Healthy pubs and clubs – chef tip
Vary and enhance vegetables – slip more
in, highlight heroes and flavour pair sides
In the health stakes you don’t need a nutrition degree to know that vegetables can do
no wrong. Packed with essential vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and antioxidants,
you can make a significant impact on the health of customers by slipping more into
your menu. In fact, getting people to eat more vegetables could be the most important
dietary change needed to prevent lifestyle diseases like heart disease.1 But over 9 in 10
Australians fail to meet the recommended vegetable intake of around 5 serves per day.2,3
What’s a serve?
1 serve vegetables = ½ cup cooked vegetables = 1 medium
potato = 1 cup salad vegetables = ½ cup cooked dried or
canned peas, beans or lentils.3
It’s not just your vegetarian customers that are looking
to veg out. With many nutritionists now recommending
people fill half their plate with vegetables at main meals,
more and more diners are heading down to the veggie
patch. Vegetables are naturally gluten free and can add
colour, texture and flavour to your menu.
• Design recipes from the ground up, starting with the pick
of the harvest or highlighting a hero vegetable.
• Prepare vegetables in new ways, like Asian style steamed
eggplant, instead of the more traditional fried or grilled.
• Renovate your traditional recipes to slip more vegetables
into curries, casseroles, pasta sauces, burger patties
and even bar snacks. Check out our lamb hotpot with
chickpeas – see over. In this dish we’ve reduced the
protein portion and increased the vegetables, which also
reduces the price of the recipe.
Plan to:
• Analyse your menu well to ensure sufficient vegetable
sides flavour pair with main dishes, plus senior and kids
meals.
• Be generous and innovative with salads as a side, but
also as a balanced meal with the addition of other
natural items like nuts, pulses, wholegrains and lean
protein.
• Offer a range of vegetables garnishes and sides from
traditional roast potatoes to a summer salad of rocket and
radicchio leaves with mustard oil.
• Look beyond your current repertoire and seek out the
on-trend and in-season, from purple, heirloom carrots to
kale.
• Create colourful combos and drama to plate presentation
with multiple ingredients including dark, leafy greens,
purple, red, yellow and orange produce.
Dress to impress:
Add healthy aromatic additions like fragrant
nut oils, wasabi powder, citrus, fresh herbs,
pungent spices, toasted seeds or fruit
balsamic to dress your vegetables to
impress. Interesting research shows that
culinary herbs are high in antioxidant
activity and when paired with salad
vegetables and olive oil, they can boost the
antioxidant activity of the whole dish.4
Healthy pubs and clubs – chef tip
Moroccan lamb hotpot
Serves 6 x 400g portions
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 teaspoon paprika
3 teaspoon ground ginger
3 teaspoon turmeric
1kg lamb shoulder - diced
50ml olive oil
2 large onions, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 red capsicum, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
400g can chopped tomatoes
750ml chicken stock
200g dried chickpeas, cooked (or 400g tin rinsed
and drained)
100g dried apricots, cut in half
60g dates, cut in half
60g raisins
1 tablespoon honey
2 springs coriander, roughly chopped
2 spring flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
30g flaked almonds
Natural yoghurt to serve
1. Combine spices, marinate lamb for 1 hour or overnight.
2. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and seal the lamb.
3. Add the onions, carrot and garlic to the pot and cook for 5 mins, stirring frequently.
4. Add capsicum, tomato, apricots, dates, raisins or sultanas, stock and honey to the casserole dish.
5. Cover pot and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, until meat is tender. Add chickpeas to warm through and season to taste
6. Serve with chopped parsley, coriander, toasted almond and natural yoghurt.
Steamed rice or flatbread is the perfect accompaniment.
Recipe: Developed by Glenn Flood, Development Chef Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group for the Heart Foundation.
References:
1. Miller M, Shiell A. An intervention portfolio to promote fruit and vegetable consumption.
Melbourne: National Public Health Partnership; 2000
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Health Survey: Updated Results, 2011-2012.
3. Australian Guide to Healthy Eating http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au
4. Williams, PG, Health benefits of herbs and spices: Medical Journal of Australia,
185(4), 2006, Supplement S17-S18.