Panzanella

Having days off from work does so good. I have the time to relax, meeting friends or trying myself on recipes I never made before. 

But not today - no time - and beside I was hungry and it had to be a fast done lunch. 

The first Panzanella I ate wasn't in italy as guessed - no I ate it in New York on my Holiday trip a few years ago. I immediatly fell in love and wondered why I never saw this salad to be served in Switzerland???

On the web I found different kind of recipes and I tried many out, till I found one of my favorite veganized Panzanella. Simple but without the shaved cheese. 

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Panzanella

Ingredients:

2 Whole Grain Hamburger Buns
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 can Heirloom Tomatoes, halved
1 can Artichoke Hearts, drained and chopped
4 tablespoons Red Onion, diced
10 large leaves Organic Basil, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Light Champagne Vinaigrette

Direction:
Preheat oven to 350. Cut bread into one inch cubes. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until bread becomes golden brown. Let cool. Combine tomatoes, artichokes, onion and basil. Toss with vinaigrette. Add cooled bread cubes, toss and serve.

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.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas

It's not the presents that make Christmas so special, it's the 

presence of those you love whether they are with you in 

person, or spirit . I love you my friends, May the miracle of 

Christmas fill your heart with love

Merry Christmas!

Figchutney

Christmas is coming closer and closer. Holly time 
I really do like this time - if only it wouldn't be such stressfull at work. All the "end-of-year"-stuff that had to be done before Christmas. 
This year I did not even had the time to make a stop at the christmasmarket of even going to the city.

Luckely I don't wait till the last time to go for presents, I kept my eyes open trought the whole last 5 month, made it much quiter and easier around

Once when being at a congress in "Murten" (city in the middle centre of Switzerland) and using the free afternoon to walk around in the little, cute center of the city,  I entered a little store with all kind of special spices, gravys, snacks, mustard from Texas -wow! I was immediatly caught about the variousity and I knew that I would find some presents - and not even planing it before.    - That's the way I mostly get a present. The unexpected ones are the best.....

This year I had the idea to make a homemade present for every couple sitting at the decorated table, placed in front of theire plate.

The idea was pretty easy found, a chutney. 

I bought all the needed ingredients and filled the kitchen with a great spicy-sweet-taste in the air.

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Figchutney

Cooking time: 40 Min. incl. cooling down

Ingredients:

2 Persons

For two Glasses (400ml)
8 fresh Figs or dried ones
1 knob piece of ginger
1 garlicknob
300 g Onions, chopped
80 g tried apricots
2 Cardamons
1 Tbsp. oil
1 staranis
70 g sugar
2 Tbsp. whitwine vinegar
250 ml red wine (or if you prefer balsamico)
Salt
fresh grounded black pepper

Direction:

1 Rinse figs, pat dry, peel and dice. Peel and chop ginger and garlic. Peel the onions. Dice along with the apricot. Crush cardamom pods.

2 Heat oil in a pot. Fry ginger, garlic, star anise and cardamom. Add onions and apricots and cook about 3 minutes. Pour vinegar and wine. Let simmer all together while stirring for about 15 minutes.

3 Add Figs and cook for a further 3 minutes, mix or puree everything trough (not if you desire chunchy bites). Allow Chutney to cool a little bit  and season with salt and pepper. Immediately fill in jars and seal. 

The chutney with fresh figs will be good for about 2 weeks, stored in the fridge. The chutney stay's longer good if you use dried figs. 

It is especially good with vegan meat and cheese.

chrunchy roasted sweeted amandes

Christmastime, always the time when you enjoy being together with your family, lighting the candles in the evening, maybe a fire in your chimnee. Hopefully some snowflakes falling outside - just so great. It's always a magic, special time. Unfortunatly most people don't really know why we're are celebrating Christmas and that's sad.

Anyway. Every years from the beginning of december till christmas we have a christmas market in the city (I posted pictures the year before) and beside clothes, goods, sweets, spices, candles a.s.o. there're alway the "houses" were they serve food and sweet things.

One thing I mostly buy during this christmas time are chrunchy roasted sweet almonds (thought I don't really like almonds) but those chrunchy ones just taste soo great - hard to resist.

This year I still hadn't the time to go to the market and therefore I decided to make them on myself. They are simple and quick done.

Kids will love them

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Chrunchy roasted sweeted amandes

Ingredients: 
1 dl water
200 g sugarr
1 tsp. vanille sugar
maybe 1 hint of cinnamnon
200g unpeeled amandes

Direction:
Add everything exept the amandes into a pan and cook up. When cooking add the amandes. Cook under constantly stirring, till the sugar stick to the amandes and they look chrunchy. Shortly roast till amandes "shine". Immediatly give the roasted sweeted amandes to a lightly oiled backing sheet, spread out and let cool!

They taste chrunchy and sweet and of course so course. If you like amandes then you're defently going to love those chrunchy sweet roasted amandes. They are just tasting so great and they can be always bought during pre-christmas time at the christmas ferry. People just love it. No one can resist them ;)

Festive Lemon Cake

Yesterday evening we had a pre-christmas family meeting at my aunt's home. This year was the second time we made it this way, cause we won't me each other on Christmas. Like last year my uncle made Fondue and like last year I brought my own food with (as I'm the only vegan person in the family).

I said that I would bring a part of the dessert and this was a home made vegan festive lemon cake, my sister made a mangocream. Like on easter they were really surprised that a cake can be made without eggs.....
I still don't know why non-vegan persons think a cake without eggs couldn't work or even taste. BUT it does and there's no different!

Anyway, they liked it and that was more important!

If you're thinking about you could do for dessert on christmas eve this cake defently will be worth a try!

Let me know if you made the cake or what ever else you made. Meanwhile I will give you the recipe of this great lemon cake. Weather you make it on christmas or not.

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Lemon Cake

Lemon Loaf

Ingredients:

2 large lemons

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

6 tsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup water



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar and baking soda in large mixing bowl.

Zest 1 full lemon rind into bowl.

Cut both lemons and squeeze lemon juice into separate bowl so the seeds don't fall in the mixture.

Add water, oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla to the large bowl.

Mix well, then place mix into a ungreased 8 inch cake pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, keep an eye on it though, all stoves are different!

Let it cool for 1-2 hours before icing it.

Vanilla Lemon Icing

Ingredients:​

1/2 large lemon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup confectionary sugar

Directions:
Cut lemon and squeeze juice in bowl. Add vanilla and sugar. Whisk until smooth. ​

​

Enjoy!

Pumpkin flat flamebread

I really can't tell if this special known baked - normaly in the stoneoven - pizza-like loaded bread is called Flatflamebread, translated to english. But for me this was the logical word- so sorry if I wrote it wrong. Hope you understand anyway.

Before being vegan I ate a few times a Flatflamebread, and sometimes I'm in the mood for it, as it's lighter than a pizza - as the bread is thinner and not so loaded - more like an appetizer. The first flatflamebread I made the vegan way was very good, but this was years ago and yesterday I saw the frozer flatflamebread at the supermarket and all I wanted is to grab it - BUT it's not vegan. So I decided to go home and make another one on myself (still better ;-)

I kept the flatflamebread very simple (as known) just some vegan cheese and a vegetable. Perfect if you're in the mood for a pizza but a lighter version!

Serve the flamebread plain or with a salad (as I did). Enjoy this easy dish!

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Pumpkin flat Flamebread (called Flammkuchen)

Time: 1 hr
Plus dough resting time, or you use a bought one (faster)

Ingredients
For 4 pieces

10 g of yeast
250 g of flour
100 g whole milk vegan yogurt
6 tablespoons olive oil
salt
750 g Hokkaido pumpkin
Pulp of 4 figs
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tsp. brown sugar
cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons melted vegan margarine
Leaves from 1 sprig of thyme
250 g vegan cheese grated, or prepared one,

200g radicchio, trimmed and tease

Direction
Dissolve yeast in 4 tbsp warm water. Place the flour in a bowl and make a hole. Pour in yeast , yogurt , 2 tablespoons oil and 1/ 2 tsp salt and knead to a smooth dough . Shape into a ball and leave covered in a warm place for 2 hours.

Cut Hokkaido into quarters , remove seeds and cut into slices. Puree Fig fruit flesh with lime juice , sugar, cayenne pepper , 1 pinch of salt and 4 tbsp oil .

Cut four times baking paper in sheet size. Preheat oven to 250 degrees with sheet metal. Knead the dough , divide into 4 portions and let rest for 5 minutes. Wrap each portion of dough between two sheets of plastic and roll paper thin .

Put each piece of doughtarte on a piece of baking paper. Top with pumpkin slices and brush the squash with butter. Season the Tarte with thyme , salt and pepper and sprinkle with grated vegan cheese. Pull Tarte with the baking paper on the hot plate. Bake in portion (space in the oven!) on the 2nd shelf from the bottom about 6 minutes.

Mix Radicchio and fig sauce and serve together with the Tarte .

Enjoy!