Recipe: Super Bowl with toasted farrow and pickled vegetables

This recipe by Sandy Chen, the chef de cuisine at Archer restaurant, is packed full of vegetables and toasted grains for a warm-and-savoury mix that’s perfect for a cold winter’s day:

Super Bowl

Avocado Green Goddess Dressing

1 whole avocado

1 clove garlic

1 bunch scallion

1 1/2 tbsp (22.5 mL) lemon juice

1/3 cup (80 mL) herbs including fresh cilantro, basil leaf, chive, tarragon; mixed

1/4 cup (60 mL) Greek yogurt

2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil

2 tbsp (30 mL) apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp (15 mL) honey

Cayenne pepper, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Remove basil leaf, and tarragon leaves from the stems, and roughly chop. Place it in the vita-mix blender or any blender, with garlic, yogurt, vinegar, lemon juice. Blend until smooth; during the process, add the oil, seasoning and cayenne pepper.

Once it’s smooth, taste it, might need to add more seasoning. Then pour into a container, close it and store it in the fridge.

Before serving it, cut the avocado into chunks and add into the base that you made earlier. Blend it with a hand blender until smooth. Transfer back into the container or sauce bottle until ready to plate. Finished dressing can be stored in the fridge for up to two days.

Pickling Liquid for vegetables

1 cup (250 mL) rice vinegar

2 bay leaves

1 tsp (5 mL) whole black peppercorn

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 cup (250 mL) sugar

Vegetables

2 medium-size red beets

1 head fennel

1 whole cucumber

1 small butternut squash

1 small jicama

Chef’s note: You may pick the vegetables you like to eat.

Place all pickling liquid ingredients in a large pot. Bring it to boil until the sugar dissolves. While waiting for the liquid to boil, peel and cut chosen vegetable into 1 cm thickness. Place the cut vegetables into a glass container and pour the hot liquid in it, let it set for an hour or two before service.

Toasted Farro and Quinoa

1/4 cup (60 mL) farro

1/4 cup (60 mL) quinoa

Preheat oven at 350 F. Place the farro and quinoa on two baking trays with parchment paper. Transfer into the oven, and let toast for 10 minutes; until you can smell the aroma. After toasting, cook the farro and quinoa individually; quinoa 8 minutes, farro 10 to 15 minutes, check the doneness before straining. Transfer the farro and quinoa onto sheet tray, let it cool down before mixing with the dressing.

Assembly

Place farro and quinoa in mixing bowl, fold in avocado green goddess dressing. Taste it. You may need to add black pepper. Place the mixture on plate or bowl, add the pickling vegetables on top (about 30 g of pickled vegetable per dish), with fresh-cut avocado chunks, if desired. Sprinkle with some store-bought mixing nuts and lotus chips, if desired.

Serves 2-3.