Fluey Lewis and the News - Warming Ginger-Eucalyptus Drink

I have been down with a nasty cold for the past few days, and I wanted to come up with something nice to drink - something that would keep me warm and... well... help me get rid of the mucus. This is what I came up with.

FLUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS

0.5 liter of water
1-1.5 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
2-3 dried eucalyptus leaves
the juice of half a (small) lemon

1. Bring the water to the boil in a pan.
2. While the water is heating, peel the ginger and chop it finely.
3. When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat.
4. Add the ginger, the eucalyptus leaves and the lemon juice into the water.
5. Cover the pan and allow to steep for about 10 minutes.
6. Pour the drink through a sieve, removing all the solids.
6. Enjoy.

Annika

Work Your Mojo - Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Sauce

A year or so ago, I went to a Caribbean restaurant in Seville, Spain. I randomly selected a few tapas-sized dishes that had been marked both vegetarian and gluten-free on the menu. One of the dishes that I ended up being served was a gorgeous Yuca Con Mojo, boiled cassava with garlic sauce. This very quick and extremely simple dish was inspired by that Yuca Con Mojo.

WORK YOUR MOJO (for 1 person)

1 small sweet potato

extra virgin olive oil

2 medium-sized cloves of garlic

chili powder

sea salt

1. Wash the sweet potato well and cut it in thick (about 1 cm) slices.

2. Pour a little bit of water on the bottom of a pot, add a little bit of sea salt, cover the pot with a lid and bring to the boil. The idea is to steam the sweet potato slices rather than boil them, so it really has to be very little water.

3. Add the sweet potato slices into the boiling water an cover the pot with a lid.

4. Chop the garlic cloves finely. 

5. Peel the sweet potato slices when they are ready. Keep them under a lid so that they will stay hot.

6. Pour some olive oil into a small saucepan and mix in the finely chopped garlic and a touch of chili powder. Heat the oil until it starts bubbling. While waiting for the oil to start bubbling, move the sweet potato slices on a plate. When the oil starts bubbling, pour it over the sweet potato slices.

7. Enjoy.

Annika

P.S. The same sauce goes well, for instance, with steamed cauliflower, as well.

Lingoist Ice Cream - Lingonberry-Banana Ice Cream

I'm back in the homeland, and eating loads of local berries. Here's a new ice cream recipe that I came up with the other day. To be honest, I don't know how widely available lingonberries are. I think I saw them in the Alps in Italy but, when I asked about them, was told, "Oh no! We don't eat THOSE!" Well, we do!

LINGOIST ICE CREAM

200 grams of frozen lingonberries
1 ripe banana, sliced
2-3 tablespoons of coconut milk

1. Take the lingonberries out of the freezer and leave them in room temperature for a few minutes.

2. Put the ingredients in a bowl and mix them with a blender until you have a smooth paste.

3. Enjoy.

Annika

Polenta Lenta - Polenta with Radicchio and Sheep Cheese

Did you know that the Slow Food movement started from a Piedmontese town called Bra, and did you know that polenta is one of the traditional dishes here in Piedmont? And did you know that "lenta" means "slow" in Italian? Well, now you do.

Anyway, a while ago, I went to a mountain refuge where I had gorgeous polenta with radicchio and cheese. This recipe is inspired by that polenta that I had at Rifugio Levi (which is also a great place to go bouldering, by the way).




POLENTA LENTA (FOR ONE PERSON)

3 dl water
slow-cooking polenta flour
140 grams of semi-soft sheep cheese (I used a local "Toma di Pecora")
about 8 medium-sized leaves of red radicchio (Italian chicory)
1 large clove of garlic
sea salt

1. Pour the water in a pan and heat it until it's about to reach boiling point. Turn the heat low.

2. Mix polenta flour with the water, little by little, using a whisk - to make sure that the polenta does not become lumpy. Add polenta flour until you feel like the the mixture is starting to get thicker - not so thick that it becomes heavy to mix but enough to make sure that it is not fluid.

3. Add salt, and let the polenta cook under a lid for about 20 minutes.

4. In the meantime, chop the garlic finely, cut the radicchio into fine strips, and cut the sheep cheese into small cubes.

5. When the 20 minutes have passed, mix the garlic and the radicchio with the polenta, and let the polenta cook under the lid for about five more minutes.

6. Add the cheese cubes, and let the polenta cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the sheep cheese has melted and the radicchio is not too crisp anymore.

7. Enjoy.

Annika

Garlic Punch – Broad Bean Salad with Fresh Garlic and Spring Onions

It’s fresh onion season! This quick and easy salad is a celebration of fresh garlic and spring onions, and also features my latest veggie discovery/favourite: broad beans. For garlic lovers only.

GARLIC PUNCH

4-5 large leaves of Romaine  lettuce (or similar)

0.5-0.75 kg of broad beans in their pods

2 small spring onions

fresh garlic

extra virgin olive oil

freshly squeezed lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper

(freshgly ground coriander)

sea salt

1. Chop the garlic finely. I used a small cloveless bulb of fresh garlic, which corresponds to about two cloves of fresh garlic.

2. Wash the spring onions and slice them finely. If the green part of the spring onions is still nice and crisp, you can use that, too.

3. Take the broad beans out of their pods, rinse them and steam them until they are ready (for 8-15 minutes, depending on their size).

4. While the broad beans are still cooking, wash the lettuce and tear it into small pieces.

5. Mix all the ingredients (it doesn’t matter if the broad beans are still hot), and add extra virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. I’ve added some coriander seeds into my pepper mill, and the touch of coriander was quite nice, too.

6. Enjoy.

Annika

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