Cuisine: Vegan

Semi-dried tomatoes

semi-dried tomatoes

I really love dried tomatoes!
And whenever I get the chance to make them myself, I am thrilled.
This year I had plenty of cherry tomatoes and an even smaller variety called „Gelbe Johannisbeere“ (translates as yellow currant). They are really the size of red currants, only in bright yellow, and they taste like tomatoes.

When making dried tomatoes, I find it quite difficult to catch the right moment, before the tomatoes are too dried out.
So this time I made only semi-dried tomatoes. Which means, they are already more intensive in the flavor and sweeter, but you still have to keep them in the fridge.

This is what I did:

Ingredients

  • 500 g cherry tomatoes or other small varieties (or enough to fit on your baking tray)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3-4 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
  • pepper & fleur de sel or malodon salt cristals

TomatenFirst preheat your oven to 100°C.
Then wash and pat your tomatoes and the thyme dry.
Cut the tomatoes in half and put them on a baking tray, cut side up.
As you can see on my photograph, I used a tarte pan, because I didn’t have enough tomatoes to cover a big baking tray.
Now sprinkle with the thyme leaves, pepper and salt and drizzle the oil over the tomatoes.

Put the tray in the oven and let cook for at least 3 hours.
I usually turn off the heat after three hours and let the tomatoes sit in the oven until the next morning.
If you think they need some more time, just turn on the oven again, or after the three hours, let them cook longer.

They should be nicely dried on the cut side but still moist in the center.

semi-dried tomatoes

rosmarin oven fries

Rosmarin Backofen Pommes

First I thought there is no need to add this recipe here, because everybody knows these potatoes anyway. But while reading a cookbook, I realised, there are also so many recipes in there, I thought everyone knew. So I decided to post my rosmarin oven fries today.

This is my version of the classic rosmarin oven potatoes.
They changed into fries, while cooking them a couple of times with friends (thanks, Patty) and are now crispier and faster cooked through.

Ingredients

  • 6–7 big potatoes, if you use medium potatoes use some more
  • a 15cm sprig rosmarin, leaves picked
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper

Rosmarin KartoffelnPreheat the oven to 190–200°C.
Thoroughly wash the potatoes and cut away all the dark spots.
Depending on the size of your potato, cut it in 1 cm thick slices and again in 1 cm thick sticks.
Now all you have to do is, place them on a baking sheet, season generously with salt and pepper, add the rosmarin, drizzle with the olive oil and mix very well with your hands. Make sure that all potato chips are coated with the seasoned oil. Now put the baking sheet in the oven and let cook for about 20 min. Using a spatula turn over everything, and cook again for at least 10 min, maybe you need to toss the chips once again. I like them quite dark and crispy, that takes about 40 min.

Rosmarin Backofen Pommes

 

Turmeric-melon-coconut Shake

Kurkuma-Melonen-Kokosnuss-Shake

Two weeks ago, I made this incredibly good turmeric almond milk from Healthful Pursuit.
I used fresh turmeric instead of the powdered stuff and the flavour was unexpected fruity. I don’t know if that was because of the fresh turmeric or if it would have tasted the same with the dried turmeric powder. But I liked that. A lot!
And that’s why I thought this morning, that the turmeric (there is still a fresh piece in my fridge …) might taste very good paired with melon. And with a charentais melon waiting in my fridge as well, I changed the recipe to a very delicious, exotic milkshake.

Zutaten

  • 5ooml coconut-rice milk (or rice-coconut milk :-) )
  • 1–2 cm fresh turmeric, peeled
  • 1/2 charentais melon, deseeded and flesh scooped out (I guess any honeydew melon will do)
  • 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
  • 8 stoned dates
  • 4–5 ice cubes (optional)

Simply staple everything in your blender. If the dates are quite dry, it might help to soak them for some minutes in the milk. Blitz until everything is smooth.
Divide between 4 small glasses (0,2l) or 2 larger ones (0,4l).

Kurkuma-Melonen-Kokosnuss-Shake

french green bean salad

französischer Bohnensalat

Today I am enjoying one of my summer classics. Green beans are in season now, so this salad is the choice of the day.

Al dente cooked green beans in a delicious vinaigrette made of grainy mustard, shallots and capers. Very nice.

Zutaten

  • 5oog green beans, stalk ends removed
  • 1 small shallot
  • 1 Tbsp grainy mustard
  • 4 Tbsp olive or rapeseed oil (or both)
  • 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp white balsamico
  • 2 Tbsp capers
  • 1 Tbsp chives
  • salt & pepper

First trim the beans. You only need to cut of the stalk ends, if the tops don’t look too good, snip them off. Very long beans can be halved.
Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Once boiling, boil your beans until al dente (with a bite, a little bit squeaky). This may take from 4 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your beans. Check after 4 min and decide if they are fine.
Vinaigrette für frz. BohnensalatWhile the beans are cooking prepare your vinaigrette.
Put the mustard, oil, vinegar and the capers in a bowl and mix very well to emulgate. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

Drain the beans well, then tip the cooked beans into the bowl with your dressing and toss everything together, making sure all the beans get coated. Have a final taste and top with the chives (I usually cut them with scissors directly into the bowl). Now enjoy.

 

 

französischer Bohnensalat

Gazpacho

Gazpacho

GazpachoI still owe you this recipe. I already had that gazpacho last weekend, when it was so incredibly hot. It was perfect. A cold, spicy drink :-)
I prepared everything the evening before and let it chill in the fridge overnight. And everytime I opened the door of the fridge, I was looking forward to eating it.
And gazpacho is so easy to prepare.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 5 medium tomatoes
  • 1 red pepper
  • 3/4 cucumber
  • 1/2 small bunch of parsley
  • 500 ml tomato juice
  • 1/2–1 tsp tabasco sauce ( I used the chipotle version)
  • 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 small garlic clove (if you like raw garlic you can use more)
  • 4 tbsp basil leaves

Gazpacho im BlenderPut everything except 3 tbsp of the basil leaves in a blender and mix until you yield a smooth soup. Season with pepper and salt.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, then season again to taste.
To serve divide between your choosen bowls or plates, garnish with basil leaves and olive oil (if you like).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gazpacho

Aronia-pear-smoothie

Aronia-Birnen-Smoothie

Since the smoothie yesterday turned out so well, I gave it another try with some other ingredients. Also very tasteful … and short ingredient list :-)

Ingredients

  • 1 big pear
  • 2 small oranges, or 1 big orange
  • 1/2 cup aronia juice
  • 1 small handful parsley
  • 1 small handful blackberries (I guess any other berry will be fine, or omit the berries)
  • 1 cup water (or same amount in ice cubes)
  • 1 Tbsp agave nectar or sweetener of choice
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp hemp seed

Put everything into your blender and blend well. Divide between 2 glasses and enjoy.

Aronia-Birnen-Smoothie

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

Mote con Huesillos

Mote con Huesillos

In Chile exists a quite strange drink. It is calles „Mote Con Huesillos“, which translates as pearl barley with peach. Sounds like a drink? Not really I guess. And it isn’t, but it also is.
It is a drink to drink, spoon and chew.

getrocknete Pfirsiche beim EinweichenIt consists of dried peaches and pearl barley, cooked in liquid, and eaten/drunken as soon as everything is chilled.
I found the original recipe in a chilean cookbook, but you can also find it on websites, e.g. here.
But I guess I did something wrong, because the ratio between solid and liquid ingredients just wasn’t right. What I got was kind of a soupy compote. Very delicious, but still not a drink.
So I changed the recipe a bit, cut down the amount of the barley and the peaches and now it works better.
I’ve never tasted the „real“ mote in chile, but I was told, that it tastes like it should taste.

The dried peaches, that you’ll need for the recipe may be hard to find, here in germany it is almost impossible.

If you have the same problem, feed free to substitute dried apricots. I found some really dry ones, not the chewy kind, and they worked very well. The dried peaches have the same consistency.

This time I used a mix of aprocots and peaches, because the peaches are so rare.

Ingredients

  • 125g dried peaches (or dried apricots)
  • 125g pearl barley
  • 50g sugar (e.g. brown sugar)
  • 1/2l orange juice
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Wash the peaches thoroughly and soak them in plenty of water for 24h. The peaches will expand a lot, so maybe you have to add more water.

PfirsichkompottWash the pearl barley, drain and bring to the boil in 1l water (use the rest of the soaking liquid) and the orange juice. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook until the barley is tender. This should take about 30 min. Stir once in a while.

When the peaches are ready to cook, drain and reserve the soaking liquid.
Cut the peaches in 1/2-inch/1 cm pieces and put them in a pot, top with the soaking liquid up to 1 cm, add the sugar and the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, then simmer on low heat for 10 min.

As soon as the barley is cooked, mix the peach compote and the barley and let cool to room temperature. Now put everything in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours, or until everything is nicely chilled.

 

Mote con Huesillos

Spaghetti Trapanese „Office style“

Spaghetti alla Trapanese

We do a lot of cooking in my office. We are a group of maybe 6–7 people, who enjoy eating together and therefore we rotate with the cooking. Today I decided to create an office version of the classic dish „pasta alla trapanese“. We are not really well equipped in our office kitchen (at least we have one … I guess that is luxury), so if you cook this at home you could use a food processor to do most of the chopping :-)

Ingredients

  • 100g almonds, roasted
  • 100g sundried tomatoes (dry or oil packed, use whatever you have)
  • 1–2 cloves garlic
  • 500g tomatoes (again: any kind you have)
  • 4 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt, chili powder & pepper to taste
  • 2 good handful basil
  • 700–800g spaghetti (whole wheat, spelt, whatever you like, and depending on how much you eat)
  • parmesan (for the non-vegans)

IMG_4586First put the almonds and the garlic in a pan without oil to roast them. Because I don’t like raw garlic very much, I roast it together with the almonds. If you are fond of raw garlic, skip that part and use it without roasting.
Move the pan from time to time, that the almonds catch colour on all sides and don’t get burnt.
Put the pot for the spaghetti on the stove and heat the water.
Chop the tomatoes into 1/2 cm chunks, the sundried ones can be a bit smaller.

Put in a mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper.
Roughly chop the Basil or rip it into small pieces, add to the tomatoes.
Now it’s time to cook your pasta according to packet instructions. Today I used whole wheat spaghetti, which is not always a favourite, but I thought the strong flavours of the pesto can compete with the pasta.

IMG_4588As soon as the almonds are nicely browned, put them in a food processor or (like I did) in a deep jug and whiz with an immersion blender. This wasn’t so easy, but after a while I managed to have small almond crumbs. You don’t want big chunks, but you also don’t want almond meal, so try to get a texture in between, like coarse breadcrumbs.
Now mix all the ingredients for the pesto together, add about 4 Tbsp olive oil, and season with salt, petter and chili powder to taste.
Your pasta should be done by now. Drain, reserving a cup of cooking water, and toss with the pesto.
Add some of the cooking liquid, if you think the pesto needs some more. Also add more oil if you like.
And if you aren’t a vegan, put some parmesan on top.

Spaghetti alla Trapanese

Balsamico-lentils with sweet potatoes

Balsamico-Linsen-Salat

This is a classic dish in my family. My mother made this salad with regular potatoes. I like the combination of crispy potatoes with  lentils and spring onions, and therefore I cook it often. Today I tried sweet potatoes, which ist nice, but if you only have „regular“ ones, use them, it’s delicious anyway.

This salad feeds 2–3 hungry persons or makes a nice starter for 6.

Ingredients

  • 500g puy or beluga lentils
  • 1 big or 2 medium sweet potatoes oder potatoes
  • 1 shallot
  • 4 spring onions
  • 2 Tbsp oil for frying
  • 8 Tbsp balsamico
  • 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 10 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 good handful parsley

First of all put the lentils on the stove. Boil them according to packet instructions in a large amount of water, do not salt the water.
As soon as the water boils, reduce the heat to a minimum and let the lentils simmer. Check on them after 20 min to see if they are done, don’t overcook them, because they’ll get mushy and taste watery. The lentils are perfect if they still have a bit of a bite. (Ok, here I am struggling with my english …)

Peel the potatoes and cut them in cubes of approx. 1 cm. Fry them in 1–2 Tbsp oil, tossing occasionally to brown on all sides.

IMG_4447Chop the shallot and parsley finely and put them in a big bowl.
Halve the spring onions and cut them in 3 cm pieces.
As soon as the lentils are done, drain them well and put them in the bowl with the parsley and the shallot, season to taste with salt and pepper, mix with the wine vinegar, 6–7 Tbsp Balsamico and about 8 Tbsp olive Oil. If you like more balsamico or olive oil, add some more.
When the potatoes are crispy put them also in the bowl.
Fry the spring onions gently in a little oil and finish with 1–2 Tbsp balsamico. Drape nicely on the salad and tuck in.

Hmmm.

 

 

Balsamico-Linsen-Salat