Oven baked, small potatoes

Wash and cut the potatoes, leave the skin on, and put in an oven tray. Sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt, not too much, and add a good drizzle of olive oil. Mix by hand so that the olive oil covers all the potatoes.

Ingredients
½ kg approximately of small potatoes
About 3 tablespoons of grated ‘padano’ cheese or other strong cheese
4 fresh garlic cloves
Sea salt



Black pepper
Olive oil
Oregano
Garlic powder

Preparation
Put in a preheated oven of 180 -200 degrees C and cook till the potatoes are baked and getting a little golden brown crust.
Meanwhile, you have mixed the grated Padano cheese with the finely chopped garlic cloves, about a teaspoon of oregano and some black pepper. If you like you can add a little more garlic powder.

When the potatoes are more or less done, you sprinkle the cheese mixture on top and put it back into the oven. Bake for another 10 minutes approximately, but keep checking, you don’t want it to burn.
Serve with a salad.

Pumpkin soup

There are many ways of making a nice pumpkin soup and today I like to share with you one of my favourite pumpkin soups.


Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1 large carrot
1 medium sized (not too large) sweet potato
1 small pumpkin or half a large pumpkin
1 tin of coconut oil
Fresh ginger
Fresh coriander
Curry powder

Turmeric powder
Sea salt
Black pepper
Coconut oil or olive oil
Water

Preparation

Peel and cut the carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin into chunks
Cut the onion into chunks or slices
Put 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or olive oil) into a pan
Add the onion and some salt, (about 1 teaspoon – you have to add some more salt at the end) about ¼ teaspoon of curry powder, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and some black pepper.
Add about half an inch (or a little more if you like ginger) of finely chopped fresh ginger
Stir for a few minutes.
Add the chopped vegetables and stir for another few minutes
Add water, almost or just covering the vegetables
Bring to boil and when the sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin are getting soft you add a full tin of coconut milk.
Add about 2 tablespoons of chopped up fresh coriander, bring to boil and simmer for another few minutes.
Blend with a blender.

Taste and if necessary, add a little salt to taste.
Enjoy!

Courgette fritters

 
Ingredients
1 large or 2 small to medium sized courgettes
8 cloves of garlic
Chick pea flower
1 large or two small eggs
Salt
Water
Olive oil
Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation
                 




Wash and cut the courgettes into very thin slices, stack the slices and cut them into fine sticks.
Put in a bowl and add some salt, leave for about 10 minutes then rinse, taste a piece and make sure it is not too salty, if so rinse a more.
Use the egg white of the egg(s) and stiffen up with a hand or electrical mixer
Cut the garlic into chunks
Heat a good splash of olive oil in a frying pan and add the pieces of garlic
After a minute or so add some water and put the lid on the pan, make sure the garlic doesn’t burn but becomes soft.
When the garlic is soft, mash it up with a fork.
Carefully add the garlic mix to the egg white mix, make sure to not over mix
Squeeze the water out of the courgette and mix with the egg white
Now add about 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour into the mix. You need a yoghurt type thickness of the batter, not too wet, but also not too dry. So if necessary, you can add some more chickpea flour.
Heat the vegetable oil (if you want to check whether the oil is hot enough, you can throw one or two drops of water into the hot oil, if it stops making noise the oil is hot)
Take a tablespoon and use it to take the courgette mix, one tablespoon is one fritter, and fry until golden brown.
It is a bit of work, but really worth it!

Roasted vegetables

Ingredients
Medium sized red pepper
Medium sized green pepper
1 large or 2 medium red onions
1 small courgette or half of a large courgette
Half of small aubergine
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil
Garlic (optional)

Preparation
Cut the onion into rings
Cut the peppers into long slices
Cut the courgette into long slices of approx. 3 mm thickness
Slice the aubergine (approx.. 3 mm thickness)
Mix the vegetables in a large oven dish and sprinkle with some pepper and salt
Then add a good splash of extra virgin olive oil and mix well so that all the vegetable are coated
Put in a hot oven of 180 degrees C for about 40 minutes. Keep checking as depending on the oven it can take a little shorter or longer. You don’t want the vegetables to burn.
Serve luke warm or at room temperature.
This is delicious to eat with fresh bread as a starter or serve as a side dish.

Vegan vegetable and rice dish with peanut butter sauce

Ingredients:

Rice of your choice

1 medium size onion

2 cloves of garlic

Small piece of fresh ginger

Vegetables of your choice, like cauliflower, red pepper, carrots, courgette, leek, green beans, cabbage, etc.

Sunflower oil

Coconut milk

Fish oil

Oyster sauce

½ teaspoon of Tai Green Curry (or if you like your food spicy 1 teaspoon).

Ingredients for the sauce:

¼ of an onion finally chopped

2 garlic cloves very finally chopped

Sambal oelek 1 teaspoon

Sweet soy sauce approx.. 4 table spoons

Water

Sugar or honey

Lemon.

Peanut butter – 3 or 4 tablespoons

Sprinkle of salt (optional)

Preparation:

Prepare the rice according to instructions on the package.

It is best to prepare the peanut sauce first because you can easily heat it up later.

The sauce:

Put some sunflower oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and stir until the onions are glazed. Then add the sambal oelek and stir it in. You can now add the peanut butter, the soy sauce and add the water, keep stirring till you have a smooth sauce. You add a few drops of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar or honey. You can add a little sprinkle of salt if you want. Taste the sauce and add soy, sauce or sambal to taste, if necessary.

The vegetables:

Chop the onion and finally chop the garlic and fry in some sunflower oil. Add the tai green curry, a good splash of Tai fish sauce (this is your salt, no further salt is added) and a splash of oyster sauce. Also add the grated fresh ginger. Keep stirring and then one by one add the washed and chopped vegetables, starting with those who need more cooking time, like carrots and beans. It is nice that the vegetables are still crunchy when served and for example the, courgette, cauliflower and cabbage are best added last. Keep stirring. When everything is more or less ready you add half a tin of coconut milk and put a lid on so it heats through well. Serve with the rice

Easy broccoli soup

Ingredients:

• One broccoli
• half an onion
• 1 garlic clove
• salt, pepper, cumin powder, curry powder, grated nutmeg
• olive oil

Preparation:

Cut the broccoli into pieces and rinse well

Chop the onion and the garlic

Put about two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and add the onion and the garlic, stir and add about a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of cumin powder, a good pinch of curry powder and some grated nutmeg. Stir in the broccoli and then add the water, just below the broccoli, you do not want to cover the broccoli with water because it will then be to thin.

Boil the soup until the broccoli is just becoming tender. Do not overcook.

Either poor into a blender or use a hand blender till you have a smooth soup.

Taste and add salt if necessary.

Vegetarian broccoli pasta

This is a very quick and delicious pasta! The time the pasta (unless it is fresh pasta, which needs to boil a lot less) needs to boil to get al dente is all the time you need to prepare the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 medium size broccoli

2 cloves of garlic

pasta of your choice

Padano or Parmazano cheese

creme fraiche 120 gr

salt and pepper

olive oil

Preparation:

Boil water with some salt for the pasta

Meanwhile, you clean the broccoli and cut into small florets (ok with still a little bit of the stem)

Clean and finally, chop the garlic cloves

Grate the cheese about 100 to 150 grams (or more), it depends how cheesy you like your sauce

When the water is boiling you add the pasta and loosen it with a fork so that it does not stick together.

Put a good splash of olive oil in a frying pan and when this is heated you add the broccoli and the garlic and a little bit of water.You don't want the broccoli to burn. You sprinkle the broccoli with salt and pepper to taste and put a lid on the frying pan.

Check the broccoli after approximately 5 minutes as you don't want it overcooked, but still a little bit crunchy. You now add the creme fraiche and the grated cheese.

When the pasta is ready (al dente) you take it out of the water and mix it in the frying pan with the broccoli sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Fried artichoke hearts

Do you ever wonder what to do with the fresh artichokes that you see in the shops when they are in season?




Ingredients:
About 5 or 6 fresh artichokes
1 egg
salt
water (or milk)
Olive oil
few tablespoons of flour

Preparation:

In a plate you put some flour and an egg and mix, adding a little bit of water or milk till you get a pancake batter substance. Add some salt to this mix.
Prepare the artichokes. You are only going to use the hearts. See images to guide you. First, you cut the largest part of the stem (leave about 2 cm). Now you cut off the top part of the artichoke and pull off the leaves and with a sharp knife you cut the skin off the stem.

The artichoke hearts are cut into 4 equal parts and the

Dried tomatoe and oregano spaghetti (vegan)

This pasta might not look all that appealing when you read the ingredients, but do yourself a favour and give it a try. It is really nice and quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients: spaghetti
2 or 3 garlic cloves
olive oil
salt
a few tablespoons of water
4 or 5 dried tomatoes (you can buy them in a jar in oil, or if you have the dried version, soak them in some olive oil for till they are tender)



a full tablespoon of oregano (seems a lot but makes it taste great)
a tin of plum tomatoes (not triturado if you live in Spain)

Preparation:

Whilst you boil the water with salt for the spaghetti you take a frying pan and add a good splash of olive oil. Meanwhile, you have cut the tomatoes into pieces and either crushed the garlic or cut it into tiny pieces. When the water for the pasta is boiling you add the spaghetti.

Add both to the hot olive oil and stir immediately. The tomatoes and garlic can burn if you don't watch out and you don't want that so make sure you keep stirring. After a few minutes you add the dried oregano and you may add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water. After again a few minutes you add the tinned tomatoes and make sure they are cut into pieces. You can do this with a fork in the frying pan. Sprinkle with salt (to taste)

Leave on a low heat to reduce the sauce somewhat.

When the pasta is ready – al dente – you can add it to the sauce in the frying pan and mix well.

Serve and enjoy!

Spanish style vegan salad

Ingredients:

• avocado
• red or white onion
• capers
• tomatoes
• olives (The photo shoes the recipe without olives, but olives do work really well in this dish)
• olive oil
• vinegar ( I used apple-cider vinegar)
• salt

Preparation:

Cut the avocado into slices, the tomatoes into chuncks, the onion into thin slices, put in a bowl and sprinkle with some salt.

Add  the capers (amounts depend on how many people you are serving) and sprinkle with some vinegar and a good splash of olive oil. Add olives to taste.

Buon appetit.

Low carb crackers

Preparation:

Would you like to cut down on your carbs? Then check out this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 egg

small hand full of cashew nuts

small hand full of hazelnuts

small hand full of wallnuts

or any other nut you have in your kitchen cupboard

2 tablespoons of linseeds

2 tablespoons of chia seeds

2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

4 to 5 heaped tablespoons of grated cheese (for example padano, mature cheddar...)

baking paper

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees

Put a sheet of baking paper on an oven baking tray

Mix everything well and form into balls that you then flatten into as thin as possible crackers. Lay the crackers on the baking tray.

Bake for between 10 and 15 minutes. Keep checking as you don't want to burn them.

You can keep them fresh in a glass jar for up to a week.

Grilled courgette

Ingredients:

courgette

garlic and parsley condiment

or fresh parsley and fresh garlic

salt

olive oil

Preparation:

Wash and cut the courgette into half a cm thick long slices.

Take a grill pan and brush or spray with some olive oil

When the grill pan is hot you put the slices in the pan and sprinkle with some salt and with the garlic and parsley condiment.

In Spain you can buy this in most supermarkets. If you prefer fresh then cut garlic into tiny cubes and fry them till golden brown in a pan, but make sure it doesn't burn and mix it when cold, with some freshly chopped parsley.

Grill on both sides. The courgette will remain slightly crispy.

Simple broccoli salad

Ingredients for the salad:

One head of broccoli

2 tomatoes

1 small onion

Mayonnaise

Apple-cider vinegar

Honey or other sweetener

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Preparation:

Wash and cut the broccoli into pieces

Boil the broccoli in water with a little salt until cooked to your taste. If you like the broccoli to still be a bit crunchy, then do that, if you like the broccoli well boiled then boil it for a bit longer.

Cut the two tomatoes into chunks

Make a dressing with two tablespoons of mayonnaise, a drizzle of olive oil, some apple cider vinegar, some salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar or a little bit of honey (or other sweetener)

When the broccoli is cooked, let it cool down and mix with the other ingredients.

Quick apple pie

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, they say, but they probably don't mean turning it into an apple pie. However, it is so delicious and so easy to make that a little treat every now and then won't harm us. This is a French style apple pie.

Ingredients:
3 or 4 hard apples

one sheet of puff pastry

about 50 grams of butter

brown sugar

cinnamon

1 egg

whipped cream (optional)

You need a pie baking mold and a frying pan

Preparation:

Peel and slice the apple into thin slices. Heat the butter in a frying pan and add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, (if you have a sweet tooth you use 3). If you are using sour apples you might want to put a little more sugar.

Already put the apples in the butter with sugar, so don't wait till the sugar becomes caramelised. Sprinkle some cinnamon over the apples. Mix the apples with the butter and sugar so that all pieces are covered. Keep stirring, this will take about 10 minutes till the butter and sugar start caramelising, it becomes a bit sticky.

Now put the apple mixture in the mold. Put a sheet of puff pastry on the top and prick it with a fork. Beat the egg and brush some of the egg onto the puff pastry.

Put in a preheated oven at 200 degrees and bake till the crust becomes golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Turn the pie upside down on a plate so that the apples are on top and the pastry at the bottom.

Serve (luke)warm and if you like with some cream.

Enjoy!