Cuisine: Quick & Easy

Aronia-Coconut-Smoothie

Aronia-Kokosnuss-Smoothie

My neighbour brought me homemade aronia juice. Very interesting … I tried it first half and half mixed with water, but decided, that it might be better mixed with some other ingredients.
That’s how I came to the idea of making a smoothie.

Ingredients

  • 1 big pear
  • 1 small apple
  • 1/2 cup aronia juice
  • 1/2 cup chinese cabbage (I hope it’s healthy as well …)
  • 2 cups coconut-rice milk (I guess almond milk will be just fine)
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp hemp seed

Put all the ingredients in a blender, blend very well. Ready to drink :-)

Aronia-Kokosnuss-Smoothie

Korean inspired ricebowl

Koreanisch inspirierte Reisschüssel

Kürbis und grüner SpargelThis is the cute little brother of the asian inspired noodlebowl.
The same kind of food, that you can enjoy eating out of a big bowl while sitting on the couch.
The perfect fit for a lazy cooking moment.
The whole dish is based on an aromatic sauce, the main flavour component is a spicy korean paste called gonchujang. You can cook this dish with any combination of vegetables and proteins. I took the mixture for the sauce from a Nigella Lawson recipe and changed it a little bit.
Today I choose hokkaido and green aspargus as vegetables, combined with japanese rice.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp gochujang paste
  • 3 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp mirin
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 splashes roasted sesame oil
  • 2 cups sushi rice
  • 300 g hokkaido pumpkin, cut in 1 cm pieces
  • 8 spears of green aspargus
  • 2 Tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 spring onions, cut in rings
  • 1 Tbsp roasted white or black sesame

Start with washing the rice. I use a sieve on top of a big bowl, where I wash the rice in the water until the water stays clear. This takes about three batches of water. Then drain the rice a bit.
If you are using a rice cooker, top the rice with 3 cups of water. If you have the time, soak the rice in the water for about 30 min before turning it on.
If you don’t have a rice cooker, use a heavy bottomed pot and top also with 3 cups of water.
Put it on the stove on high heat, as soon as the water boils, turn to minimum, let cook covered until all of the water is absorbed, this should take about 20 min.

IMG_4233In the meantime chop the vegetables. You don’t have to peel the hokkaido, which is very convenient. Just remove the seeds and cut in about 1 cm pieces.
Cook in a wok in the 2 Tbsp of oil, stirring occasionally, on medium heat.
After 10 min or so, the hokkaido should be nicely caramelised, add the aspargus. To prepare the aspargus, you only need to cut off the dry parts, if the spears are very thick it’s good to peel them, but only the 3–4 cm off the bottom. If you are lazy, I am sure, you can just leave that and cope with some pieces of thick aspargus skin :-)
To prepare the sauce you only need to throw all of the ingredients together, the mirin, soy sauce, gonchujang paste and sugar, and mix until the sugar has dissolved. In the end two splashes of sesame oil.
After about 7 min the vegetables yould be ready to serve, the aspargus needs only about 5–7 min. Now pour the sauce on top, give it a good stir, that the vegetables are coated nicely and let warm through.

By this time the rice should also be ready, so you can divide everything between two bowls, rice first, then the vegetable and top with some spring onions and roasted sesam.

IMG_4237

PS: Today I ate everything on my own …

japanese inspired noodle bowl

Japanisch inspirierte Nudelschale

Japanisch inspirierte NudelschaleThis is real comfort food. You can throw it together in no time, you can use whatever in your fridge looks like growing a pair of legs in a short while and tastes unbelievably good.

Usually I end up cooking these noodles on rainy sunday afternoons, when the main goal is to cuddle up on the couch and watch some episodes of my current favorite series.

I start with the sesame-peanut-sauce. In this recipe I use the US cup measurement, but don’t worry if you don’t have cups, I also added the quantities in ml.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients sesame-peanut-sauce

  • 3 Tbsp tahin
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 3/4 Tbsp fresh ginger (size of a thumb)
  • 1 1/2 tsp chili paste
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp peanut butter or roasted peanuts
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cups hot water (60-120ml)
  • 2 spring onions, cut in rings (optional)

Put everything in a small food processor or blender, except for the water, and whiz until it forms a coarse paste. Now start with adding 1/4 cup of water, whiz again. If you think it’s still to thick, add more water. You want a creamy, but not to runny sauce.

Now it’s time to start with the noodles and vegetables.

You can use alsmost anything you like. I usually choose, what needs to be eaten fast, before turning bad. You can cook it with any kinds of green beans, like Edamame, sugar snaps, runner beans and also peas. But also Sweet potato, celerie and mushrooms. For the protein you can substitute the tofu with seitan or tempeh or leave it completely. You see, it’s very versatile this recipe, and you can always use less different vegetables. Just check your fridge and use what’s there.

Ingredients vegetables & noodles

  • 200-250g japanese somen noodles (you can use any kind of asian noodles)
  • 1 green or red pepper, cut into 1 cm pieces
  • 1 small carrot, julienned
  • 6 mini-corn cobs, cut in ca. 1 cm pieces
  • 5 medium button mushrooms, cut in 6 wedges
  • 1 cup china oder white cabbage, cut in 1 cm
  • 1 cup fried tofu, in 1 cm pieces if using a big block, or those  little fried pieces
  • 1/2 cup ponzu-sauce (120ml) (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil, roasted
  • 1 Tbsp neutral oil, for example peanut oil
  • 1–2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1–2 spring onions, green and white parts cut in small rings

IMG_4136

Roast the sesame in a thick-bottomed pan without oil on small to medium heat until the seeds start to pop. Put aside until you need it.

Now I usually heat a big pot of water, to cook the noodles in, but before that, I cook the tofu in it for 1–2 min, to get rid of the oily film on the surface.
You don’t need to do that. Now cut the tofu in 1 cm blocks if you have those little fried tofu pieces. Mariante the tofu in the ponzu sauce until everything else is ready to use. I keep the cooking water to cook the noodles in it.

Fry the vegetables in 1–2 Tbsp oil according to the time they need to soften. Start with the carrots, after 2 min, add the baby corn and the pepper. Now remove the tofu from the ponzu sauce, keeping the sauce, and add the tofu together with the mushrooms.
Depending on the noodles you use, you want to cook them now. Of course according to packet instructions. When done, rinse with cold water, to get rid of all the starch.
To finish everything, add the cabbage and the ponzu sauce, mix everything and let the cabbage wilt a little bit.
Now everything ist ready. I usually add the noodles, and mix them with the vegetables, before dividing between to big bowls. Spoon the sesame peanut sauce on top, sprinkle the toasted sesame and the spring onions over everything. That’s it.

Japanisch inspirierte Nudelschale

quick antipasti dinner

Antipasti

This is a weekday standard.
I am often very hungry, when I come home from work, but to lazy to prepare dinner.
That is the moment when I start opening a few cans of beans and squash them to a nice purée, add sundried or fresh tomatoes, olives, little bit of cheese. The amount is easily scalable to fit your appetite.

This is what I had today:

Ingredients

  • 2 cans borlotti beans (pinto beans), drained
  • 1 Tbsp parsley, chopped coarsely
  • 1 good handful cherry-tomatoes, halved or quartered
  • 2 Tbsp basil leaves, chopped or torn into pieces
  • 1 small handful black olives, with stones
  • 1 small handfull Scamorzetti (little smoked cheeseballs)
  • 1 Tbsp pickled Chilies
  • lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, salt
  • good balsamico to drizzle

Start with draining and rinsing the beans. Heat in a little saucepan a good lug of olive oil and warm the beans through. You can already start with mashing the beans with a fork. No need to do it too thoroughly, it’s nice if the texture remins chunky.
Season with lemon juice, olive oil (loads), pepper and salt. Add the chopped parsely and give it a final stir.

Now you only have to drape everything nicely on a big plate.
First spoon the beans to form a pile, group the other ingredients around it. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, top with a little bit of basil. Finish with a drizzle if good balsamico (or crema di balsamico).
Already done.
Antipasti

yummie grilled vegetables

Spargel auf Grill

A few years ago a gas grill entered my live and from this moment I actually enjoyed having a barbecue.
No more annoying waiting for the grill to be hot enough. In the meantime out of despair you eat plenty of bread, salad or whatever there is and as soon as you actually can start with the grilling you are already full.

And afterwards you have to get rid of the ashes, but first you have to wait for hours until it is cool enough to be discarded. When this eventually happens, I’ve for sure forgotten, that I have to do this.
Before the next barbeue: BIG dissapointment.

But thanks to the gasgrill, all of this is no longer happening.
Hey, I am hungry, and I am in a mood for a little BBQ.
No Problem, let’s turn on the grill, brush a little oil on the vegetables and there you go.

My mother always made the most delicious grilled vegetables, accompanied by potatoes and onions wrapped in aluminiumfoil and cooked in the fervency.

Let’s start!

Grillgemüse beim marinieren

It’s incredibly easy.
All you have to do, is to brush a little seasoned oil on the vegetables that you want to grill, and put it on the cooking grate.
It almost doesn’t matter, which vegetables you want to use.
Most often I grill augergine, zucchini, bell pepper and button mushrooms.
But a few days ago, there was a carrot lying on my grill, finely sliced, and surprinsingly it was very delicious too.

I already tried the following, and they were very nice:
aubergine, oyster mushroom, green aspargus, carrot, bell pepper, beetroot, sweet potato, button mushroom, zucchini.

Ingredients Marinade

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked
  • 1 Tbsp fresh rosmarin, leaves picked
  • 1/2 Tbsp fresh majoram or oregano, leaves picked
  • 1/2 Tbsp fresh parsley, leaves picked
  • 1/2 Tbsp fresh mint, leaves picked
  • 1 fried chili
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • olive oil

You can either chop the herbs in a food processor or by hand. Top off with a good amount of olive oil and mix well.
If you don’t have all of the herbs mentioned, don’t worry, just use what you have. You can also make this mariante with dried herbs, still tastes good.
I usually make a bigger batch of this herbed oil, because it keeps well in the fridge. Also you can fill up the oil as long as there are some herbs left.

To prepare the vegetables slice them according to their firmness. The firmer the thinner. Carrots can be about 3mm thin, aubergines and zucchini should be 6–7 mm thick.
Just try it out.
IMG_4073Thoroughly brush on both sides with a brush  and grill on medium heat (260°C), flipping at least once.
It’s very wise to use a special vegetable tray on the grill, mine is a barbecook.
The time needed to cook depends on the type of vegetable and the thickness of the slices.
Whenever you think the vegetables are ready jut add a little bit of salt or fleur de del and that’s it.

 

 

IMG_4076

 

Chickpea Rucola salad

The perfect match for a nice summer day – like today – is a fresh and tasty salad.
Todays choice is a salad with chickpeas. I wanted to make one for so long, so today is the day :-)
The result is inspired by a bean salad recipe from the LEON cookbook.

RucolaSince I planted two rucola plants in my garden two years ago, there is always enough. Now I have rucola growing in almost every corner of the herb garden.

The ingredients are plain and the salad is thrown together in no time. It is just important to let it sit for a few moments, so the flavours can develop.

Kichererbsen_Rucola_Salat
That’s what the finished salad looks like.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 shallot or small red onion
  • 4 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1–2 15 oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 handful of rucola
  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
  • 8 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tsp lemon zest
  • 2 Tbsp parsley, minced coarsely
  • sea salt, fresh black pepper

Zwiebeln marinieren in Zitronensaft Kichererbsen und Tomaten

First of all, cut fine dices of the onion/shallot and put these with the lemon juice in a bowl.
Marinating the onion makes it sweeter.

In the meantime prepare all the other ingredients, meaning cutting the tomatoes in half, drain and rinse the chickpeas, etc …

Finished with all the preparations, put the tomatoes and the chickpeas in the bowl together with the onion. Add pepper and salt to taste and mix well. Let it stand for 5–10 minutes so the flavours can meld.

Now add all the other ingredients, check seasoning, grate ssome lemon zest on top and tuck in.