Polenta-wildgarlic-cams on Cream-mushrooms

The "having off from work" week, went by so fast. I had a lot going on. Unfortunatly the weather wasn't really great and my plans about working in the garden failed completly. Until today. Bright weather and not too warm, perfect for planting.

After mornign work, groceries and a quick lunch, I went by bike to the gardencenter, bought vegetable plants (1 chard, 1 charente melon, 6 pak choi, 16 leeks, 2 x 6 salads, one yellow round zucchini) guess that's it - well defently enough. Hopefully it will grow better than last year!!

After 3 hours of gardenwork I was finished and "done". 

I defently needed a fast dinner, not in the mood for long time cooking. 

Lately I saw a recipe in a magazine I wanted to try. Luckely the supermarket still had wildgarlic, otherwise I would have taken another herbs. 

With a salad for entree just perfect on this sunny evening after garden work. 

Try out and feel free to various with the herbs. Hope you will like it as much as I did. 

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Polenta-wildgarlic-balls on Creammushrooms

4 Persons

Preparation: 45 min
Cooking: about 30 min

Ingredients Polenta-balls:
400 ml vegetable broth
125 g Polenta, instant
2-3 Tbsp. vegan parmesan

Vegan wildgarlic pesto:
80 ml Oil
1 handfull wildgarlic
2 Tbsp. pine nuts
some splash of citrusjuice
salt
grounded pepper

Ingredients Creammushrooms:
500 g fresh mushrooms
200 ml vegan cream
100 ml vegetable broth
75 ml madeira or sherry
1 shallot
1 knob garlic
2- 3 Tbsp. vegan sour cream
2 Tbsp. oil
1 pinch of mushroompowder (optional)
salt
grounded pepper

Preparation:
For the pesto: wash wild garlic and spin dry. Roast the pine nuts in a pan without oil until golden brown, remove, let it cool briefly and with oil and the wild garlic processe to a smooth pesto. Taste with salt, pepper and a splash lemon juice.

Clean the mushrooms and cut into slices. Peel the shallots and garlic, chop finely and fry in a hot pan with oil till translucent. 

Add the mushrooms, fry and deglaze with madeira. Add the broth and cream, season with salt, pepper and porcini powder and let simmer creamy on medium heat about 10 min. Then stir in the sour cream and taste again. 

In the meantime for the polentaballs bring broth in a pot to a boil. Sprinkle in the Polenta and stir under. With occasional stirring boil for about 10 min and leave to swell. Remove from the fire, stir under the pesto and the vegan parmesan. Taste. 

Serving:
Arrange the creammushrooms on preheated plates. With two wetted spoons form cams (balls) from the polenta place them on the mushrooms. Garnish with chopped wild garlic or just left over wild garlic leaf.

Vegan Apple-crumble-cake

What a sunny morning - great for having breakfast on the balcony. 

Today I had to help my parents at their fleamarket table. The first one for them, cause they're are moving out from my childhood house into a own appartement. (They are not getting younger and the house is too big for them). 

When I heard that they are moving out and wanted to sell the house - I cryed.... No more feeling like coming home and knowning that none of us children would/ could take the house.

I tried to convince my parents by renting the house - let's see what's happening. 

Anyway, today was a HUG fleamarket on 3 parking decks and my parents had a place where they sells un-used stuff. 
As you may can imagine, standing there from early in the morning till late afternoon you need food, water (or whatever) and coffee.
For the sweet snack I brought a cake - easy to transport and eat. 

Well, we were all glad about the sweet, the day was pretty long. Luckely we had a good place and had the sun on our back. 

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Vegan Apple-crumble-cake

4 Persons

total time: 40 min

Ingredients:

1 kg sour apples

500 g wholemeal flour

250 g vegan margarine

200 g cane sugar or agave nectar

1 packet of baking powder

1 packet of vanilla sugar

4 tablespoons cold water

1 pinch of salt

For the crumble mixture :

250 g wholemeal flour

120 g cane sugar or agave nectar

100 g vegan margarine

1 packet of vanilla sugar

Preparation:

For the short crust wisk together margarine, sugar and pinch of salt until it gets fluffy. 

Measur flour and together with the baking powder, vanille sugar give into the margarine-sugar mixture and knead well under.

At the end, add the ice-cold water and quickly knead with your hands to have a smooth dough. Then form the dough into a roll, wrap in foil or leave it in the bowl, covered and place in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, peel the apples, cut  into quarters and remove the core. To beware from turning brown sprinkle over some lemon juice. 

For the crumble topping all the ingredients together and knead with fingers and sprinkles it crumbs.

Grease a baking tray and cover with the dough , spread the apples and sprinkles on it and bake for about 45 minutes at 180 ° C .

Fast Pizza-snack

After waking up early on saturday morning - nothing bad about that, if I wouldn't have been so tired - cause I had a lot to do. 

After all the home -  balcony - works I defently needed a fast lunch - I was starving...... So I decided to make myself a fast pizza snack. A snack so easly and fast done, that you safe a lot of time when having a lot to do.

The snack does not need special ingredients, most should be in your refrigerator or cupboard.

Just let your spirit free with this pizza snack. 

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Fast Pizza-snack

1-2 Persons
15 min

Ingredients:
1 medium sized leek
1 big or 2 small tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
100 -150 g soy-joghurt
shredded vegan cheese (melting one)
1 clove garlic or garlic powder
salt, pepper
1/2 tsp.oregano or pizzaherbs

some vegan margarine or tomatosauce (for the breadside)
4 pieces wholemeal bread

Note: If you're not having melting cheese at home - use nutritional yeast 

ingredients: 
4 tablespoons margarine 
5 tsp flour 
260 ml of water 
2 tsp mustard 
1 tsp salt 
8 tablespoons nutritional yeast

preparation: 
Melt margarine in a saucepan. Add flour, then some of the water. Now, mustard, salt and add some more water. Finally, stir in the nutritional yeast and add the remaining water. Boil, season to taste - done.

Preparation: Pizza snack
Preheat oven up to 180 °C.

Pour soyjoghurt into a bowl. Cut the leek into rings. Half, deseed and chop the tomato. Add to the soyjoghurt and stir. 
Add the chopped or pressed garlic into the bowl, season with salt, pepper and herbs, stir and then add the shredded cheese (amount up to you). Mix all under, season if necessary. 

When you're stuff is too liquid, add a little more veggies and cheese, or just more cheese. 

Spread some margarine or tomato paste on one side of bread and top with the loading. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

Bake about 7- 10 min, in the middle section of the oven. 

Salad with spicy soymedaillons

Finaly summertime has come. Perfect to start with a fresh, healthy lunch. 

Lately I'm really up to clean my cupboards from all the stored stuff, well once it had to be eaten. Mostly I've just waited for the right time - moment for guests - to serve the stuff. Yesterday, on no special occasion - was the time to open up the dried soymedaillons. 
I found a new and simple marinade I wanted to try. Delicious!!!!! AND so simple...

I made a bunch of medallions, some for the next day and some had to be eaten right away. 

The marinade can be used for any kind of "meat". The sauce is also well for just dipping it, for example tofu-nuggets. Just try out.

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Salad with spicy Soymedaillons

2-3 Persons
45 min

Ingredients:
100 g field salad
1 bunch arugula 
1 red pepper 
2 small spring onions 
6 brown mushrooms 
10 cherry tomatoes 

Vinaigrette dressing:
2 Tbsp. balsamico vinegar
3 Tbsp. good oil
1 tsp. herb mustard
1/2 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper 

herbs
some splash of soymilk

10 Soymedaillons
vegetable broth
2 Tbsp. oil

Marinade:
4 Tbsp. Ketchup
1/4 - 1 tsp. chili or cayennepepper (depending how spicy you want them)
1 Tbsp. paprika powder
1/2 salt
1/4 pepper
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. worcestershiresauce

Preparation:
Give the medaillons into a bowl and cover with enough vegetable broth and let them sit and soak for at least 30 min. 
When time is over, drain into a swiefe and squizze out the left liquid. Depending about the size, cut into half. 

In the empty same bowl mix together the Marinade, taste and give in the drained soymedaillons. Stir well under, till all medaillons are well covered. Add the oil and shortly stir.

Preheat a frying pan with enough oil and shortly roast the medaillons on high heat then lower the heat - otherwise they will burn and turn black and let gently cook. After about 5- 8 min, the medaillons are good and the heat can turned off. 

Stir together the dressing and dizzle over the salad and top with the soymedaillon. 
Meanwhile wash the salads, chop the vegetable, and spring onion. Stir together the dressing and dizzle over the salad and top with the soymedaillon. 

NOTE:
For those who like can serve some ketchup or better the marinadesauce (made fresh again) for dipping in the soymedaillon. I just ate it like that with a piece of baquette. 

A perfect lunch or light early summer side dish. 

Lemon-mint-Lemonade

After one week of sickness I went back to work and work waited for me to be done - those my colleague couldn't do, handle or what ever. 

BUT before going to work I needed some kind of energy boost.  A fresh lemon-hinted drink - shortly prepared and with mints from my balcony - perfect start - beside a real breakfast - into the day. 

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Lemon-mint Lemonade

2 glasses

Ingredients:
0.5 liters of water 
2 tablespoons raw cane sugar or agave nectar
1 lime 
2 lemons 
6 ice cubes 
1 handful of fresh mint leaves 

Preparation:
Squeeze the Lime and the two lemons. Thoroughly clean the mint leaves, remove the stem ends. 

Give all the ingredients, in according to the following above in a blender (I used a Vitamix) and blend well through. 


Garnish and serve with a little bit of mint and a lemon.

Curry-"Spätzle" with seitancutlets and carrots

Today I woke up and while having breakfast and thinking about the dinner I prepared days before - with a "not good" millet risotto. Well the millet risotto was just not mine and not well cooked - or whatever. It just tasted bad.....I need defenetly a new side. 

Lately I won two pack of a "real" eggreplacer - MyEy eggwhite and MyEy eggyolk - all vegan!
And it replaces the egg 1:1 "so its said". Since I received it I hadn't used it yet - afraid of the "eggtaste".

Up till today. All I wanted is to try the powder for a side and having a spätzle grater I havn't used as well - the side was pretty clear. Spätzle!

When being a child I loved spätzli - just something special and it does look so different to other noodles. 

Since now I only ate brought vegan spätzle - very good but will get mushyt if you roast them in too much oil and pour in some sauce. 
Let's try the selfmade ones. 

I knew I had a saved recipe for vegan spätzli and I was trying to find it. I searched the homepage from myey - cause I knew I have seen somewhere a recipe. I did not found the one I was looking for and so I just took another one and changed it a little bit. 

Born where my first self made vegan spätzle. AND they tast not "egg-a-like" in fact very very good!

I knew making spätzle is easy and difficult as well, but also fail if the dought is either too wet or too thick. While preparing the dought you will feel your arms, cause you need some muscle to prepare a perfect dought. Definitely a kind of work out. 

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Curry-"Spätzle" with seitancutlets and carrots

I have to say, that I forgot to pour over the brown-sauce..

4 Persons

about 75 min

Ingredients:

Spätzle

200 ml flour

2 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. currypowder

pinches of tumeric

eggreplacer for two eggs (any of your favorite - I used MyEy, desolved in the amount of water needed)

200 ml water, more if needed

150 g seitancutlets

150 g carrots - cut into pieces

1 small onion, chopped

vegetable broth

pepper, salt

oil

Vegan brownsauce 

1 medium sized red onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. oil

about 300 ml vegetable broth

100 ml red wine

1 tsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. tomatoe paste

salt, pepper

Preparation:

For the "spätzle" mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.

In measuring cup add the 200 ml water, desolve the eggreplacer, and wisk everything together. Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the liquid, stirring with a trowel. Mix everything together and then keep on "beating" the dought, till it fluffs and blow some "air"... The dought should  be viscous and fall slowly from your trowel, then the dought is perfect. Set aside to rest for 30 min. 

Now prepare the brownsauce:

In a oiled preheated pan, roast the onions for about 1 min then add the tomato paste, roasting for about 2-3 min. Lower the heat a little and pour in the red wine, desolve the roast and cook up. When the amount lowered pour in the vegetable broth and herb, spices and let slightly cook for 8-10 min. Maybe season the sauce, then turn down the heat and set aside till serving. 

Meanwhile wash und peel the carrots, cut into pieces and cook in boiling water with brothpowder, till they are done. Drain at keep it warm. 

For the seitancutlets, either pre-prepare your own one - or like I use a bought on. Cut into a "hash-look a like" pieces. In a oiled pan roast the onion till translucent then add the seitan and roast on all sides, season, taste and set - kept warm - aside. 

Now it's the "spätzle" turn. Bring a big pan with brothpowder to cook slightly. With a "spätzle-grater"  

(if not on hand - a sieve will also do it), spread the dought up and down and the dought will trough the holes into the water. When swim on the surface they are well and can be removed into sieve. 
Keep going on like this, till all dought is prepared. For roasting them in a pan, rinse with cold water, otherwise pour over some oil to beware them from sticking together. 

NOW, serve them together with the seitan cutlets, carrots and pour the brownsauce over the spätzle and seitan. Garnish with herbs and serve hot. 

Then, all you got to do is having a good dish and hopefully you like it!

Wildherb salad "Druid" with a superfood dressing and Matcha croutons

Sometimes your body just calls for something like a "superfood" to get back the strenght it needs. AND I defently need strenght lately. Can't even tell why - maybe overworked myself - the weather changing, my lately being sick days - or whatever...

Yesterday was a bright and sunny day and after cleaning and groceries I went into the garden to plant my last week bought seedlings (such as pro specia rara yellow cherry tomatoes, special red tomatoes, thai-basilicum and ginger-mint). Finished I draged the pots up into the second floor to my balcony. Last year I only had the tomatoes on my balcony and they came very good, but "the left in the backyard" basilicum and mint - died after season. To bad, cause mint is a all year-season herb.

After all this work, I was frosting, having headache and fever again - like the days before. Shit (sorry) guess, I overloaded myself too much. 

But what cures a body more than some rest, sleep and a healthy dish? Maybe just love, care and medicine. 

Anyway, this salad defently gave back some strenght - at least till dinner time.

NOW, however you feel like in the mood for a healthy superfood dish or suffering recovering illness. This salad is good in every occasion. 

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Wildherb salad "Druid" with a superfood dressing and Matcha croutons

2 Persons
30 min

Ingredients:
120 g peppers (red) 
1 clove of garlic 
50 g dried tomatoes (in oil) 
110 g almond paste (White) 
4 pinches Matcha 
2 pinches Acai powder 
1 teaspoon mustard
2TL rice syrup 
4 pinches turmeric 
20 ml lemon juice (freshly squeezed) 
2 Tbsp. linseed oil 
20 ml Oat milk
Sea salt 
black Pepper from the mill
140 g wholemeal bread 
2 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil 
200 g Wild herb salad


Preparation:
For the dressing; wash and remove seeds from the bell peppers and chop coarsely. Peel the garlic. Puree them up along with the oat milk in a blender and season the dressing with salt and pepper. 

For the croutons cut the bread into small cubes and mix with turmeric and Matcha. Heat the olive oil in a pan, fry the croutons about 3 minutes, till they will turn slightly brown.

Wash the lettuce, spin dry and mix with olive oil and 1 pinch salt. Then distribute the dressing over and top with croutons.

Quinoa and potato patties with tomato-avocado-salad

Last Saturday was taken part the "Wild herbs and plants" market. And as last year I went and this year I bought, two different cherry tomato plants, asia basilicum, ginger mint plants. And they are still waiting to be planted into pots. 

In fact I could have bought more, but my little rare space stoppt me. 
On Wednesday when I got the afternoon off from work it was raining and no change to plant. 

But I didn't wanted doing nothing and so I went into kitchen preparing a early light dinner. 

As the patties only got the salad as a side and I didn't wanted to eat them dry I prepared a fast Carrot-Tofu-Sauce (very easy), of course you can serve aside what ever you prefer - meat replacer or some vegetables (as leek).

You can also serve this dish as a between dish in a four-dish-menu. The patties also goes very well at a party as a finger food. You see the various of serving of this dish are wide. 

Now enjoy this light and healthy dish how ever you serve it.

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Healthy quinoa and potato patties with tomato-avocado-salad

4 Persons
makes about 15-16 patties

Ingredients quinoa and potato patties :
200 g quinoa (1 cup )
500 ml of water ( 2 cups)
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 medium potatoes , boiled and mashed
a piece of leek , finely chopped (or 1/2 onion)
1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
opt. some chili
1 tsp sea salt
pepper
1/2 tbsp cumin whole or the ground
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Olive oil for frying

Preparation
Bring a pot with water to a boil add salt and the quinoa, reduce heat and let the quinoa simmer until it is soft and all liquid has been absorbed (about 20-25 minutes). Then allow to cool slightly.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients (except the olive oil for frying ) together and season with salt. With wet hands, form patties from the ground and set aside. 
In a pan with olive oil fry the patties brown and crispy on each side for about 4-5 minutes. 

The finished fried quinoa patties can be kept warm in the oven.

Ingredients Tomato - Avocado Salad :
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 avocado
4 tbsp olive oil
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Sea salt (about 1/ 2 tsp )
a small handful of parsley , finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon )

Preparation
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half or quarters depending on the size, cut the avocado into large pieces and finely chop the parsley. 
Mix well together olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt. Taste and if necessary add a little more salt and pour over the tomatoes and avocado.

White and green aspargus with panroasted potatoes and whitewinesauce

As I have promissed here comes the post with the selfmade vegan whitewine-sauce. I have to say a sauce that is soooo delicious - I could have eaten the sauce poured on everything or just dipping it with bread, yummy ;)

The traditional aspargus dish, served with potato, ham and hollandais-sauce is not hard to veganize. Either you leave the ham away or you replace it with vegetable. The hollandaise - veganized is pretty similar in preparing to the original one, but the sauce (if you got leftover) does not really compare to other dishes. AND  I wanted a sauce that compares to others - the finally founded really good recipe for homemade whitewinesauce was all I wanted to make. 

Anyway. 

The vegetable you will choose for your dish is up to you, but I would recommend one that does not drone the aspargus, such as snow peas, zucchini, broccoli, turnip, or very simple just a green salad.....

We enjoyed a great spring dish and we did not even missed a meat-replace on our plate. What I did to start with as a entree I served a green salad, sprouts and roasted tofu. (I just can't be without a salad - just a must have...)

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White and green aspargus with panroasted potatoes and whitewinesauce

Ingredients:
half a bunch of white and green aspargus (depend on how much you eat)
250-300 g baby potatoes or a precooked package
200-250 g snow peas
1 onion, chopped
salt, pepper
oil
vegetable broth
2 Tbsp. herbs
some sugar

whitewinesauce: (makes about 6-8 dl and takes about 20-30 min till finished)
2 big onions, chopped
400 ml vegetable broth
1,5 Tbsp. oil
400 ml dried vegan whitewine
1-2 pack (2,5 dl) soycream

Preparation:
Wash the potatoes and cook in salted water till tender. 

Preheat a pan with some oil, add the onions and cook till translucent, add the snow peas, roast und add vegetable broth and cook soften.

Meanwhile prepare the whitewinesauce. In a high and wide pan with 1,5 Tbsp. oil cook the onions till translucent and wipe off with the whitewine, when it starts to cook, fill up with the 400 ml vegetable broth. Let it simmer with top open. 
When the amount liquid lowered, drain trough a sieve into bowl, express the left liquid from the onions and put the liquid back into the pan and add the soycream, cook up and let it lightly cook for a few minutes, taste and season if necessary then turn off the heat. 

Peel the asparagus, cut off the woody ends from the white aspargus.Lace up the poles with twine into bundles and place in the boiling water. After 12-15 minutes, the asparagus is al dente and can be removed from the water.

From the green aspargus just cut away the dry ends (they don't need to be peeled). 
Cook in different pans with salted water and some sugar till tender. Drain and keep them warm, wrapped in a wet towler, in the empty pan. 

When the potatoes are cooked, drain, cut into half or quarter and roast in the preheated frying pan with some oil on all sides, add the herbs and when the potato got colour turn off the heat. 

Serving:
Arrange some snow peas and top with roasted potatoes and aside arrange the aspargus and pour over some whitewinesauce, garnish with herbs. 

Serve and enjoy a delicious dinner!

Lemony green salad with asparagus

First of May or Labor Day and most people got a day off from work. So did I. And hope you had one too!

I'm enjoying my day at home - with some homework, that had to be done since a while and of course I couldn't resist doing/ preparing something in the kitchen. For lunch I wanted to make a spring-salad with aspargus. This year I hadn't a salad with aspargus - even yet not often aspargus itself for dinner, but for tomorrow I wanted to make aspargus with pan-roasted potatoes and a selfmade vegan whitewine-sauce. 

Back to the salad. I had a small bunch of fine aspargus at home and salad I have always in the refrigerator. 

I searched my saladcookbook recipes and the web for a spring salad and then in a almost forgotten file on my laptop I found this recipe - perfect!

There's nothing faster prepared than a green salad. 

The dressing was just perfect as it caught the flavor of the green aspargus just perfectly and made them. 

While the aspargus sauted I prepared a fast lemon butter for the toasted baguette (recipe below).

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Lemony green salad with aspargus

2 Persons

Ingredients:
½ bunch of green asparagus 
mixed green salad leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil 
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
Sea salt and pepper 
Olive oil for frying 
a few toasted almonds or compatible nuts (optional) 

Preparation:
Break off the woody ends from the green asparagus and sauté in a pan with a little olive oil. 

Season with sea salt and pepper. In the meantime, arrange the green salad variation on a plate and prepare the dressing. For this, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt & pepper mix well. 
Once the asparagus fried crispy crunchy lay on the salad and pour the dressing over the salad and aspargus. 

Anyone who likes can still sprinkle the salad with toasted almonds.

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Lemon butter

Ingredients:

120 g vegan butter or margarine

1 tbsp. lemon juice

juice and zest from one lemon

1 tsp. dill

salt and pepper

Preparation:

Wisk and mix butter and lemon juice together until the mixture is frothy and is almost white and has achieved double the volume. 

Mix the lemon juice, zest and dill under the mixture and season.

Till using put back in the refrigerator