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