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Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon butter
• 450g wild and white mushrooms, sliced
• 60g dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted (see instructions below)
• 1 cup ground walnuts
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 cups hot chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup sherry
• 2 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 cup whipping cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sautéed mushrooms and/or blue cheese for garnish
• Low-fat milk can be substituted for whipping cream

Preparations:

1. In a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot on high heat, melt butter. Add mushrooms, walnuts, onion, garlic, celery and bay leaves and sauté until lightly browned (about 5 to 10 minutes). Reduce heat to medium, add flour and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Stirring constantly, slowly add hot broth and sherry and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes and remove bay leaves.
3. Remove from heat and using an immersion blender, pulse until mushrooms are nearly puréed or until desired consistency. Return to heat, bring to a boil and add thyme and cream. Stir to combine.
4. Garnish with sautéed wild mushrooms and/or blue cheese, if desired, and serve.

Tips:

1. For a subtle, smokey flavour, use 3 to 4 strips of bacon in place of butter.
2. Make soup ahead of time; refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month. To reconstitute the dried porcini mushrooms: combine porcini and 1-1/2 cups boiling water in a medium bowl.
3. Let stand until porcini soften, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove porcini from the water and chop coarsely.

Ingredients:

• 1kg turkey breast
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 80g gorgonzola
• 150g leaf spinach
• 80g California walnuts
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 125ml white wine
• 400ml chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons light sauce thickener
• 250ml cooking cream
• Kitchen twine

Preparations:

1. Season turkey breast with salt and pepper. Spread the inside, except for a small edge, with Gorgonzola. Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly and sort them out. Bring salted water to the boil in a pot. Add the spinach leaves and let them wilt. Then pour the leaf spinach into a sieve, rinse briefly in cold water and squeeze vigorously with a wooden spoon. Chop California walnuts. Spread the spinach leaves and two thirds of the walnuts on the coated side of the meat. Roll up the meat and tie it together with kitchen twine.
2. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Fry the meat on all sides. Deglaze with white wine and pour in the chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes.
3. Remove the rolled turkey roast from the stock. Stir in the sauce thickener, pour in the cream and cook uncovered for 3 minutes while stirring. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add the remaining walnuts.
4. Slice the rolled turkey roast and serve with the sauce. Serve with broccoli with roasted walnut slivers and boiled potatoes or pasta.

Tip: For the rolled roast, have the butcher cut the turkey breast into a flat piece.

Ingredients:

• 700g red cabbage
• 300g beetroot
• 1 onion
• Fresh ginger
• 165ml coconut milk
• 100ml cooking cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch of sugar
• Lemon juice
• 50g California walnuts
• 30g dried cranberries
• Coriander, for garnish

Preparations:

1. Cut red cabbage into pieces and juice (makes approx. 500 ml). Peel and roughly dice the beetroot and onion. Peel and finely chop a walnut-sized piece of ginger.
2. Put the red cabbage juice, beetroot, onion and ginger in a pot and cook covered for 30 minutes. Then put it in a blender, puree it and pour it back into the pot.
3. Add coconut milk and cooking cream and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar and lemon juice.
4. Chop walnuts and roast briefly. Mix with the cranberries. Serve the soup with the walnut-cranberry mixture and garnished with coriander if desired.

Tip: If you don’t have a juicer, replace the red cabbage juice with beetroot juice and refine the soup with around 100 g of red cabbage from the jar.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion (about 1/2 cup), diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cans reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 large potato, peeled, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 cup dry lentils
• 4 cups coarsely chopped kale

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a medium stock pot. Add celery, carrots, onion and garlic.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add broth, potato and lentils. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally until potatoes and lentils are tender. With a spoon or potato masher, press potatoes and lentils to make a slightly thickened soup.
3. Stir in kale or spinach and cook for 5-10 minutes until tender. Top with walnuts just before serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 1.3 litre chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon harissa paste
• 400g giant wholewheat couscous
• 100g sugar snaps, sliced diagonally
• 50g California walnuts, chopped
• 100g baby spinach
• 200g roast chicken breast, shredded
• Drizzle chilli sauce to serve

Preparations:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and fennel for 5 minutes. Add the stock and harissa and bring to a boil, stir in the couscous and simmer, covered for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the sugar snaps and walnuts and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the couscous is tender. Add the spinach and chicken and stir until the spinach has wilted.
3. Spoon into bowls and drizzle with a little chilli sauce to serve.

Cooks tip: Try using pak choi instead of the sugar snaps or swap the spinach for shredded savoy cabbage.