Soak Your Nuts

I’ve often come across advice to soak nuts and seeds before eating them. I soaked almonds for a short while (and noticed how much nicer they tasted after soaking!) but then got lazy and stopped soaking them again. I guess I never really took the advice to soak nuts and seeds so seriously as it was never given with any convincing enough facts about the benefits of soaking. If any reason was given, it was the greater ease of digesting soaked nuts. Great! But kind of vague...

Today, I finally came across something that was convincing enough for me. Apparently, raw nuts and seeds contain phytic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid), which actually makes iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium unabsorbable. That’s no good for vegetarians, who might already be struggling to get enough iron from their diet! I personally do not use milk products, either, and had sort of assumed that I would be getting a fair bit of magnesium and calsium from all the almonds I eat but I guess that all that magnesium and calsium is not absorbing as well as it could...

Anyway, I’ve decided to start soaking nuts again. This is how I do it at the moment. Please say tuned for updates as I’m looking into methods of drying the soaked nuts, as well.

SOAK YOUR NUTS

Daily portion of nuts of your choice

Water

1. Rinse your nuts well.

2. Put your nuts in a glass, bowl or the like, cover them with water, and let them soak overnight.

3. Rinse your soaked nuts well.

4. Enjoy.

Annika

Bed of Lettuce – Egg and Mushroom Salad

In just a few of weeks, the temperatures here in the North of Italy have risen from winter coat to T-shirt temperatures. The chance of seasons can be seen at the farmers’ market, as well; the range of vegetables is widening every week! The past couple of weeks, for instance, more and more different types of lettuce have become available again. Today, I got some Romaine lettuce, and made this quick salad with eggs and mushrooms.

BED OF LETTUCE

2 eggs

3-5 mushrooms

2-3 tablespoons of fresh parsley

3 cloves of garlic

0.5-1 tablespoon of tumeric

freshly ground pepper

sea salt

sunflower seed or peanut oil

4 large leaves of Romaine lettuce

1. Beat the eggs together with the spices.
2. Peel the garlic, and chop it finely.
3. Wash the parsley and chop it finely.
4. Wash and slice the mushrooms.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
6. Add the egg mixture, and let it solidify for a few seconds.
7. Add the mushrooms, parsley and garlic, and use a spatula to break the egg mixture and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Stir for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat off and leave the mixture under a lid.
8. Wash the lettuce leaves, and tear them into small pieces.
9. Make a bed of lettuce on a plate, and add the egg/vegetable mixture on top.
10. Enjoy.

Annika

Foeniculum Orangulum - Italian Fennel Salad

I found some organic Sicilian oranges and walnuts at the market today, so decided to make this classic Italian salad (Yeah, I know... Yet another salad with oranges... I just can't get enough of them at the moment!).





FOENICULUM ORANGULUM

1 large fennel
1.5 oranges
10 whole walnuts (or 20 halves)
extra virgin olive oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Wash the fennel and slice it (from bottom up, until you reach the green part) as thinly as you possibly can.

2. Peel the oranges and cut them in small pieces.

3. Crack the walnut shells open, take out the walnuts and cut them in small pieces.

4. Put the fennel, the oranges and the walnuts in a salad bowl, add some olive oil, lemon juice (optional), sea salt and pepper, and mix. (If you care about how your salad looks, check out the serving suggestions on this site: http://www.lacucinadimarble.it/rec.php?id=442)

5. Enjoy.

Annika

P.S. In Italy, they often serve very thinly sliced fennels with extra virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper only. Also very nice.

Cichorium Orangium - Fruity Chicory Salad

This gorgeous salad is an amended version of a salad recipe that my aunt recommended me to try. I've basically just added the pears and the walnuts to the original recipe.






CICHORIUM ORANGIUM

4 chicories
2 navel oranges
2 pears
1 leek
80-100 grams of walnuts
extra virgin olive oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Wash the chicories, cut of their ends, and slice the rest of them sideways.

2. Peel the oranges and the pears, and cut them into small pieces.

3. Wash the leek, and cut it into thin slices.

4. Cut the walnuts into small pieces.

5. Mix all the ingredients together, adding olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper to taste.

6. Enjoy.

Annika

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.