Author Archives: Margie

Ingredients

• 1 full head cauliflower
• 1 full head broccoli
• 2 yellow onions
• olive oil
• 6 cups chicken stock (or more)
• 3 cups water
• 2 teaspoons Mumbai nut & spice mix
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup half and half cream
• 1 tablespoon lime, fresh
for garnish:
• tiny broccoli sprigs
• almonds, roughly chopped
• sprinkle Mumbai nut & spice mix

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Chop the full head of broccoli and cauliflower, include the stems, leaves and all. Roughly slice the two onions. Using 3 separate baking sheets, place each veggie on each sheet, drizzle each vegetable tray with olive oil and generously sprinkle them with sea salt. Using your hands, toss them gently to incorporate the oil onto the cut veggies. I like to use 3 separate trays because some of the vegetables will brown quicker than the others and it can be removed when needed. If you're short on baking trays, you can mix the vegetables together. Place them into the hot oven and roast them for about 30-40 minutes or until they are a bit browned and have softened. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Separate a few little broccoli sprigs to use for garnishing the top of the soup just before serving.
2. Using a blender, scoop in some of the cooled vegetables (fill to about half) and then pour in chicken stock to cover well (can also use vegetable stock if you prefer this soup to be 100% vegetarian). Blend until smooth and if needed, add more chicken stock so you get a good puree. I like my soup very smooth so I blend it well. After it is pureed well, pour into a very large stock pot and begin your next batch. On the last blender batch of vegetables, add 2 teaspoons of Mumbai nut & spice mix and blend it into the veggies well. Pour all of this into the stock pot.
3. To the stock pot, add, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, the lime juice and water until you reach the consistency you like. Once it is heated through, add a bit of half and half at the very end to make it a bit creamy. You can omit the cream if you wish. Remember when using cream, if you boil after you've added, this can cause the cream to curdle. I always make certain to add the cream when it is at a very low simmer and remove from the heat soon after.
4. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish the tops with little sprigs of broccoli, roughly chopped almonds, and a sprinkle of Mumbai nut & spice mix. You can also add a few drops of sriracha to add a few notes of heat. Serve immediately.
5. This is a very large batch of soup. I purposely made it large so I could store away a bit in the freezer for a quick meal in the future. The recipe yielded enough to make (3) 6-cup containers. We enjoyed broccoli & cauliflower soup for dinner and then had enough leftover to store away 2 containers in the freezer.

Ingredients

For the dressing:
• 2 teaspoons Mumbai nut & spice mix
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons honey
• pinch of salt & pepper
For the salmon:
• Mumbai nut & spice mix
• 1 1/2 -2 lb salmon
• 3 cups wild rice, cooked
• 4-5 heirloom carrots (if possible: purple, yellow & orange)
• 1 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• olive oil
• dressing (recipe above)

Instructions

1. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.
2. Heat a sauté pan, add a drizzle of olive oil, when the oil is heated, add the chopped red onion and chopped carrots. I try to chop both about the same size. I love to use the variety of carrots from heirlooms, however, if you cannot find these you can certainly use regular carrots. When they have softened and browned a bit (don't over cook because it's nice to have a bit of crunch in the vegetables), remove from heat and allow them to cool a bit.
3. Add the carrot/onion mixture into a large bowl with the cooked rice. Concerning the rice, I used a mixture of half black rice and half wild rice simply because I had both however, you can use just wild rice. I always cook my rice in vegetable or chicken stock instead of just water and add a pinch of salt - this adds a great flavor to your rice. To the rice, toss in the chopped parsley and 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Toss together and set this aside as your base for the baked salmon.
4. Heat the oven to 450°. Slice the salmon into individual servings and pat it dry with a paper towel (this helps crisp the skin side. Drizzle the salmon with a bit of olive oil and rub the top and bottom with your hands so it is lightly coated. Using a cast iron pan, heat it through on a stove top, add a bit of olive oil, then place the salmon, skin side down, into the hot pan and let it brown the skin for a few minutes. Generously sprinkle the top with Mumbai nut & spice mix and place the hot pan into the oven for about 10 minutes to cook the salmon through.
5. Remove the salmon from the oven and place it over a bed of the wild rice medley. Drizzle the tops of each salmon with the dressing and drizzle any remaining dressing onto a bit of the rice medley. Garnish with a bit of fresh herbs (in the photo I used fennel fronds, but if you have any leftover parsley leaves this would work well too) and serve immediately.