Vegetarian Lunch

With more people choosing to eat consciously an opting more for vegetarian, it's always a good idea to a few recipes handy.

Here are two of our favourites for lunch.

Beetroot Hummus and feta sandwich:

Ingredients for the beetroot hummus
500 g cooked beetroot, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tin chickpeas, drained
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
lemon juice, to taste
salt and pepper

Method
Place the beetroot, garlic, chickpeas, cumin, cayenne and tahini in a food processor and blend all the ingredients are broken down. Add the olive oil (enough to make a smooth hummus), lemon juice to taste and season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the sandwiches, use a good bread of your choice. We like a sourdough spelt variety. Spread each slice liberally with the beetroot hummus. Top with some rocket leaves and generous scattering of a good feta.

Sweet Potato and Courgette Salad with Pear

Ingredients
1 head garlic
1 kg sweet potatoes
2 comice pears
1 red chilli
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 courgettes
100 g hazelnuts
100 g baby spinach leaves

Method
Preheat an oven to 200 C. Separate the garlic cloves from the head of garlic, leaving the skins on. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into wedges. Finely chop the chilli, leaving in the seeds if you like it spicy and finely chop the rosemary.

Place the garlic cloves, sweet potato chilli and rosemary in a roasting pan and toss with the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, halve the pears, remove the core and cut each half into 6 slices. Cut the courgettes into quarters and then each quarter in half, so that you end you up with 8 pieces. Roughly chop the hazelnuts.

Add the pears, courgettes, hazelnuts, toss again and return to the oven for about another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil, check the seasoning if it requires any more salt and pepper and mix through the baby spinach leaves.

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours

 


Roasted Pumpkin and Harissa Hummus

Ingredients
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
5-6 tbsp tahini paste
1-2 tbsp harissa (we buy ours fresh from the Noordermarkt)
2 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
olive oil and smoked paprika, to finish
crisp breads, crackers and fresh vegetables, to serve

Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Place the butternut and garlic cloves on an oven tray. Season well with salt and pepper and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss the ingredients well together and roast for about 45 minutes or until the butternut is really tender. Leave to cool.

Place the butternut into a Magimix (food processor) with any juices from the tin. Add the garlic cloves, squeezed out of their skins. Add the remaining ingredients, season with salt and blend to a paste. Add a little extra olive oil if needed.

Scrape the hummus into a bowl. Drizzle with extra olive oil and sprinkle with smoked paprika. Serve with crostini, crisp breads, crackers and an assortiment of crudités (raw vegetables).

We, the Amsterdam Flavours chefs, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you have any questions on how to prepare it or just want to send us your feedback, you can reach us here Contact Amsterdam Flavours