Three-Vegetable Wheel

I’m going to keep things short today because I’m soon off to watch The Hobbit movie. I can’t wait.
When it comes to fantasy movies I’m a real dork. Even more so if there’s Tolkien involved.
Considering the time constraint I thought that this dish would be perfect.
An all-time favorite in my family, this recipe is a compelling combination of a short list of ingredients that don't sound particularly exciting on the page, but come together into something more than the sum of their parts.
Fennel, cabbage, spinach, bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a light drizzle of olive oil. That's it, really. Lightly boiled and then popped into the oven for a few minutes. Dead simple.
The real magic of this recipe lies not only in the fact that it’s vegan and low in calories, but mostly that even hard-core veggie haters will fall in love with it. It does happen. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It’s the real deal.



Three-Vegetable Wheel Print this Recipe!

I used fennel, spinach and cabbage but feel free to use other veggies such as turnip greens, swiss chard or artichokes. There are many combinations possible to this dish, be creative.

Ingredients
Serves 10

3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and sliced into 1” inch chunks
1 lb / 450 gr fresh (baby) spinach, well washed and dried
1 lb / 450 gr cabbage, shredded
1 cups / 8 oz / 230 gr whole wheat bread crumbs (plus more if needed)
2 teaspoons parsley
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
olive oil
1 clove garlic, pureed (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C), place a rack in the middle.
Lightly grease with olive oil two 9” round cake pans.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Drop the fennel chunks into the boiling water and cook until “al dente” about 5 to 6 minutes. Fish them out of the water with the help of a slotted spoon and set aside.
In the same boiling water drop the shredded cabbage, and cook for about 2 minutes. Fish them out of the water and set aside.
Lastly, drop the spinach and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine bread crumbs, parsley, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic (if using).
Starting with the fennels, press chunks into the bread crumbs until well coated on both sides. Arrange into the prepared pans creating a circle.
Coat the cabbage and the spinaches, arranging them in concentric circles.
Drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. You can brown the top carefully under a broiler for a few minutes, which is what I did.
Serve warm.

Nutrition facts

One serving scores 110 calories, with 2.3 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbs and 5 grams of protein.

The Iron You