raw pasta sauce: double tomato, caper and basil sauce

double tomato, caper and basil sauce
serves 2

2 fresh and ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and soaked
a few basil leaves
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
grated parmesan

While cooking the pasta, chop the tomatoes and the basil. Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Toss through 200g hot pasta, sprinkle with parmesan, pepper and salt.

Hope you'll feel inspired by our delicious lunch today!

Russell James' Mexican tomato soup

Lately I discovered Russell James, England's leading raw chef. I browsed through his food blog and watched a couple of his videos. He made me curious. What would be hiding behind his "top 10 most-loved raw recipes"? I must confess, until now raw cuisine hadn't convinced me: too fat, too sweet, too many dates and soaked cashews.


"Amazing recipe n°8", however, caught my immediate attention. The result? Absolutely delicious!

mexican tomato soup
(slightly adapted)

1 cup ripe tomatoes
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for an hour
1/2 avocado
1 tablespoon red onion
a few twigs of fresh cilantro
a few leaves of fresh mint
a small piece fresh chili pepper
1 clove garlic
2 soft (or soaked) dates
1/2 teaspoon dried coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
juice from 1/2 lime

500ml hot or cold water

Mix all ingredients in a blender, before serving decorate with chopped spring onions, chives, cilantro and slices of lime.
As an additional topping I roasted cashes and sunflower seeds.

how to make the best use of the first tender baby beetroots

It's always a feast when Mr. Herzog from Landmarke delivers the first young and tender vegetables of the season. They are so fresh and tiny, you literally can eat them with root, stems and leaves. Here's how I prepared my first spring beetroots:


green smoothie with fresh beet leaves

the leaves of 4 baby beets
a handful of lemon balm leaves
a few mint leaves
1 apple
1 banana
1 teaspoon almond butter
1 cup water
1 cup ice cubes

Mix all ingredients in your blender until smooth.


beet stems in vinaigrette

stems of 4 baby beets
olive oil
vinegar (in case you've got raspberry vinegar, use it!)
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook the stems until smooth (about 5 min.), cool down quickly in iced water and marinate for half an hour in the vinaigrette.

salad of grated beetroot, apple and turnips

4 baby beetroots
2 turnips
1 apple

Dress with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Grate the beetroots, turnips and apple (I always use my little Zyliss grater). Add the lemon dressing.
You may substitute the turnips by young carrots, it's equally delicious. Enjoy!

grated beetroot, turnip and apple

October, 16th

straight from the garden to my oven

And yes, there is a difference in taste between homegrown and bought in the shop! This yellow zucchino proved it. In its perfect state of ripeness, with only a few hours between garden and oven,  seasoned with sea salt and olive oil, it made for a simple and most delicious dinner.

The origin of this bright vegetable: Mr Simonsen's amazing showgardens where we spent an afternoon to gather inspiration for our own garden. My next project will probably be a small kitchen garden!

green lunch/green smoothie

 If you still haven't got a 1000 watt blender, buy one. It has been one of my best purchases last year.

The whole smoothie mania has been initiated by my friend Nancy who didn't stop praising the benefits of shredded greens and fruits emerging constantly from her newly bought vitamix - until eventually we all got infected more or less by the smoothie virus. According to her theory at least one of the components has to be a fresh green vegetable (or herb) to turn the smoothie into a true source of energy.
I love the smoothies' fresh taste and the endless variety of combinations. Try it with strawberries and portulaca....yummy!

Today's green smoothie
1 apple
1/4 small pineapple
1/2 banana
1/2 green bell pepper
1 glass of water

Today's green lunch: green bell pepper, Chinese cabbage and sweetheart cabbage with tuna
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
a piece of Chinese cabbage, chopped
a piece of sweetheart cabbage, chopped
a bit of grated ginger and garlic to taste
olive oil
salt
pepper
some pieces of canned tuna

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the vegetables, garlic and ginger and stir fry until all ingredients are tender. Add the pieces of tuna and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Essen ist fertig!

kale crisps

I found this recipe here and it reminded me strongly of some pieces of kale I lately had topped my  pizza with. Even though I had blanched the kale before, the leaves turned brown with tendency to black, burnt , paperlike, ashy... and  only very few of them  got really nice and crispy. Definitely not an award-winning pizza topping.

BUT IF YOU

"preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the baking tray with  parchment paper.
 Remove the leaves from thick stems and tear into bite sized pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale.
 Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the edges are brown        
 but not burnt"

YOU WILL GET some really delicious kale crisps!

The moment you put the first piece in your mouth it feels super crispy, salty, much lighter and thinner than a potato crisp, yumm..... then it becomes chewy (must be the healthy fibres), and if eventually you have eaten more than two or three of them, you may want to skip dinner. Promised!

kale crisps

1 bunch kale 

1 tbs olive oil

1 ts salt

a mug of sunshine: carrot soup with ginger and orange

After the opulent Christmas cooking I'm craving "clean" and simple food again. You know what I mean: a few ingredients like vegetable, fruit and  herbs can make such a quick and delicious (and healthy) meal. I put "healthy" in parentheses because in the past, the h-word was the most reliable motivation killer for my children to like my cooking. Healthy equaled "muesli" and uncool; in consequence: not desirable at all.
Once I learned to avoid the word in question things got immediately better. From then on only the taste decided!

After all, it's funny that the position of the family's health maniac has been seized by my sweet 20 year old daughter in the meantime. And - I must confess- better than I'd have ever been capable!

Carrot soup with ginger and orange 

750g carrots, chopped

1 onion, diced

a piece of ginger (walnut size), sliced

the juice of half an orange (or more to taste)

vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

oil to sprinkle over the soup (olive, flaxseed, argan, sesame...)

Put the carrots, the onion and the ginger in a saucepan, cover generously with vegetable stock.

Bring to a boil, then let the carrots simmer for about 15 minutes until tender but not pappy. Process with a hand blender until smooth.

Add the orange juice and stir.

Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oil  into each mug. 

Top the soup with a few stripes of green. I took portulaca leaves.

Instead of the greens you may prefer to top the soup with a cappuccino of milk foam.

Enjoy!

Healthy food week: DAY 3

DAY 3

Breakfast
    Toast with nut butter and jam
    decaf with oat/rice milk

Lunch
    turnips (Kohlrabi), fennel, carrots and cherry tomatoes in the wok
    white rice

It's more interesting to season each vegetable differently: carrots with sugar, salt and cumin
                                                                             turnips with salt and peperoncino flakes
                                                                             fennel with salt and curry powder
                                                                             tomatoes with sugar, salt and pepper

Dinner
    Quinoa with roasted pine nuts, basil and olive oil
    Steamed greens or green salad

    Bring 1 cup of quinoa, 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt to a boil, then let it simmer for about 20  
    minutes. Roast 1/2 cup of pine nuts. In a bowl mix Quinoa, pine nuts, 1 tablespoon olive oil and
    fresh chopped basil.


Snack
     Vegan brownies (leave a few for the breakfast tomorrow!)

 I used  the Brownie mix from Bauck Hof.

What's your favourite meal?

VEGETABLE!

Sandwich party in 3 steps!

1. Wait for a sunny day, drag a big table onto the grass and assemble chairs around it. Lay the table. Flowers and tablecloth optional but highly recommended.

2. Prepare the following:

• Fresh bread, I used italian rosemary bread, olive bread and simple ciabatta
• Hummus (1 can of chickpeas + 3tbs olive oil + juice of half a lemon + chopped onion +salt + pepper + spices - INTO THE BLENDER as above)
• Tomato and cucumber slices, lettuce and rocket
• grilled aubergines, mushrooms, artichokes and anything else that comes to your mind
• maybe you want to add cheeses and bacon

3. Let everyone create their own DIY sandwich and enjoy!