Portobello-Sandwich

 Lately I was taking a visit in the main city of switzerland - Bern. Years ago I used to go there for school (Job-reason) and every once a time for shopping. Just love this city. 

Knowing that there have opend some vegan stores and small "restaurants", I haven't discovered yet - I traveled up there - a little out of the citycenter. Just curious what to find there. 

I was really surprise - and I spend too much money. Back in the citycenter, I was hungry so I had a look out where I could get some vegan-food. After asking aroung I found a Cafeteria. 

Enjoying a great Sandwich - made with Portobello - Just had to ask how the sandwich have been made. 

Of couse they didn't told me really recipe - but they gave me hint how to prepare. I wrote everything down, as fast as I could on my palm - left. 

Back at home, after a few tries I could prepare a similar sandwich - tasting great as had.  

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Portobello-Sandwich

Portobello mushrooms are the steaks of the vegetarian world. Here, they’re marinated, roasted and sliced for a meaty sandwich filling. 

Serves 4 

30 minutes or fewer 

2 large portobello mushrooms, stemmed
2 Tbs. prepared balsamic vinaigrette
8 tsp. melted vegan margarine or olive oil
2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
8 slices whole-grain bread
vegan-cheddar, sliced, use any you like
1 cup arugula

Preheat oven to 250°C. 
Clean mushrooms and brush with vinaigrette and place on a baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes, turning once. Slice into 1 cm thick strips. 

In a Bowl stir together margarine, parsley, and garlic. Brush 4 bread slices with half of margarine mixture, and set margarine side down on the baking sheet. 

Sprinkle cheese shreds among bread slices on the baking sheet. Top with the brushed mushroom strips, then with arugula. Cover with remaining 4 bread slices. Brush sandwich tops with the remaining margarine mixture. 

Heat large skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Cook sandwiches in skillet for 4 minutes, or until browned and crisp. Flip, and cook 3 minutes more, or until second side is browned. 

Take out, serve and enjoy!

Avocado Veggie Panini

Sandwich are just so good and perfect for a take-with lunch or just like this when feeling hungry and wanting something fast done and prepared. 

One good thing about sandwiches - they are so vesitale about the filling, probabely everything goes for filling them - either cold or warm. 

Unexpectedly the weather was better than the forcast I heard said so - I in the late morning I decided to go for walking - so I grabbed my walking sticks and enjoyed a wonderful walk along the hills throught the forrest. Smelling all the spring sentence, seeing all the flowers growing.. I just love the springtime!!

After a long walk and shower I was really hungry. What could be better than a healthy sandwich......?? I really enjoyed it, sitting on the balcony with my cats around...

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Avocado Veggie Panini




Serves: 4

Ingredients

1½ tbsp. olive oil

1 minced shallot (onion or garlic works too)

230 g sliced baby portobello mushrooms

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2 cups chopped kale, stems removed

salt to taste

2 avocados

8 pieces thick wheat bread

melty vegan cheese, if you want

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute til translucent. 
Add the sliced mushrooms and saute until lightly browned on the outside. 
Add the tomatoes and chopped kale and saute again until wilted and warmed through. Remove from heat and season with salt.

Peal and remove the stone from the avocado and mash with a fork in a bowl with. 

Spread some avocado on top of each piece of bread. Arrange the carefully the vegetable n the bread - (put enought vegetable on the sandwich, as the sandwich sink down when using the panini press). If you don't have a panini press, toast or grill the breadslices before or put the whole sandwich on the grill (bread down).

Add the cheese on top of the veggies if you want, cover with another slice of bread, and place on a preheated panini press. 

When the bread is browned on the outside, remove from heat. If you did not cut the tomatoes, be careful as they might burst when you bite into them and they will be hot! 

Pentecost vegan grill-dinner

Well, pentecost is over and I saw I hadn't posted my prepared the post I actually wanted to. Guess, something went wrong - anyway here it is. 
Pretty simple but so good! 

For cooking or even eating it was just too hot - the hotest pentecost since 1950. 

All you can do is staying in the shadow, keeping your apartement as cool as possible - hard when aircondition is usual in Switzerland. Well Fan's would do, but I hadn't one. 

I had about 28°C inside - won't even tell you how good you could sleep....

Anyway, perfect for grilling.Grilling just loves eveyone.

I kept the menu quite simple but perfect for not long standing in the kitchen.

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Stratified Ratatouille

Ingredients:
2 Tomatoes
1 green and yellow Zucchini
1 small onion (or half a big one)
1 clove garlic
150-200 ml vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
olive oil

Optional: vegan parmesan

Preparation:
Cut the zucchinis and tomatoes into thin slices. Not too thick or thin - about 2-3 mm would be good. Now stratify the vegetable alternately in a casserole dish.

Dice the onion and garlic and roast them in a oiled saucepan until translucent. Give in the vegetable stock and place a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then simmer for a about 5 minutes to allow the bay leaf can deliver its great flavor to the broth. 

Pass the broth through a sieve over the vegetable (till half in broth). Sprinkle the vegetables with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover the baking dish with either a lid or with aluminum foil and put into the preheated oven at 150 ° C.


After 45 minutes get the Ratatouille from the oven and pour the broth carefully out. 
Sprinkle the vegetables again with a little olive oil and push for a further 15 minutes at 180 ° C in the oven. But this time without the lid! 

(Optional: dizzle over some parmesan for a cheesy crust).

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Garlic-Herb-Bread

Ingredients:

1 bread-dought (bought or buyed)

2 clove garlic

1 shallot

1 bunch of parsely

1 bunch chives

1 bunch basilicum

(any other herbs you like)

salt, pepper

1-2 tsp. olive oil

herb oil for dizzling

Preparation:

Chop the garlic and shallot very finely, give in a bowl. Wash and pat dry the herbs, then chop finely and give into the bowl. Add oil and season with salt, pepper.

Maybe pulse shortly trough to get it smoother - as you like.

On a floured board, roll out the dought about 1 cm thin and spread the herbmixtur on the top. Roll up from the longer side till you got a "roulade-like" bread. Either bake it as it is as whole bread or like I cut into 2-3 cm think rolls.

Arrange in a big baking dish - with some little space between the each and bake at 180-200 °C for about 20 min (or till well). Frequently- during baking - dizzle with herboil.

When done, take out, let cook or eat hot. Then just enjoy ;)

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Grilled Soysteaks in BBQ-Sauce

Well, for mine today's soysteaks I used another BBQ Marinade, but after eating I did not really found it well, way to salty and not really BBQ-like. So I tried it again the other day with another sauce and it was perfect. (not this picture)!

But it won't withhold you my used marinade for those who wanna try it and try it.

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My used BBQ-Marinade

Ingredients:

100 ml soysauce

2 Tbsp. ketchup

4 Tbsp. oil

1 bunch of spring onion, chopped

pepper

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, let stand for 1 hour the marinade your meat-replace for several hours.

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Here's the BBQ-Marinade I used the next day and profound better...

This easy, no-cook vegan barbecue sauce recipe takes nearly no time to make. It’s especially delicious with plant-based protein foods—tofu, tempeh, and seitan—prepared on the grill. 

Makes: about 2 cups

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari, or to taste
1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano or basil

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix/ blend well. Cover and let stand for an hour or so to allow the flavors to combine more fully. But don’t worry if you need to use it right away, it will still be quite good.

Whole weat threeking bread

Always on the sixth of January we "celebrate" the holy three kings from Bethlehem with a special formed round and mostly quite sweet bread. The bread looks like a party bread with one big bowl in the center surrounded by little ones. AND in one of these little balls hinds a little plastic king.

Traditional one likes this

The one who got the bowl with the king in it, will be the king on that day and can do what ever she/he wants. (well you know what I mean)...
This tradition is of course most liked by children - wearing a crown, being proud and directing everone around ;)

Been grown up, it's still a special day and it's always funny, cause everyone hopes to catch the king, some are pretending to find the king - it's like an exitement.

The last few years I havn't eaten from the bread as it isn't made vegan and the traditional one got dried grape berries in it, and is sprinkled with a lot of almond flakes and sugar. Now, not mine anymore.

This year I made my second vegan threeking bread, (my first have been a few years ago)- a different one - with no berries and almond and made with wholeweat instead of whileweat flour and with no sugar and butter in it. Instead of sprinkling it with sugar I took sesamseeds (you can really see them on the picture).

This threeking bread I will bring to work and let's see who will be the king, ;)

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Wholeweat threeking bread

4 Persons
resting: 1 hour
baking: 30-40 min

You will need a round cake form, lightly oiled, a crown and a plastik king 

(if you don't have one, use a knob or something else, you won't get hurt if biting in it!!!!!!!)

Ingredients
500 g wholeweat flour
2 tsp. salt
1 (42g) fresh yeast
1 tsp. agave nectar
300 ml vegan milk (or halve water, halve milk, if you want less milk)
seeds to sprinkle on

Direction:
Weight the flour and mix with the salt. Resolve the yeast in the handwarm milk together with the agave nectar, add to the flour and knead till you got a smooth dought. Let it rest and rise covered on a warm place for about one hour. 

Preheat your oven up to 210 °C.

Meanwhile lightly oil out the baking dish. 

When the dough rised put on a floured place, cut pieces and form one big bowl and place in the center of your baking dish. From the rest form smaller bowls and place around the big one. Of course don't forget to hide a king in one of your bowls. Brush with some milk and sprinkle on the seeds (or sugar if you desire).

Place a heat-resist-water-filled-dish in your oven and bake the threeking bread on the middle rack of your oven for about 30-40 min. (Depends on your oven).

When done, take out and let it cool down before eating. 

Enjoy and maybe you will be the king for this time!

Fruit Bread

What a great Autumnday! The sun's bright shining and even the temperature where warm. These day's of Autumn I really do like. When you see the Treeleaves turning red-yellow, walking throught the forrest, intensivly smelling. I hoped to pass some Hazelnut-Trees - unfortnunatly I didn't.

The next day I wanted to catch the colours into a bread, and what could be better than dried fruits? I'm going to have guest over for a cup of tea or coffee and this Bread would be for it. Well not really a light bread, but fresh so good! Some dried fruits I had to buy, some I had at home.

Well, this bread takes more work and of course you can take everykind of dried fruits you like - beside apples.

To be said: my guests liked the bread very much and I give each of them a big piece home.

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Fruit Bread

For 2 Springforms 18 cm ø or 1 Cakeform 25 to 28 cm length of dough

 

Ingredients:

150 g dried apricots

150 g dried figs, stems removed

100 g of wine berries or sultanas

1 Tsp vanilla extract

2 dl tea, such as Rooibos Earl-Grey-flavoured, vigorous

per 150 g almonds and hazelnuts

100 g pistachios

100 g cane sugar or Agave nectar

1 Pinch of salt

Eggreplacer (1 Egg) of your favorite (I used soymeal with water)

200 g flour

1 1⁄2-Tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp. soymilk

Direction:

Put apricots, figs, grapes and sultanas, covered at low heat about 45 minutes in a pot. Add vanilla extract and tea and simmer on. Allow to cool off. Let lightly roast nuts in the 170-degree hot oven, take out, cool down.
 

Slighty fat the springforms then lay out with parchment paper. Drain fruit, keep 4 or 5 Tbsp. cooking liquid.

Add sugar and salt, heat while stirring, pull off the hotplate. Mix with fruit, nuts, eggreplace, flour, baking powder and soymilk. Knead well and when homogen give in the form.
 

Bake for 75 minutes in the middle of the 170 degree preheated oven.

 

Take out, let cool and enjoy!

German Mett-Sausage (Spread)

Mett - is a traditional raw pork spread with onions- unbelieveble how someone could eat it, but it's a beloved dish (snack) for the germans. It's only know in Germany and therefore I never had it or even could imagine how it tastes.

Anyway while being in the web, watching vegan cook-recipes on youtube I came across a vegan version of Mett. I was curious and thinking while I watched it. I had to try it - but I was also a little bit afraid of it's taste. Cause in the video a meat-eater ate it and couldn't make a different in it's taste.

So I went to the supermarket to get the main ingredients: Ricewaffles. You may wonder - WHAT - but YES, surprisngly hmm...!!!!!!!!!!

And one good thing about this fake Mett - it's a superfast done spread for you next piece of bread (as it's be used for)

When done I tasted it wondering. Unfortunatly (or lookely) I never had Mett and therefore I had nothing to compare with but  - YES it tastes, in fact IT IS VERY GOOD and you don't have to be afraid eating raw meat with it's bacteries and antibioticas AND no animal got hurt.

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German Mett-Sausage-Spread

 

 

makes a middle size glass

 

Ingredients:



50 g Ricewaffles
2 - 3 Tbsp. tomatoe paste
Juice from a half lemon
1 Onion
a few chopped garlic
a bunch of chives
some majoranpowder
salt, pepper, paprikapowder
200 ml vegetable broth
some oil

Direction:

Crumble small the rice cakes and add into a bowl. Add 200 ml vegetable broth, until the whole thing has a slightly muddy consistency.

Then chop the onion and give in. For the color put 2 -3 Tbsp. tomato paste, then salt, pepper , majoran, chives, garlic and finally some oil.

Stomp the whole thing with your hand well through until you receive a uniformly colored mixture. If the "pork" is still too bright, again add some tomato paste and mix again.

The whole is stable for a few days in the refrigerator – at some point it just dries out.

Then leave least 5 hours (or best overnight) in the refrigerator, so that the ricewaffles soak up the flavor of the onions and spices. (It's been eaten on a piece of bread)

 

Note: after I finished the mett I seasend it up, cause I couldn't taste really well the spices - but then after a few hours resting it ended up to be too spicy. So beware of season it up too early!!!!!

Zopf (Sunday Braided Bread)

When I grew up the traditional sunday braid was normal and the older I got the better I learned how to make it and later on I always wanted to make it and my mother was so astonished how good I could braiding the dough (it always looked so good).
As I grew older and older and moved out from my parents I still made the braid but since I'm vegan I let it and for many years I didn't make it or even eat it. Well the bought ones are coated with egg and sometimes I was too lazy to make the bread only for myself. AND one other reason I didn't make it again, cause there was a long time I only eat gluten free, cause to 50 % I shouldn't eat wheat and as everybody know the wheatfree dought isn't the same to the normal one and whenever I tried to make a braid I failed with the wheatfree dought. So I gave up.

I went back to the normal bread, cause the wheatfree flour is pretty expensive and it does not even taste as good as the normal bread. Well I still do eat wheat free, except of the bread.

Well yesterday while laying in bed I knew I wanted to make a braidbread, luckely I still had some flour at home and still some dried yeast and so, immediatly when I got up I started to make the bread. Unfortunatly tomorrow when I wanted to try it for breakfast I'm invited to a Birthday Brunchparty.



Zopf (Sunday Braided Bread)

Ingredients:

500 g (1 pound) wheat flour
1 pack dry yeast or 20 g fresh yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
3 dl milk or soymilk
60 g vegan butter

Direction:

Mix flour and salt in a bowl and make a hollow in the middle. Add the yeast in the hollow and mix yeast with sugar. Melt butter, pour in the milk. Pour liquid into the flour. Knead everything into a smooth, supple dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth to rise to double size and leave covered at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 220 ° C. Braiding a braid from the dough (I made two smaller ones instead of one big one). Place on a plate covered with parchment paper. Coat braid with some milk and let it rest and rise for 10 min. In the middle of the oven bake for about 20 - 30 minutes (depend on the size). After baking take out of the oven and let the braid cool completely.

 

Enjoy your homemade sunday bread :)

 

How to braid the bread:

Spicy Carrot Slaw

Spicy Carrot Slaw

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
12 ounces carrots, peeled and sliced (I used long shaved pieces)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons refined sugar
1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more for seasoning
2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
Fresh ground black pepper


In a large bowl, toss together the carrots, tomatoes, grapeseed oil, fresh lime juice, sugar, sea salt and jalapenos.


Let sit for 15 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Add in the cilantro and coriander and season with black pepper.

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Garlic Knots

These are really delicious and go great with fresh home made spaghetti and vegan organic wine.






Yield: 12-14
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
30 grams yeast (1 packet)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoon vegan margarine
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
pinch salt

1-2 teaspoons Italian herbs
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

1. Put the warm water in a bowl, add the sugar and the yeast and allow to grow in a warm place for 5 minutes or until bubbly.
2. Place the flour, and salt in a bowl and mix so that the salt is mixed in with the flour.
3. Pour the water and yeast over, add oil and mix well using a blender.
4. Allow to rise in a warm area with a clean towel over the top.
5. Allow it to double in size, that will be about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes depending upon the temperature.
6. When the dough is ready, turn it out on a lightly floured surface and kneed it lightly.
7. Sprinkle the baking powder over the dough and kneed a bit more to even the mixture.
8. Take a small handful (about 2 tablespoons in amount) of the dough and roll it out as a “fat snake”.
9. Make a small circle and bring the last end through the hole thus making a knot.
10. Bake in a preheated 450 F / 232 C oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
11. While the knots are baking, prepare the garlic butter.
12. Melt the vegan margarine and olive oil in a small sauce pan.
13. Add the minced garlic, but keep the heat low, as you do not want to brown the garlic.
14. Add the rest of the seasonings and keep the mixture warm.
15. When the knots are done, remove from the oven and drizzle the garlic “butter” over each of the knots.
16. Sprinkle extra minced parsley as a garnish.