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