Bold and beautiful: Belinda MacDonald’s flavoursome autumn recipes

Greek-style lamb, feta & pumpkin seed cabbage tacos. Photo / Belinda MacDonald

Belinda MacDonald was the co-winner of New Zealand’s first My Kitchen Rules competition. Since then she’s championed her take on deliciously healthy fare. Flavour Kiss is her second cookbook, packed with low-carb-centric food that’s big on fun, vibrancy and most of all flavour, as exampled by these four high-impact recipes.

Garlic yoghurt toum with sweet potato crisps & za'atar. Photo / Belinda MacDonald

Garlic yoghurt toum with sweet potato crisps and za’atar

Makes 2 cups

Toum is a Lebanese garlic dip, which is really spicy and garlicky-lemon-licious. It can also be thinned and used as a dressing or marinade — I love it with chips or crunchy celery or cucumber.

1 whole garlic bulb, peeled

¼ cup water

Sea salt, to taste

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt

1 lemon, juice only

To serve

Sweet potato crisps or vege sticks

Fresh dill, to garnish

Sprinkle of za’atar, to garnish

Place the peeled garlic bulb, water and salt in a food processor and process until pureed. Slowly add in the extra virgin olive oil until the mixture emulsifies and becomes whipped, light and creamy, like mayonnaise, then add the yoghurt to make it into a dip. Mix in the lemon juice, to taste.

Serve garnished with dill and za’atar and with sweet potato crisps for dipping. It will keep in a container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Greek-style lamb, feta & pumpkin seed cabbage tacos. Photo / Belinda MacDonald

Greek-style lamb, feta & pumpkin seed cabbage tacos

Serves 5-6

These cabbage “tacos” are filled with juicy lamb mince, infused with Greek herbs, olives and red wine, topped off with creamy feta and crunchy pumpkin seeds. Absolutely delicious. Once assembled you could bake the cabbage tacos in a moderate oven if desired.

Savoury lamb mince filling

600g lean minced lamb

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Bunch of fresh herbs (such as thyme, oregano, rosemary or mint), chopped, plus extra to garnish

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

100g black pitted olives, sliced (optional)

3 Tbsp tomato passata

½ glass red wine

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve

½ cup pumpkin seeds

50g feta, crumbled

1 small red cabbage, leaves carefully pulled apart

Start off by frying your lamb mince in a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat for 10 minutes, till crumbly and golden brown. Drain off any extra lamb fat and transfer the lamb to a bowl.

Heat the olive oil in the same frying pan over medium-high heat, add the onion and cook for a few minutes until softened down and sweet, then add the garlic, herbs and cinnamon. Return the lamb mince to the pan and tip in the olives, if using, passata, wine and balsamic vinegar to bubble away until most of the liquid is absorbed. You want quite a dry mix so the tacos are not too messy or drippy. Season, taste and adjust as necessary. Set aside, or you can pop it in a low oven to keep warm.

Pop the pumpkin seeds into a skillet pan with a smidge of olive oil and get them nice and toasty. Season well and set aside.

Spread out the cabbage leaves on a wooden board and spoon a little warm mince into each. Top with feta, pumpkin seeds and extra fresh herbs and let everyone dig in.

Spinach & ricotta gnudi with lemon, sage & pine nut brown butter sauce. Photo / Belinda MacDonald

Spinach & ricotta gnudi with lemon, sage and pine nut brown butter sauce

Serves 3-4

The soft, pillowy gnocchi-like dumplings are made with ricotta instead of potato, which makes them lighter and less chewy than their cousins. The gnudi are then baked instead of boiled and drenched in a wonderfully buttery finger-licking sauce.

150g baby spinach leaves

1 cup ricotta

1 egg, whisked

½ cup grated parmesan, plus a few shavings to garnish

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 lemon, zest only

½ tsp sea salt, plus extra to flurry on top

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Lemon, sage and pine nut brown butter sauce

100g butter

20 sage leaves

3 Tbsp pine nuts

Big pinch of dried chilli flakes or sweet smoked paprika flakes

½ lemon, juice only

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

First up, blanch the spinach by boiling the kettle and pouring the boiling water over the spinach to wilt. Drain off the water quickly, as otherwise it will continue to cook. Allow the spinach to cool slightly, then squeeze dry with your hands and chop finely.

Place the spinach in a bowl with the remaining gnudi ingredients and mix well. Roll the mixture into balls, then place them on the prepared tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. While they are baking make the sauce.

Place the butter in a saucepan or frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter has nearly melted, add the sage leaves, pine nuts and dried chilli flakes, and continue to cook for 2–3 minutes, until the sage is frizzled and the butter has gone a lovely golden-brown colour and smells sweet and nutty. Remove from the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Place the gnudi in a serving bowl and drizzle with the butter sauce, then add shavings of parmesan and season once more. Serve immediately.

Waldorf-y. Photo / Belinda MacDonald

Waldorf-y

Serves 5 as a side salad

Waldorf-y in vibe, this is a real fave of mine with its bright, fresh, crunchy notes and a real zing that screams sunshine even in the heart of winter. The ashed goats cheese adds a distinctive earthy flavour with subtle smokiness, and offers a beautiful colour pop of charcoal and crisp white.

100g hazelnuts

1 large fresh fennel bulb

1 bunch fresh green grapes, halved

100g ashed goats cheese

Big bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 fat lemon, zest and juice

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Place your hazelnuts on a baking tray, then dry-roast for about 10 minutes (make sure you set the timer, you do not want to burn them). Remove, cool slightly and pop into a clean tea towel, rubbing to remove the excess skins. Chop roughly and set aside.

Using a mandoline, food processor or sharp knife, finely shave your fennel bulb and place on a serving plate, reserving the fronds. Follow with your grapes, ashed goat’s cheese, chopped hazelnuts and plenty of parsley. Fold everything gently to combine. Sprinkle over lemon zest, then squeeze the juice into a jug and stir in some extra virgin olive oil, to make a simple dressing. Pour this all over the salad, season well, top with fennel fronds and take it to the table to tuck in.

Edited extract from Flavour Kiss by Belinda MacDonald. Published by Penguin Random House New Zealand. RRP $50.