Warm Salad of Roasted Oca with Cashew Nut, Lime and Parsley Dressing

Look at those beauties!  Pink, glossy and oh so delicious and all from my allotment.  (I know too many 'ands' but I was excited). Here they are growing on my allotment. Great bushes of greeness and such wonderfully shaped leaves. This is a great crop and grows quite well in Britain.... these oca plants below are growing in a raised bed with plenty of compost.  The plant originates in South America but does not appear to be grown anywhere else commercially apart from New Zealand.  That is why I grow it... oh and because I love that citrus kick and nutty appeal.

Look so cute!

So I decided to riff on Dennis Cotter's great dish of roasted oca and pak choi with peanut, lime and coriander dressing (from Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me).... well I didn't have many of the ingredients. This was the result...

Roasted Oca with Cashew Nut, Lime and Parsley Dressing

Good handful of oca, washed and cut (if needed) into bite sized pieces
1 green chilli (diced small)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp cashew nuts (coarsely chopped)
Handful of parsley (chopped)

1 tbsp grated ginger
juice of 1 lime
large pinch of sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Place oca in oven tray and roast for about 15-20 minutes or until the oca are soft inside. Keep warm.
3. Whisk the ginger, lime and sugar together and add the soy sauce, and chilli.
4. Pour the dressing over the oca and mix through.
5. Sprinkle on the cashew nuts and parsley.

Roasted Tomatillo and Olive Salsa

Down at my local farmers market I came across these strange looking fruits... tomatillos. Little parcels of what looks like green tomatoes indeed in Mexico they are called 'tomate verde'.  You have to remove the husks and use the tomato like insides.  I thought I would turn mine into a different salsa to accompany my refried beans and tacos.

Tomatillo and Olive Salsa


500-600g tomatillos, husked
6 garlic cloves
2 jalapeno peppers/or mild chilli peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
180 g green olives
25 g coriander
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
water

1.Heat oven to 220C degrees. Spread tomatillos, garlic cloves and chilli on baking sheet and coat evenly with oil. Roast for 15 minutes or until tomatillos are browned and blistered.
2.Remove from oven and cut the ends off the chilli peppers.Place in a food processor or blender with olives, coriander, lime and sugar. Pulse 5-7 times. If the mixture looks quite thick add water and pulse another 4-5 times to mix.
3. Place in bowl and serve as a dip.