cooking oil

• 2 tbsp chilli oil, homemade or store bought

• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced

• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and thinly sliced

• ½ tsp sea salt

• zest and juice of 1 lime

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the corn halves. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Drain and keep aside while you make the crispy spring onion chilli oil.

In a small pan, add the cooking oil, chilli oil, spring onions, garlic and salt. Fry on medium heat until spring onions and garlic start to become crispy. Keep an eye on the garlic to make sure it doesn’t burn. Once the garlic starts to turn brown, remove the frypan from the heat and add the lime juice and juice. Stir together.

To serve, arrange the corn cobs in a bowl or on a flat, round plate and drizzle with crispy onion oil.

Differentiate

• If corn isn’t in season, substitute roasted zucchini halves or eggplant halves.

Advice

• The crispy spring onion chilli oil is very good and goes well with anything. Double or triple the recipe and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, feta + crushed olives

Feeds 4 / Takes 15 minutes

Fried red onion

• ½ red onion, very thinly sliced

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• ¼ tsp sea salt

Preserved Lemon Oil

• ¼ preserved lemon, flesh and rind finely chopped

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped

• 200g tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces

• ½ cup olives, crushed with the back of a knife and sliced

• 100g feta, broken

• 1 cup chopped fresh herbs

For the pickled red onion, add the diced red onion, apple cider vinegar and salt to the bowl. Stir to combine and allow the onion to cool for at least 10 minutes.

To make the preserved lemon oil, mix the preserved lemon, olive oil and garlic together in a cup or small bowl.

To serve, place the tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta, herbs and chopped onion in a bowl and drizzle with the reserved lemon oil. Mix gently to combine.

This is best eaten immediately.

Differentiate

• Pass for halloumi. If you don’t like olives, use sun-dried tomatoes or capers.

Advice

• If you don’t have lemons, use the zest and juice of one lemon. Roast red onions twice and store them in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. They make a delicious addition to any salad, sandwich, wrap or toast.

Adapted from Extra salad by Two Raw Sisters (Allen & Unwin NZ, RRP$49.99).