3 healthy side dishes for New Year’s Eve

New year’s resolutions are always a thing. It is possible that one of them is to incorporate more vegetables into your diet, or to improve the quality of the ingredients you use to cook, but why not start cooking these veggies for the very same New Year’s Eve?

You may already have a menu in mind and we don’t want to change your idea (if not, you can always go for our vegetarian version of the Wellington recipe), we simply want to suggest some side dishes with vegetables being the main ingredients. They will compliment perfectly with any type of menu.

Moreover, the best thing about these side dishes is that, they are not only healthy but also easy-to-make recipes. In addition, they are so delicious that if your purpose is to surprise your guests, you won’t have any problem. Combine them with some baked potato and your menu will be complete.

Ingredients for the preparation of the side dishes (4 people)

For the steamed carrots with orange:

1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

10 small carrots

2 sprigs of rosemary

1 orange

½ cup of water

1 or 2 tablespoons rosemary honey

Salt and pepper to taste

For the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts and Date Syrup:

1 kg of Brussels sprouts,

100 g of bacon or serrano ham

1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

Pepper to taste

5 dates

¼ cup walnuts

For the persimmon creamy coleslaw:

2 cup red cabbage

2 persimmons

1 cup of plain yogurt

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp of honey

Red chili (optional)

Making process of all side dishes

Steamed carrots with orange:

Prepare the carrots, peel them carefully and leave part of the stem as decoration. Also peel the garlic and make a cross section without breaking the cloves. Next, grate the orange, squeeze its juice and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the extra virgin olive oil. Add the garlic, carrots, rosemary, orange zest, and juice. Sauté for about 3 minutes, until the carrots take on a more intense colour.

Then add water to the bottom of the pan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan with the lid and bring the carrots to a boil and cook until tender. The time will depend on the size of the carrots.

PRO TIP! If you notice that all the liquid has evaporated and your carrots are still hard, add more water. Keep adding little by little until you get the desired consistency.

When carrots are tender, remove the lid and drizzle in the rosemary honey and cook for another 5 minutes or until the remaining liquid has mostly evaporated and the honey has slightly caramelised, and this recipe will be completed.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts and Date Syrup:

Start by making the date syrup a few hours before or the night before. To do this, you must hydrate the dates with half a glass of water. Let them soak for at least an hour or speed up the process using hot water. When they are well hydrated, you will only have to blend the mixture until you get a liquid paste. Add more water to get the consistency of a thick syrup if needed and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and continue preparing the food. Remove the first leaves of the Brussels sprouts, wash them and cut them in half. Cut the bacon or serrano ham into thin strips. Next, place the Brussels sprouts in a baking dish, add the olive oil, garlic powder and pepper to taste. Stir and cover with the bacon or ham.

Bake the sprouts for about 15-20 minutes until they are tender. Remove the tray from the oven and add the date syrup and stir. Then add the walnuts, previously chopped and put the tray back in the oven for about 5 more minutes. After this time, the garnish with Brussels sprouts will be ready to enjoy.

Persimmon creamy coleslaw:

Start by cutting the red cabbage into thin strips. Use a mandolin to cut the persimmon, or you can also opt for grating it. Add fruit and vegetable to a bowl and season to taste and mix.

Then add the yogurt, honey and apple cider vinegar and mix all the ingredients well. Optionally, you can add a little bit of red chili to give it a spicy and different kick to this side dish.