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.

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.