Prunus Orangus - Prune-Orange Salad

I didn't have enough time to go to the farmers' market this weekend and instead ended up going to a regular market where you can also buy the more exotic winter produce from the south of Italy. One of the things I got were these huge, juicy organic navel oranges, which I've already used in a couple of very simple, light salads. Here's one of them.

PRUNUS ORANGUS

about 100 grams of field salad
0.5-1 navel orange
2 plums
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Wash the field salad.

2. Peel the orange and tear it into small pieces.

3. Wash the plums and cut them into small pieces.

4. Mix the field salad, the orange and the plums with some extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

5. Enjoy.

Annika

Che Cavolo! – Cabbage-Turnip-Leek Soup

The idea for this lovely soup came from one of my workmates who told me that he had made a tasty soup combining leeks, turnips and green cabbage. This is what I came up using those ingredients, and some more.





 
CHE CAVOLO!

half a small, green cabbage

2 medium-sized leeks

2 medium-sized turnips

small red pepper

3 cloves of garlic

fresh ginger

gluten-free bouillon powder

½-¾ teaspoons of cardamom

freshly ground pepper

sea salt

extra virgin olive oil

1. Peel the garlic and the fresh ginger, and chop them in small pieces.

2. Peel the turnips and cut them in smaller chunks.

3. Wash the leeks, the red pepper and the green cabbage and cut them in smaller chunks.

4. Put the bouillon powder, the salt, the cardamom, the garlic and the ginger into a medium-sized pot together with some water and bring to a boil.

5. Add the turnips, the leeks and the red pepper, turn down the heat and leave the soup simmering under a lid for about five minutes.

6. Add the cabbage, and leave the soup simmering until all the ingredients are soft enough to blend.

7. Blend until the soup has become a creamy puree.

8. Serve with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground pepper.

Annika

Sweet Cabbage of Mine - Cabbage Casserole with Raisins

Another cabbage dish that I make several different variants of. Its roots can be found in what once used to be my favourite dish: "kaalilaatikko" ("cabbage casserole") - a traditional Finnish oven dish with cabbage, rice, minced meat and syrup.

SWEET CABBAGE OF MINE

5 dl of water
2 dl of green lentils
3/4 dl of red quinoa
a small green cabbage
5 dl of thinly sliced leek
1 small fennel
3 cloves of garlic
1-2 handfuls of raisins, depending on the size of your hands
gluten-free bouillon powder
1.5 tablespoons of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons of parsley
0.5 tablespoon of oregano
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
2 tablespoons of sunflower seed oil

0. Rinse the lentils and soak them overnight.

1. Chop the garlic finely.

2. Pour the water into a large pot and bring it to a boil.

3. Add the lentils, the garlic and the bouillon powder into the pot, adjust the heat to low, and let it simmer under a lid.

4. Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage, cut the rest of the cabbage into short stripes and add the stripes into the pot together with the thyme, the parsley, the oregano, the pepper and the raisins. Mix well.

5. Wash the leeks and the fennel, slice the leek thinly and cut the fennel into small pieces.

6. Wash the quinoa well.

7. After the other ingredients have been cooked for a minimum of 20 min, add the leek, the fennel, the quinoa and the sunflower seed oil, mix the ingredients well and let the mixture simmer until the quinoa is ready (about 15 minutes).

8. Serve either hot or cold.

Pumpkin Soup with Dill

I love pumpkin soup, and I make quite a few different versions of it. This weekend, I found fresh dill at the market, so went for the below version with dill.

Oh, I should take this opportunity to share a valuable piece of advice: Don't waste your life cutting with crap knives! Using my old set of Ikea knives, I used to think that cutting pumpkins was one of the most tedious and difficult jobs in the kitchen... until my brother gave me a fancy Japanese knife that cuts through anything - probably even my fingers if I don't take care - with absolutely no effort at all. My life has changed.

PUMPKIN SOUP WITH DILL

pumpkin
1-2 onions
2-3 cloves of garlic
dill
gluten-free bouillon powder
sea salt
pepper
extra virgin olive oil

1. Peel the pumpkin, the onions and the garlic and chop them coarsely.

2. Wash and cut as much dill as you want to add into the soup. I think I used four branches this time but I would've been happy with more.

3. Put the pumpkin, the onions, the garlic and the dill into a pot, and add enough water to cover all the vegetables.

4. Add the bouillon powder, the salt and the pepper, and bring to a boil.

5. Blend when the pumpkin is soft.

6. Serve with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Mmmm.

Annika

Cabble - Red Cabbage & Apple Salad

Red cabbage and apples are at their seasonal best right now, and I just cannot get enough of this good, old-fashioned red cabbage and apple salad - so crisp and juicy!

CABBLE

red cabbage

a crisp apple

a handful of white raisins

sea salt

half a lemon

extra virgin olive oil

1. Cut the red cabbage and the apple into small strips. The ratio of cabbage to apple that I usually use is about three to one.

2. Cut the raisins into smaller pieces - at least if you're using the kind of large, white raisins that I used this weekend.

3. Put the red cabbage, the apple and the raisins into a bowl, add a pinch of sea salt, the juice of half a lemon and some extra virgin olive oil.

4. Enjoy your seasonal salad.

Annika

Milletary Pancake II – Savoury Millet Pancake with Rosemary & Olives

I liked last Sunday’s millet pancake so much that I decided to make it with another typical combination of Italian tastes – rosemary and olives – today. Please also notice the increased size of the pancake...

MILLETARY PANCAKE II

6 dl of water
3 dl of millet
3 eggs
3 dl of coarsely chopped olives with a strong taste (e.g. kalamata olives)
2 cloves of garlic

1 dl of finely chopped white onion
about 3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
gluten-free bouillon powder
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
(sea salt)

1. Rinse the millet well.

2. Chop the garlic, the onions and and the rosemary finely.

3. Over low heat, warm a bit of olive oil in a pot, and cook the garlic and onions in it for a few minutes without browning them.

4. Add the rosemary, and cook for another minute.

5. Add the water, the bouillon powder and – should you so wish – a pinch of salt, and bring to a simmer.

6. Stir in the millet, cover the pot, and adjust the heat to low. Let the millet cook undisturbed for about 25 minutes, until it’s tender and has absorbed all the water.

7. While the millet is cooking, stone the olives and chop them coarsely.

8. Remove the millet from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

9. Beat the eggs, add half of the cooked millet, and use a stick blender to blend the ingredients into a thick puree.

10. Mix the millet-egg puree, the olives and freshly ground pepper carefully.

11. On a baking tray covered with baking paper, use a spatula and/or your hands to form a flat cake out of the mixture.

12. Bake in a pre-heated (220 degrees Celsius) oven for 10-15 minutes.

13. Enjoy hot or cold! Please notice that it's less likely to crumble when it's cooled down a bit.

Annika

Milletary Pancake I – Savoury Millet Pancake with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Rosemary

The idea for a millet pancake originates from the time I used to go to the health food store close to my old flat; they often had home-made stuff on offer, and I once tried – and fell in love with – their millet cakes. So, this weekend, I started hunting for millet cake recipies. The recipe below is the healthiest possible combination of the recipies I found (especially in that I decided to bake the pancake in the oven, instead of frying it). I called mine a pancake because it’s one large cake instead of several little ones.

MILLETARY PANCAKE I

4 dl of water
2 dl of millet
2 eggs
50 grams of sun-dried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
gluten-free bouillon powder
extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
(sea salt)

1. Place the sundried tomatoes in warm water for half an hour to reconstitute them.

2. Rinse the millet well.

3. Chop the garlic and the rosemary finely.

4. Over low heat, warm a bit of olive oil in a pot, and cook the garlic in it for a few minutes without browning it.

5. Add the rosemary, and cook for another minute.

6. Add the water, the bouillon powder and the salt, and bring to a simmer. Please notice that you don’t necessarily have to add any extra salt, as sun-dried tomatoes are very salty. I did but I won’t next time.

7. Stir in the millet, cover the pot, and adjust the heat to low. Let the millet cook undisturbed for about 25 minutes, until it’s tender and has absorbed all the water.

8. While the millet is cooking, drain the sun-dried tomatoes and chop them coarsely. (Don’t throw away the water you used to reconstitute the tomatoes; you can use it to add taste to a soup or something.)

9. Remove the millet from the heat and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

10. Beat the eggs, add half of the cooked millet, and use a stick blender to blend it all into a thick puree.

11. Mix the millet-egg puree, the sun-dried tomatoes and freshly ground pepper carefully.

12. On a baking tray covered with baking paper, make a round, flat cake (with a diameter of about 28 cm) out of the mixture using a spatula and/or your hands.

13. Bake in a pre-heated (220 degrees Celsius) oven for 10-15 minutes.

14. Enjoy hot - or cold if you manage to stop eating it while it's still hot. I didn't.

Annika

Pumpkin Jack Flash - Baked Pumpkin Seeds

I often snack on pumpkin seeds, so I wanted to learn how to prepare fresh pumpkin seeds. The past weekend was the perfect weekend for experimentation, as I had just bought two different kinds of winter squash. I suppose there are other ways to prepare fresh pumpkin seeds but I decided to bake them, and the result was very nice.




PUMPKIN JACK FLASH

fresh pumpkin seeds
sunflower seed oil
sea salt

1. Rinse the pumplin seeds until they are clean, and pat them dry between two sheets of kitchen roll.

2. Sprinkle a little bit of sunflower seed oil on baking paper.

3. Put the pumpkin seeds on the baking paper and sprinkle some sea salt on them.

4. Toss the pumpkin seeds using a spatula to make sure that they all get a bit of oil on them. Then use the spatula to spread the pumpkin seeds evenly on the baking paper.

5. Bake the pumpkin seeds in 175 degrees for about 15 minutes, turning them once.

6. Pat the baked pumpkin seeds between two sheets of kitchen roll to remove excess oil.

7. Enjoy your salty snack!

Annika

My Dahl-ing Soup - Spicy Lentil Soup

I've been planning on learning to cook dahl for a while now. In India, where they have loads of vegetarians, they eat dahl (or, rather, lentils) for protein. Combined with rice, you actually get a complete protein - every vegetarian's dream come true!

Breaking news: On 2 February 2011, this dahl won Soup Contest 2011, a soup making competition against five of my Italian workmates.


MY DAHL-ING SOUP

1.5 dl of red lentils
3.5-4 dl of water
gluten-free bouillon powder
sunflower seed oil
a large onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
a large tomato
3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of curcuma
1 teaspoon of coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom / 4 cardamom seeds
sea salt

1. Mix the bouillon powder with the water and bring to the boil.

2. Wash the lentils well, add them into the boiling water, and let them cook for about 15 minutes.

3. In the meantime, chop the onion, the garlic and the ginger as finely as you can, and cut the tomato in medium-sized pieces.

4. Heat the oil at the bottom of a pot and saute the onion, the garlic, the ginger and the spices.

5. Add the lentils (together with the stock), the tomato and the sea salt into the pot, and let the dahl simmer for about 20 minutes.

6. Enjoy.

Annika

Ginger Pop - Spicy Popcorn

I've been in a bit of a popcorn phase recently - so much so that I've started feeling a bit guilty about my "carby" habit (I should avoid excessive carbs). So, I thought I'd make my popcorn a bit healthier somehow. Here's what I came up with (google "ginger" for its health benefits).







GINGER POP

Sunflower seed oil
Popcorn kernels
Sea salt
Ginger powder

1. Add a thin layer of sunflower seed oil at the bottom of a pan with a reasonably thick bottom.

2. Add one popcorn kernel in the pan and cover the pan with a lid.

3. Heat the oil using a high temperature until the test kernel pops.

4. Wait for about 15 seconds, add the rest of the kernels, and cover the pan with a lid again.

5. When the kernels start popping, make sure to shake the pan vigorously on a regular basis, to avoid the popped kernels to get burned. You might also want to lower the temperature a bit.

6. When the popping has stopped, take the pan off the stove, and pour the popcorn into a bowl.

7. Put cold water in the empty, hot pan, and enjoy the resulting "ksssshhhhh" sound.

8. Add sea salt and ginger powder to taste, and enjoy your spicy snack.

Annika

Catalonia Dreaming - Chicory with Sunflower Seeds

Catalogna (‘Catalonia’; the type of chicory in the picture on the left, the English name of which I haven’t found anywhere yet) is one of the leaf vegetables I’ve got acquainted with here in Turin. What I usually do is that I steam it and then just eat it as a side dish with salt, pepper, olive oil, and maybe a bit of lemon. However, this time I decided to try something different with some leftover catalogna (already steamed but without any condiments) I had in my fridge. I actually liked the new side dish much more than the old one.

If you’ve never had catalogna before, you should probably be warned that it has rather a bitter taste and might, therefore, not please everyone’s taste buds.

Catalonia Dreaming

Catalogna
Sunflower seeds
Garlic
Gluten-free tamari sauce
Sesame seed oil

-1. Wash the catalogna leaves and cut them in 2-cm-long pieces.

0. Steam the catalogna until ready (but with a bite).

1. Peel and chop as much garlic as socially acceptable.

2. Heat a teflon pan (without oil), then heat the steamed catalogna, the garlic and a handful of sunflower seeds in it for a few minutes, continuously stirring the ingredients.

3. Turn off the heat, add a bit of tamari sauce and sesame seed oil, mix the ingredients well and serve.

Annika

Green Quisquis Salad – Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs

When I lived in Holland and was still blissfully unaware of my gluten problem, I sometimes used to get some lovely couscous salad from a Turkish corner shop down the road. This quinoa salad is inspired by that couscous salad.





GREEN QUISQUIS SALAD (Pronounced 'Green Kiss Kiss Salad')

3 espresso cups of white quinoa
6 espresso cups of water
2 Italian-style small cucumbers or 1 large cucumber
1 green pepper
2 medium-sized red onions
2 cloves of garlic
bunch of fresh coriander
bunch of fresh parsley (about twice as much as coriander)
gluten-free bouillon powder
lemon
olive oil
freshly ground pepper
sea salt

1. Wash the quinoa well. Add bouillon powder and sea salt to the water, and boil the quinoa in it until ready.

2. Wash the cucumber, the pepper, the coriander and the parsley and chop them finely.

3. Chop the onions and the garlic finely.

4. When the quinoa has cooled down a bit, mix it with all the chopped vegetables and herbs.

5. Add pepper, salt, olive oil and lemon juice, and serve either chilled or when the quinoa is still a bit warm. You can serve this salad either as a main course or a side dish.

Kiss kiss,
Annika

Paradis du Chocolat II - Pure Chocolate

I rarely go to regular supermarkets anymore but I'm so glad I walked into a nearby Carrefour today. To my surprise, I found chocolate with a 100% cocoa content (a minimum of 99.75%, to be exact). At Carrefour! And it only cost me 2.35 euro for 100 grams! It must be my lucky day.

Anyway, the chocolate is produced by an Italian company called Sugar Company (how ironic), and the good stuff is called Cuorenero Classic Blend 100% Cocoa:

http://www.sugarcompany.net/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/86



My dear coauthor Michael gave me a bag of organic cacao beans when I visited him in Marseille a couple of weeks ago. I've got into the habit of eating around 6 cacao beans every day now but, unless I can find that stuff (which obviously is the purest of the purest) here in Italy, I will definitely become a regular Sugar Company customer.

Enjoy the endorphins!

Un bacio nero,
Annika

Medimix - Cabbage Stew with Mediterranean Herbs and Veggies

Cabbage makes for a great, healthy base for many dishes. It keeps much better than most other vegetables, so it's a good idea to always keep a cabbage in the fridge. Here is my latest cabbage dish. It was quick and easy to make and turned out so well that I'll definitely be making it again.





Medimix

1/2 medium-sized Savoy cabbage
1 yellow pepper
1 very large tomato (or 2 smaller tomatoes)
1 courgette
1 leek
6-8 large leaves of fresh basil
fresh dill
fresh ginger
3-4 cloves of garlic
sea salt
pepper
gluten-free tamari sauce

1. Cut the cabbage in half. Remove the exterior leaves of the half that you intend to use, and cut it in narrow strips.

2. Wash and cut the tomato, the pepper, the courgette and the leek.

3. Peel the ginger and the garlic, and cut them in small pieces.

4. Wash and cut the basil and the dill in small pieces.

5. Sautee the ginger and the garlic in sunflower oil in a large, deep frying pan or a large pot.

6. Add the vegetables, the herbs, the salt and the pepper. Mix well while keeping the temperature high. Then let the mix simmer until the cabbage is soft and until all the tastes have had enough time to blend with each other. As with any cabbage dishes, they only get better as the cooking times get longer (I think).

7. Add some tamari sauce and serve.

Annika

Ruby Soup – Beetroot Soup with Fresh Herbs

This lovely soup should be tried by anyone who says that they hate beetroots. I used to hate beetroots, too, until I actually started using fresh beetroots in my cooking. Give beetroots another chance!

Ruby Soup

4 beetroots
2 carrots
2 small red onions
3-4 smallish cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
fresh coriander
fresh parsley
gluten-free bouillon powder
sea salt

1. Peel the beetroots, the carrots, the onions, the garlic and the ginger, and chop them coarsely.

2. Wash the coriander and the parsley. I used a generous amount of coriander!

3. Put all the ingredients – including the bouillon powder and the salt – in a large pot, and add enough water to cover all the ingredients.

4. Cook until the beetroots and the carrots are ready.

5. Liquidise and serve.

6. Let me know if you still hate beetroots.

Annika

Wankers Crisps – DIY Crisps

Excuse the name of the crisps but there is a story behind it. After yet another late night at the lab during my MSc course in Edinburgh, I was craving crisps – badly. On the way back home, I walked into one of the night shops on Clerk Street and, unimpressed by the look of the Scottish brands they had on offer, was trying to think of the name of the crisps I used to have in England so that I could ask the shop assistant if they really didn’t have them. I was thinking and thinking but the name just wouldn’t come to me... until, finally, I remembered it: Wankers! As I was about to ask the shop assistant for Wankers crisps, I suddenly realised that something about the name wasn’t quite right. In fact, something about the name was horribly wrong; the crisps couldn’t possibly be called Wankers crisps! And so what would have been one of my worst English language blunders to date was narrowly avoided.

On another note, I find my mistake quite interesting as it suggests that I retrieve English words from my memory using their orthography rather than their pronunciation (the real name of the brand is Walkers, and the words “Wankers” and “Walkers” are much more similar to each other orthographically than phonetically). This is sort of supported by the fact that, to be able to memorise and/or reproduce a new foreign word, I usually need to see it written down.

Wankers Crisps

4 medium-sized red potatoes

sunflower oil

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

1. Wash the potatoes (you don’t necessarily have to peel them) and slice them as thinly as you can.

2. Wash the potato slices in cold water and dry them by placing them one by one on one half of a kitchen towel. Fold the other half of the kitchen towel on top and pat the potato slices dry.

3. Place the potato slices in a baking tray covered with baking paper, and sprinkle oil, salt and pepper on top of them. Toss them around using a spatula to make sure that there is oil and spices everywhere.

4. Cook the potato slices in a preheated 250° oven, tossing them around every 5 minutes. I think the total cooking time in my case was about 25 min. However, because of differences in size/thickness, some crisps were ready before others.  Anyway, you have to keep an eye on them as you don’t want to burn them!

5. When crisp enough, let your crisps cool down a bit (not in the baking tray, though, as they might get soft from the remaining oil on the baking paper), then enjoy them as long as they last – which, unfortunately, isn’t very long at all!

Annika

Soyotto - Veggie Risotto with Soya Beans

Instead of always buying processed soya products, I've decided to start experimenting with soya beans in my dishes. This was my first experiment, and I was quite happy with the result. I'm sure the result will be just as good with any other mix of veggies.





Soyotto

risotto rice
black soya beans
green soya beans
6 courgettes
fennel
1-2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
pea pods
1 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
gluten-free bouillon powder
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
tamari sauce

0. Soak the soya beans overnight.

1. Peel the onion, the garlic and the ginger, and chop them finely.

2. Cook the risotto rice and the soya beans together with the onion, the garlic and the ginger (please check the cooking times of the rice and the soya beans as they might differ from each other). Even though it's a "soyotto", there should be (a lot) more veggies than rice and soya beans in the final dish!

3. Peel and wash the carrots, wash the rest of the vegetables and cut them all in smallish pieces.

4. 10-15 minutes before the end of the cooking time of the rice and the soya beans, add the vegetables, the bouillon powder, the salt and the black pepper. Let the soyotto cook until the vegetables are ready.

5. Add the tamari sauce, and enjoy.

Annika

Seaweed Surprise - Cucumber & Arame Salad

I've been wanting to learn how to use seaweed for a while now. I bought some arame a while ago but my attempts at "intuitively" using it haven't been particularly successful. So, I resorted to google and found this recipe that sounded easy and interesting: http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2009/04/29/raw-food-recipe-for-cucumber-arame-salad/. As I was boiling the arame (I decided to soak and boil it, as the packaging suggested), I started wondering if I would just have to chuck the whole salad out; the smell of the boiling seaweed wasn't particularly appealing. So, I was all the more surpised at how tasty and wonderfully refreshing the salad turned out to be. I'm already thinking how perfect it would be for one of those hot summer days in Turin.

I modified the original recipe a little bit; below is what I did.

Seaweed Surprise 

25 g arame
1.5 long, thick cucumbers
1 red pepper
1/2 medium-sized onion
3/4 lemon
sea salt
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

1. Wash the arame and let it soak for 10 minutes. Then boil it for 15 minutes.
2. Peel the cucumber and slice it as thinly as possible. I used the peeler to slice the cucumber, too.
3. Sprinkle sea salt on the sliced cucumber and let set in a salad bowl for a bit.
4. Dice the pepper and the onion, and add it into the salad bowl.
5. Rinse the boiled arame, chop it into smaller pieces, and add it into the salad bowl.
6. Add the pepper, the juice of the lemon and the olive oil, and mix.
(7. Stick the salad into the fridge for a bit for an extra refreshing effect.)
8. Eat and feel refreshed!

Annika

Merry Berry Icecream

I´m holidaying in Finland at the moment, and I´m making the most of the plentiful supply of frozen berries by making "berry icecream" every day. The recipe was actually invented by my friend Michael, and it's one of the things I'm craving for the most in Italy where it´s really hard to find frozen berries (you might be asking yourself why I am not freezing berries myself but somehow I just find it a real shame to freeze fresh berries and, therefore, prefer to eat them as such).

Merry Berry Icecream

frozen berries of your choice
coconut milk

1. Put the frozen berries and the coconut milk in a bowl.


2. Blend! (If your blender is old and powerless, you might have to wait until the berries are a little bit softer.)

3. Enjoy!

I´m mainly using black currants, red currants, blueberries and lingonberries here in Finland, and the resulting icecream is not particularly sweet. If you prefer something sweeter, it's obviously better to go for strawberries, raspberries and the like.

Annika

Hot Chicks - Hot Chickpea Salad

Moving house tomorrow, so need to get rid of my chickpeas, too! So, this lovely, filling salad is what I'll be having for dinner tonight (except that I obviously won't be using tinned chickpeas): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/5355420/Hot-chickpea-salad-with-spring-onions-and-parsley.html

Annika

Risindiano - Risotto with an Indian Touch

I am about to move house, and have realised that I have a cupboard full of food that I neither want to chuck out nor take with me. One of the things that I found in my cupboard was a good amount of Italian red rice. I'm not big into starchy foods but I decided to make an exception and try to cook a risotto, using up the rice and some cumin seeds that I got from an Indian ex-workmate a few months ago. I was quite pleased with the result - a spicy risotto with an Indian touch. However, I must say that the strong taste of the red rice and the spices overshadowed the much more subtle taste of the veggies that I decided to use - asparagus and courgettes. Next time, I might try to replace the asparagus and the courgettes with veggies that better complement the taste of the red rice (an alternative for those of you who use white rice might be to stick to the asparagus and the courgettes but use white rice instead).

So, here is what I used and did today.

Risindiano

4.5 dl Italian red rice
10 dl water
1/2 kg asparagus spears
3 large courgettes
1 medium-sized onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
fresh ginger
extra virgin olive oil
gluten-free bouillon powder
cumin
~2 tablespoons of paprika powder
~1 teaspoon of ground pepper
sea salt

1. Peel the onion, the garlic and the ginger, and chop them finely.

2. Wash the asparagus spears and the courgettes, and cut them into small pieces.

3. Heat some olive oil in a large pot, and saute the cumin, the onion, the garlic and the ginger.

4. Add the water, the rice, the bouillon powder and the rest of the spices. Let it cook for 5-10 minutes.

5. Add the veggies. Stirring every now and then, let the risotto simmer under a lid until a) the rice is soft enough and b) the water has been absorbed into the rice.

6. Enjoy.

Annika

Asparagusto Delizioso - Asparagus Soup

I had eagerly been waiting for the asparagus season to begin, so I was very pleased to find organic asparagus at the farmers' market today. It could only mean one thing: I would try to reproduce the lovely asparagus soup I made last year and share the recipe with you.

Here it is. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.






Asparagusto Delizioso

~1 kg of asparagus spears
2 medium-sized onions
3-4 small cloves of garlic
gluten-free bouillon powder
coconut milk
lemon
water
sea salt
pepper

1. Peel and chop the onions and the garlic roughly, and add them into a large pot together with the water, te bouillon powder, the sea salt and the pepper. Bring to a boil.

2. Wash the asparagus spears and chop them roughly. Add the asparagus into the boiling water. There should be enough water to cover all the ingredients. Cover the pot, and let it all cook until the asparagus is soft.

3. Blend until smooth.

4. Check the taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary. Add coconut milk and lemon juice, constantly checking the taste for the right proportions. I typically use a fourth or a third of a can of coconut milk and about half a lemon.

5. Heat it up, and enjoy!

Annika

Leeky Lentils - Leek & Lentil Soup

So far, this has been my favourite variant of the leeky lentil soup inspired by one of our (two) followers. In fact, it's one of my favourite soups.

Leeky Lentils

5 leeks
1.5-2 cups of green lentils
2 stalks of celery
a huge bunch of parsley
gluten-free bouillon powder
loads of garlic
sea salt
black pepper
extra vergine olive oil

0. Soak the lentils overnight.
1. Let the lentils cook while you're preparing the other ingredients.
2. Wash and cut the leek and the celery into smaller pieces, peel and cut the garlic in small pieces, and wash the parsley.
3. Add the leek, the celery, the garlic, the parsley, the pepper and the bouillon powder.
4. When the lentils are almost ready, add the salt.
5. When the lentils are ready, blend the soup until smooth.
6. Serve with a bit of extra vergine olive oil.

Annika

Aubergines My Way

I love aubergines. This weekend, I learnt a new way to prepare them. So, at the moment, I prepare them in three different ways (the third one is the new one):

1. Dice the aubergines. Fry them in coconut oil. Add sea salt and pepper. (My absolute favourite but also the least healthy...)

2. Slice the aubergines and add extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and pepper on top of them. I sometimes also add fresh parsley. Bake the aubergines in the oven.

3. Go mental. Stab the aubergines all over with a fork. Rub some extra virgin olive oil and sea salt on top of the stabbed aubergines. Bake them in the oven. When ready, the skin will come off really easily and you can use the flesh whichever way you want. One of the main benefits of this cooking method (in addition to the obvious psychotherapeutic benefits) is its lightness; aubergines tend to soak up a lot of fat, and this cooking method keeps most of the fat on the outside.

Au bergine,
Annika

Eggy Brekkie - Vegetable Omelette

I started the day with one of my favourite breakfasts... Eggy Brekkie. Quick, easy and tasty.






Eggy Brekkie

organic free-range eggs
courgette
leek
(spinach)
sea salt
pepper
paprika
extra virgin olive oil

1. Mix the eggs and the spices with a fork. To get an idea about the proportions, veggies are the main ingredient! I typically use two eggs and loads of veggies.
2. Cut the courgette and the leek.
3. If you intend to use a lot of spinach, you might want to steam it first so that it'll all fit in the frying pan!
4. Heat the oil in the frying pan, add the veggies and pour in the egg mixture. Let it all cook under a lid, mixing the ingredients every now and then. Don't let it cook too long, though; it's nicer if the courgette remains a bit crisp.

Annika

Paradis du chocolat - Pure Chocolate

Ground-breaking news. I was just alerted to the existence of chocolate with a 99% cocoa content. I still don't know how to get my hands on it but I'm almost hoping for a rainy day for when I'm going climbing in Fontainbleau at Easter; I might get the chance to pop into the Michel Cluizel shop in Paris! Noir Infini. Paradis Infini.

http://www.cluizel.com/

Annika

Costa Poco - Steamed Swiss Chard

Italy is a leaf eater's paradise! One of my latest acquintances is 'bietola da costa', or Swiss chard.

This is bietola for beginners - a quick and easy side dish. I will keep you posted on anything more advanced that I might come across.

COSTA POCO

Swiss chard
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Wash and slice the chard.
2. Steam the chard until tender.
3. Add oil, salt and pepper.
4. Enjoy!

Annika

Red Roots - Beetroot Casserole

What's on the menu tonight? A casserole made with 'red roots' and other goods (when translated directly from the Finnish word 'punajuuri', 'beetroots' become 'red roots').

This one is simple but does take a while to prepare. What I usually do is that I prepare a huge portion and then eat it either hot or cold for a few days.

Buon appetito!


RED ROOTS

beetroots
red onions
Brazil nuts
potatoes

Dressing:
extra virgin olive oil
paprika
pepper
sea salt

1. Wash, cook, peel and slice the beetroots.

2. Cut the onions in half and slice the halves.

3. Peel the potatoes and slice them as thinly as you can. To get an idea about the proportions of the ingredients, I usually use four or five times as many beetroots as potatoes.

4. Mix the ingredients of the dressing. Be generous with the paprika!

5. Arrange layers of the ingredients in the casserole and bake in 180 degrees for about an hour.

6. Let me know if you have ideas on how to improve the dressing!