A fabulous dinner with a Gluten free Vegan

I have a dear friend who is on a strict diet due to health reasons.  I was so excited to receive a text off her during the week to say she would be in town over the weekend.  We settled on dinner at our place and I took on the challenge with excitement to create a memorable, tasty dinner for her.  So the challenge ~ gluten free and vegan.......(can you hear crickets....)  We can together not draw breath for hours talking about food and new recipes we have tried and meals we have had, so to just give her a slab of tofu on a bed of lettuce topped with nuts wasn't going to cut it. I got to thinking....and here is what I came up with for the big event using nearly all of produce from the garden.

Entree 

herb pesto dip with kale chips (so good!!) & croudites platter

olives from a friends tree

Main

Fresh broadbeans with mint, chilli, and lentil salad with a lemon juice & evoo dressing

Moroccan Cauliflower 'cous cous' with currants, almonds, coriander and mint salad with a cinnamon, coriander, tumeric and cumin dressing

Rocket with fresh garden peas, sprouts, avocado and seeds (flaxseed, chia seeds, pepitas and sunflower seeds) salad with lemon juice & evoo dressing

Roasted root vegetables (sweet potato, potato, parsnip,beetroot and carrot) with rosemary, sage and walnuts

Roasted lemony free range chicken for the carnivores

Dessert

Rhubarb, apple and blueberry nut crumble served with a dollop of coconut yoghurt

Rhubarb, apple and blueberry crumble
for the stewed fruit
2 apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced (I like them to be still slightly firm and not totaly moosh)
6 stalks of rhubarb, peeled and chopped
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 tblspns of dark agave syrup
1 cup of water or so
Place apples and rhubarb, syrup & water in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes or until the fruit is tender.  Drain off the excess water. Place in an oven proof dish along with the blueberries.  You can leave it covered in the fridge for a day or two at this stage.

for the crumble
I don't measure when I make this but I'll try and give you a guide.  You really can't go wrong.  Add whatever combinations your heart desires ~macadamias, sultanas, seeds but here is the version we had
1 cup of almond meal (if you don't have almond meal, just blitz up a cup of almond until they resemble fine crumbs)
1/2 amaranth flakes
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup of roughly chopped almonds
1/4 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
1 tbspn chia seeds
1 tbspn sunflower seeds
1 tspn vanilla extract
2 tbspns of dark agave or you can use brown sugar
3-4 tbspns evoo
Mix all together in a bowl and it should be a slightly moist mixture, the evoo and agave will have coated all the seeds and nuts well.  Arrange an even spread over the fruit and bake in a preheated 180c oven for approx 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly.  I served this with "Co Yo" a coconut milk 'yoghurt' dairy free alternative but its just as good with plain greek yoghurt or vanilla icecream.

Over the next week I'll be adding the recipes from the main course as they are super easy and flavour sensations.

Ciao, Jan