Ripe Deli's autumn harvest brown rice

Sally Greer at Beatnik Publishing

Stuck for ideas for a nourishing autumn dinner or lunch? Try nutty brown rice, soft-roasted kumara and pumpkin, walnut and feta, topped with a tasty dressing. It's part of a repertoire of healthy treats at Ripe Deli in Auckland, a quiet success that's led to two cookbooks and steady traffic at the deli's Grey Lynn HQ.

This week's recipe was published in Redfern's cookbook Ripe Recipes - A Fresh Batch (Beatnik Publishing, 2013). Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup	Brown rice (Main)
2	Carrots, peeled and chopped chunk
1	Orange kumara, chopped chunky
¼	Crown pumpkin, chopped chunky
2	Red onions, peeled and chopped chunky
2	Oranges, zest and juice of
1 Tbsp	Fennel seeds
2 Tbsp	Soft brown sugar
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 tsp	Salt
1 cup	Walnuts, roughly chopped (Main)
125 g	Feta
1 cup	Flat leaf (Italian) parsley, roughly chopped
1 cup	Baby spinach

Dressing

2 Tbsp	Apple cider vinegar
1 tsp	Soft brown sugar
1 tsp	Wholegrain mustard
4 Tbsp	Olive oil
¼ tsp	Salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a large roasting tray.
2. Cook the brown rice.
3. Into the large roasting tray, place the carrots, kumara, pumpkin and red onion.
4. In a small bowl add the orange zest and juice, fennel seeds, brown sugar, olive oil and salt. Mix well. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat.
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Add the walnuts and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the walnuts are toasted and vegetables are cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
6. To prepare the dressing, place all the ingredients into a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
7. Into a large mixing bowl place the roasted vegetables and walnuts, add the rice, feta, parsley and spinach. Drizzle over the dressing, gently toss to mix through.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving dish.