Zhoug Freekeh & Summer Roast Vegetables.
Healthy Summer Eating.
Greenwheat Freekeh -What is it?:
‘High in protein and fibre. Greenwheat Freekeh is a nutritious toasted grain that makes a wholesome alternative to rice & couscous.’
In the summer months you want something tasty, healthy and filling that’s easy to make and doesn’t have you tied to the heat of the kitchen. Freekeh is perfect. I came across a box in my local SuperValu and was curious to try it out.
Delicious served hot as shown here and great the next day chilled and bulked up with some salad leaves and feta cubes.
Along with roast vegetables the flavour is being brought to this freekeh dish with a zhoug paste.
Freekeh and zhoug – two words I’d never encountered until 2015. That is the amazing thing about food, there’s always some new exciting ingredient to discover and something equally different to do with it.
The zhoug paste recipe that I used was from the Irish Food & Wine Magazine – recipe by Garrett Fitzgerald of Brother Hubbard.
NB: This makes a vast quantity of zhoug paste – 2 ramekins of zhoug paste, so I would advise halving the ingredients/quantities. My pictures aren’t as vibrantly green as they should be as I’d no green chillies and used red chilli paste instead. Use zhoug paste as you would a pesto to ramp up any salads, pizzas, sandwiches etc.
Zhoug Paste: (recommend you halve these quantities)
You will need:
50g fresh coriander
50g fresh parsley
2 x green chillies
2 cloves garlic
half tsp cumin
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp water
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor.
Roast Summer Vegetables:
You will need:
1 Red Pepper
1 Courgette
1 Red Onion
Rapeseed or olive oil
Method:
Preheat fan oven to 200C
Chop the vegetables into bite-size chunks
Place veg on a baking tray and drizzle with oil, toss to combine
Roast vegetables in hot oven for 20 to 25 minutes until getting tender but still retaining some bite.
Freekeh:
You will need:
100g greenwheat freekeh
500ml water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Method:
Pour 100g freekeh and 500ml water into a saucepan with 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Stir, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Drain excess water.
Zhoug Freekeh & Summer Roast Vegetables:
Stir the roast summer vegetables through the hot freekeh along with 1 tbsp of zhoug paste and a little oil if needed.
Enjoy.
‘Til next time, Sheila.