Christmas dinner

Hope you enjoyed a great christmas eve together with you're beloved ones!

We only celebrated on the 24th, as most of us got parents-in-law and wanted to celebrat with them as well.

For christmas eve I made the appetizers and my mother made the whole dinner. A lot of work. Therefore I invited them the next day and my mother could spend a free day from cooking. 

The dinner should be a light one for three persons. 

I craved my books, my mind and the recipes below are what I made. 

Enjoy your days off from work with skiing, relaxing in front of the fire or whatever, just hope you got a nice day. 

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Christmas Dinner

Appetizer

• Preparation time:

15 minutes

• Cooking time:

10 minutes

• Total time:

25 minutes 
Makes: 16

Ingredients
25g trimmed kale, finely shredded leaves

50g blanched hazelnuts, toasted
1 pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
 ½ Perfectly Ripe Avocado, peeled and stoned
16 individual chicory leaves (from about 2 large heads of chicory - 1 white, 1 red)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
¼ x 20g pack tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard

1. Plunge the shredded kale leaves into a pan of boiling water, return to the boil and cook for 30 seconds. Drain and plunge into cold water, then drain and dry on kitchen paper.

2. Roughly break up the nuts in a pestle and mortar. Cut the grapefruit and avocado into small cubes and place in a bowl with the kale and nuts.

3. Place all the dressing ingredients into a bowl, season and whisk to combine. Spoon a little salad into each chicory leaf and arrange on a serving plate.

Nectarine-Green-Salad with Blackberry Dressing, Basil and Hazelnuts

Doesn't this salad look tasty?? A long the peaches I bought I also got some Nectarines and some Blackberries.

Every day on my way to work there are Blackberries growing a long the busstation. Especially in the evening when waiting for the bus and I'm hungry I pick some of the Blackberries, so good and sweet. Well some of you may think "eating Blackberries very close to pretty driven Road".... but I don't matter. Of course it would be better not growing so close to the street, but what could happen? A little dust won't kill me. AND I'm not going over to harvest them, just snacking while waiting.

But during this time my mind is spinning what else could be done with the Blackberry. A desert? A smoothie? For breakfast? But I wanted something to add for lunch or appetizer. Then I remembered that with any fruit there could be made a dressing.
And so my Lunchsalad took pictures of ideas.

Now having fresh Blackberries I took the adventure of making the dressing, first searching a little bit the web for an exactly idea of what ingredients pleases with the Blackberries.

The dressing is so fast done and just taste great! Together with some additional fruits in your green salad, a perfect summer fresh salad to enjoy!

Surprisingly my sister came over for a short stop and when she saw the salad she immediatly had to have bowl. She liked it as well as I did ;) and we had a nice lunchsalad together.

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Nectarine-Green-Salad with Blackberry-Dressing, Basil and Hazelnuts




Serves 1

Ingredients:
For the Salad:
2 Big handfuls salad greens
1 Nectarine, stone removed and fruit cut into thin slivers
2-3 T Blackberries
1/4 C Basil leaves
2 T Hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
Blackberry Dressing, a few tablespoons

For the Blackberry Dressing:
1/3C Blackberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
2T Extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 T Balsamic vinegar
1/2 T Agave nectar (optional)
1T Water

Prepare the dressing first.
Blend all the listed ingredients up in a blender, pour into a jar or bowl and refrigerate while you prepare the salad.

To toast hazelnuts, lay on a baking try and place in a hot (180C) oven for 5-10 minutes, until skins are blistered. Watch closely so they don’t burn. Tip onto a kitchen towel, wrap them up and rub vigorously to remove loose skins. Don’t worry if they don’t come off completely.

Place a handful of salad greens on individual plates or in a large bowl, add a layer of nectarine slices and whole berries, scatter over the basil and toasted nuts and finish with a generous drizzle of the dressing.

Green Salad with Ginger Miso Dressing

Another hot and sunny day, unfortunatly I couldn't enjoy the afternoon chilling in the garden. I met a friend at her new apartement and she got no balcony. So we had to sit inside passing by the great day. I found it really bad, but I couldn't change it... I couldn't live without a balcony or a garden. I love to be outside, seeing your plants and vegetable growing. That's pure pleasur for the heart.

Well her new apartement was all over new, with a great kitchen and a own washing station, but that's it. For me defently too small and a little bit cold. No colour on the wall, just plain white. Of the kitchen I was really jealous.

Well back at home I was really hungry and my body graves for a fresh salad. I harvest a salad from my garden and back in my kitchen I immediatly knew what kind of dressing I wanted for the salad - asian dressing. Spicy, fresh and a little bit sweet. Weeks before I saw a asian salad dressing in a magazine I searched for it and made it, as I have most the ingredients always at home. Together with some chopped and grated vegetable - perfect and I immediatly fell in love for the dressing.

You could add as well some chopped tofu dices to bump it up or more vegetable if you like.

Enjoy :)

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Green Salad with Ginger Miso Dressing



Ingredients:

Dressing:

1 Tablespoon orange zest

½ cup orange juice, (from 2 oranges, freshly squeezed is best)

2 Tablespoons miso

2 Tablespoons ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

½ cup avocado oil, (or olive oil)

1 Teaspoon sea salt

Salad:
Lettuce Salad or any other one you like
1 cucumber
1 red pepper
2 carrots
 

Direction:
Dressing:

Zest the orange and measure out 1 Tablespoon. Juice the oranges and add the juice with the rest of the ingredients to a blender.
 

Blend on low, increasing to medium speed until dressing is completely emulsified.
 

The dressing will keep for at least a week in the fridge.
Salad:

Remove a few strips of peel from the cucumber and cut off the ends. Cut lengthwise into quarters

Cut Pepper - after desseding - lengthwise and chopp into small dices

Grate the carrots- either by hand or in your food processor.

Mix everything with the lettuce and pour the dressing over the salad.

Enjoy the asian inspired salad.
For a light meal serve with Eggplant-Tofu-Involtini or just a vegan tofu sausage and some roasted bread with a dip.

 

Notes

I used a light colored brown rice miso for this recipe. For a richer miso flavor you can use the dark variety.

Mediterranean stacks

Yesterday I had a good friend of mine over for dinner and I wanted to do something special for her. Though she always says: don't make something special that requires long time spending in the kitchen.
But I had that idea spinning in my head and I had to make it, no matter how long I had to stand in kitchen. I served the mediterrean stacks as a starter and for the main dish I made a asian dish (as we both love asian food).

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Mediterranean stacks with pesto and tomato sauce

Serves 4

Preparation 1 hour (includes cooling and chilling)

 Ingredients

For the stacks

• 35g butter
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 80g fresh baby-leaf spinach
• 1 tomato, deseeded and chopped
• ½–1 aubergine
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 175g semi-dried mixed peppers, sliced
• 100g vegetarian goat’s cheese
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• ½ focaccia loaf

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 75ml vegetarian red wine
• pinch of caster sugar
• basil leaves, to garnish

• 1 onion, chopped
• 400g can good quality chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
• good quality ready-made fresh pesto sauce

Method

1. Lightly grease and line four 7 x 6cm rings with parchment paper, then place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.

2. Melt the butter and garlic together in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Remove the pan, stir in the parsley and set aside to cool.

3. Heat half the oil in a pan and sauté the onions for 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the peppers and sauté for a further 3 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring until it has wilted. Remove from the heat and stir in the goat's cheese, tomato and basil. Allow to cool.

4. Using a sharp knife, slice the aubergine into 8 x 1cm slices, each large enough to fit in the prepared rings. Heat the remaining oil and sauté the aubergine slices on both sides until golden. Drain well on kitchen paper.

5. Using a sharp knife, cut the focaccia lengthways to create 1cm-thick slices. Then, using one of the rings or a 7cm plain round cutter, cut out 4 rounds from the bread slices. Brush with the garlic butter. Place a slice in the base of each ring. Divide half the pepper filling between the rings and press down well. Top each with a slice of aubergine. Top with the remaining pepper filling and finish with aubergine slices. Cover and chill until ready to bake

6. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and bake the stacks for 30 minutes.

7. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion for 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine, tomato purée and a good pinch of sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

8. Remove the stacks from the oven and transfer to hot plates. Unmould and then arrange alternate blobs of the tomato sauce and pesto sauce around the stacks. Garnish with basil leaves and serve any remaining sauce separately. Serve immediately.

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Tofu, noodle and satay salad

 

 

 

Serves 4

Preparation 35 minutes +marinating

Cooking 8 minutes

 

Ingredients

 

396 g packet tofu, drained thoroughly

3 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 small head of Chinese leaves, shredded

300 g packet ready-cooked noodles

4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter

1 tbsp chilli sauce

1½ tbsp toasted sesame seeds

4 tbsp soy sauce

100 g mangetout, shredded

1 bunch of spring onions, cut into matchsticks

1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and sliced

100 g bean sprouts

5 tbsp sake

juice of 1 lime

Method

1. Cut the tofu into 2cm cubes and place in a mixing bowl. Toss in 3 tbsp of the soy sauce and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, toss together the mangetout, carrots, spring onions, Chinese leaves, pepper, noodles and bean sprouts in a large bowl.

3. Mix together the remaining soy sauce, peanut butter, sake, chilli sauce and lime juice and toss into the salad. Scatter over the sesame seeds.

4. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan and fry the tofu for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally until golden on all sides. Divide the salad between individual plates and top with the tofu.

Vegan fondue

Happy third advent to everyone!
Today's the big kinship meeting, we will be about 11 person, but this is only my mothers side. My fathers side would be much more. So every kind of meeting the kinship is always a big crowd. Mostly we see each other on special occasions, and this will be one today. As a recently posted it will be a christmas pre-celebration, but without a christmastree and presents.

As I'm the only person being vegan, I will bring some food for myself, cause the others eat "fondue", witch I don't like - too much of cheese. I would not even eat it, if it would be a vegan fondue. Not my food. This might sound strange, but....



For those who like fondue I will post a recipe

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Vegan Fondue

Ingredients for cheese fondue:

-500 g Yofu natural

-Glass vegetable Bolognese of Alnatura

-Onion

-black olives

-Oil

-Italian herbs (dried)

-Garlic spice

-Vegetable stock

-Mushroom stems

To the pure dip:

-Roasted mushroom heads

-Rigatoni, tortellini, ravioli (vegan of course)

-small potatoes

-Baguette cubes and/or different bread cubes

-Broccoli

-Zucchini

-Eggplant

Preparation:

Very small cut onion and olives. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop the also very. FRY in a pan with oil. Yofu and vegetable Bolognese and season with quite a lot of Italian herbs and garlic. give as much vegetable stock to do so until the desired consistency is reached.

The whole then fill the fondue pot and enjoy with the vegetables and baguette/bread.

 

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Roasted Vegetable Salad with Dill Dressing

 

Salad:

6 small golden beets, skins on and washed

1 red onion, quartered

2 zucchinis, each cut into 12 pcs

1 yellow/red bell pepper, sliced

10-15 cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 ½ avocado, diced

1 can (or 2 cups) salt-free Cannellini beans

Dressing:

½ cup tofu

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup non-dairy milk

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ avocado

2 green onions (scallions), chopped

2-3 tablespoons fresh dill weed

Preheat oven to 375. Place the whole beets on a non-stick baking sheet; roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Add the onion, zucchini, and bell pepper to the pan and roast everything for an additional 15 minutes, until vegetables start to brown around the edges. While the vegetables are roasting, place the tomatoes, avocado and beans in a bowl. To make the dressing, combine the tofu, lemon juice, non-dairy milk, garlic powder and avocado in a blender or Vitamix, and blend until smooth. Add in the onions and dill weed, and blend for just a couple of seconds (so that specks of dill are still visible). When the vegetables are done roasting, combine them with the tomatoes, avocado and beans, and toss with the dressing. Serve warm with a sprig of dill garnish.

 

Notes: You may also use red beets, but they may color your salad red. This salad may also be made with all the same salad ingredients, but raw (in this case, grate the peeled beets and zucchini, and dice the onion and bell pepper).

Preparation: 25 minutes; cooking time: 45 minutes; serves: 6

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spanish inspired dinner

Well the weather is not really the time for a spanish inspiered dinner, ut i wanted some summer in my kitchen and on my plate. I mixes up some vegetable and seasend them with with a spanish saffron spicy mix i brought a few month ago for the paella. But why not using the spice for some vegetable???

therefor i mixed some leek, zucchini, pepper and tomatoes

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Traditional Gazpacho

One taste of this chilled gazpacho and you will be instantly transported to a land of whitewashed walls, red-tiled roofs, and a golden sun...

• Diners: 4
• Preparation time: 30 min.
• Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

• 10 oz of bread
• 21 oz. of tomato
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 onions
• 2 red and green peppers
• 1 cucumber (optional)
• 7 tablespoons of oil
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of water
• Cumin (optional)

Preparation

In a big mortar mash the cumin, the garlic and the soaked bread, in a plastic bowl mix the chopped onion, the chopped tomato, the oil, the vinegar, the salt and the contents of the mortar, mash it with the mixer and add very cold water to mix everything. Add salt and strain it. Keep it in the fridge until served.
Serve with the tomato, the cucumber, the pepper and the toasted bread cut to dices..

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