I served this side dish at AT&T’s cafeteria in San Ramon, on Thursday, October 13th. That morning, I’ll give a motivational talk to 120 employees — how to get to a new automatic pilot in the kitchen, making food, for a healthy, happy, productive, quality life.
Here is the designer lunch I created to be served in their cafeteria for all AT&T employees:
- Soup: Roasted Garlic, Squash, Tomato Bisque Soup
- Salad: Relaxed Kale and Purple Cabbage Salad
- Side: Sweet’n Sour Root Vegetables (see below)
- Wrap #1: Romaine Lettuce Boats w/Lentils, Quinoa and Dairy-free Alfredo Sauce
- Wrap #2: Romaine Lettuce Boats w/Lentils, Quinoa, Dairy-free Alfredo Sauce and Roasted Chicken (see link, above)
This is roasted carrots and beets with a sugar-free candied orange and ginger glaze, sweetened and soured with tamarind paste.
Makes 3 cups (1/2 cup serving = 6 servings). Serve cold.
Ingredients
1 lb carrots, roasted
1 lb beets, roasted
2 oranges (peel, juice and pulp)
1 inch ginger, thinly sliced, julienne
Water
1/2 tbls tamarind paste
Directions
1. Quarter the beets, cut carrots in half length-wise, roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until soft, let cool.
Meanwhile: make the candied orange and ginger, see directions, below.
2. Put the veggies through a food processor with the grater blade (or dice, mash, or chop to bite-size pieces).
3. Place mixture in bowl (any container with tight-fitting lid).
4. Add the orange juice, mix well, cover, let sit for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
OR – refrigerate for an hour, or for up to two days, mix occasionally.
5. Drain excess liquid (retain for other uses), add the orange-ginger mixture, stir well and serve.
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Candied orange peel and ginger
Ingredients
4 oranges
1-inch fresh ginger
Tamarind paste
Directions
1. Scrub the oranges well (I use Veggie Wash), shave the peel off of both oranges.
(NOTE: shave the orange peel very thin to avoid getting any of the white pith, some pith is okay, yet the best tasting outcome is little-to-no pith.)
2. Place peels in 2-quart saucepan, set aside.
3. Juice the oranges, set juice aside and scoop out the pulp. Chop the pulp and add to the orange peels in the saucepan.
4. Thinly slice the ginger to 1/2-inch length and put in the saucepan. Peeling the ginger is optional.
5. Blanch the mixture 3 times by covering it with cold water, heat to low simmer for three minutes, drain, and do again two more times (i.e. cover with cold water, heat to low simmer, drain).
6. After 3 times, drain the mixture well, put back on low heat and allow the remaining bit of water to evaporate, stir constantly.
7. Add the tamarind paste, stir constantly, cook for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is dry and starting to caramelize. Add 1 tsp (just a bit) of the orange juice to the pan to deglaze the fond that builds on the bottom of the pan and it’ll be absorbed into the peel mixture, stir well. Set aside to cool, then refrigerate.
