This may sound weird but it's absolutely delicious. You strt by taking two leeks and 800 grams of carrots and coarsely chopping them. Sauté the leek for a few minutes and then add the carrots, and one bayleaf. Leave to sauté for a few more minutes and add two and a half liter of vegetable stock and leave to simmer for about half an hour. Mix the whole thing and at two tablespoons of honey.
Make sure to not let the soup boil after you've added the honey as it will burn and lose all its awesomely healthy qualities. If you want you can add a tablespoon of cream right before serving but I don't think the soup really needs it.
Friday 29 January 2010
Tuesday 26 January 2010
Week 19: Goat milk cheese and zucchini pasta
Very easy but tasty dish this week. Start by boiling your pasta, drain but keep one cup of the cookin liquid. Meanwhile take one medium-sized zucchini and cut it into thin half circles. Fry the zucchini in some oil with some salt, pepper and terragon. Fry until the zucchini is cooked and soft. Take the cup of cooking liquid you kept and add 125-150 grams of goat milk cheese. I recommend using one that tastes a little bit stronger for a richer sauce. Stir in de cheese until it dissolves (this will smell quite weird) and then add the pasta again and keep stirring until the sauce is nice and creamy. Obviously you can add all the spices you want here but I liked it nice and clean so you can taste the cheese well. Serve with the zucchini and some extra goat milk cheese or parmigiano.
Thursday 14 January 2010
Prawn-melon salad
Seeing as Dani wanted to see more of my own recipes I'll post one right now. It's incredibly easy, incredibly healthy and even more delicious.
You start by taking some prawns (I had a few left from last week) and cleaning them the same way. Then you take about a table spoon of neutral oil (I used sunflower seed oil) and add a bunch of your favourite spices (I cheated and used a stirfry mix I have but obviously you can just add whatever you like). Mix this well and coat the prawns, let set in the fridge for two to three hours.
While the prawns are marinating, take one Galia melon and dice the flesh (or make melon balls if you prefer them). Take a seep plate and put some rocket salad on the bottom, put the melon balls on top of the salad and start frying your prawns in some more of the sunflower seed oil until fully cooked. Add your prawns to your plate and add a bit of freshly ground pepper.
Voila! A weird combination but it's absolutely delicious.
You start by taking some prawns (I had a few left from last week) and cleaning them the same way. Then you take about a table spoon of neutral oil (I used sunflower seed oil) and add a bunch of your favourite spices (I cheated and used a stirfry mix I have but obviously you can just add whatever you like). Mix this well and coat the prawns, let set in the fridge for two to three hours.
While the prawns are marinating, take one Galia melon and dice the flesh (or make melon balls if you prefer them). Take a seep plate and put some rocket salad on the bottom, put the melon balls on top of the salad and start frying your prawns in some more of the sunflower seed oil until fully cooked. Add your prawns to your plate and add a bit of freshly ground pepper.
Voila! A weird combination but it's absolutely delicious.
Monday 11 January 2010
Week 18: Aubergine soufflé
This week (I actually prepared the recipe in advance this week for once but sssshhh) one of my friends said I couldn't make a soufflé. Obviously I was left with no other choice than to prove him wrong which I did almost straight away.
You start by taking one fairly small aubergine (about 250 to 300 grams is perfect) and peeling and dicing it. Bring one liter of water to a boil with a tablespoon of vinegar and boil the aubergine cubes for one to two minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.
Try to squeeze most of the water out and quickly sauté the aubergine. Add a large tablespoon of flour and make sure the aubergine is well coated with it (you're actually making a roux here but because the butter was absorbed by the aubergine you have to form it around the aubergine). You probably guessed it already but next we need to add some milk until we have a sauce of nice thickness. Season with pepper, salt and nutmeg and add around 25 grams of grated cheese. Remove your saucepan from the fire and let the mixture cool a bit. Beat two egg whites with a pinch of salt. Your aubergine mixture should have cooled enough by now for you to stir in two egg yolks and after that gently folding in the egg white (the less stirring the better).
Preheat your oven to 200°C and put your soufflé in ramekins (or teacups like I did) and put them in a large oven dish halfway filled with boiling water (au bain-marie) and bake for 25 minutes.
I don't know why it is considered a very difficult dish. It is definitely true that you need to eat it straight away because as it cools you can see it getting less and less puffy but that is fairly logical. This was the first ever time that I tried to make it and as you can see it worked like a charm. It puffed up perfectly and the taste and texture were great. Definitely worth a try!
You start by taking one fairly small aubergine (about 250 to 300 grams is perfect) and peeling and dicing it. Bring one liter of water to a boil with a tablespoon of vinegar and boil the aubergine cubes for one to two minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.
Try to squeeze most of the water out and quickly sauté the aubergine. Add a large tablespoon of flour and make sure the aubergine is well coated with it (you're actually making a roux here but because the butter was absorbed by the aubergine you have to form it around the aubergine). You probably guessed it already but next we need to add some milk until we have a sauce of nice thickness. Season with pepper, salt and nutmeg and add around 25 grams of grated cheese. Remove your saucepan from the fire and let the mixture cool a bit. Beat two egg whites with a pinch of salt. Your aubergine mixture should have cooled enough by now for you to stir in two egg yolks and after that gently folding in the egg white (the less stirring the better).
Preheat your oven to 200°C and put your soufflé in ramekins (or teacups like I did) and put them in a large oven dish halfway filled with boiling water (au bain-marie) and bake for 25 minutes.
I don't know why it is considered a very difficult dish. It is definitely true that you need to eat it straight away because as it cools you can see it getting less and less puffy but that is fairly logical. This was the first ever time that I tried to make it and as you can see it worked like a charm. It puffed up perfectly and the taste and texture were great. Definitely worth a try!
Week 17: Spinach and Prawns
My dad bought a tajine a few weeks ago and this week I used it for the first time. It's typically used for stews and stuff but obviously I had to make something completely different (nevertheless delicious) in it.
You start obviously by taking the prawns (about 500 grams) and getting the shell (or whatever it's called) off and deveining them (scroll down for an instructional vid if you fon't know how to do that) and setting them aside again for now. Chop up two onions, a clove of garlic and two tomatoes and fry them in some olive oil in your tajine with some salt and pepper. After a few minutes add the prawns and put lemon slices on top of the prawns and top this with some cilantroand put the lid on for five to six minutes. Stir and check your if your prawns are cooked. If not, leave to simmer for a bit more until cooked. Take them out of the tajine and keep warm. Add 600 grams of chopped up spinach along with one chili pepper (without the seeds if you don't want your food to be too spicy, although this also depends on the kind of pepper you use) and stir this every once in a while until the spinach has fully shrunk down (won't take more than a few minutes). Stir in your prawns again and let simmer for another minute or so. Put the (still closed) tajine on the table (oven mitts!!!) and open to reveal the amazing aroma of this dish. No cooking pot can give you that lovely first impression of a dish...
You start obviously by taking the prawns (about 500 grams) and getting the shell (or whatever it's called) off and deveining them (scroll down for an instructional vid if you fon't know how to do that) and setting them aside again for now. Chop up two onions, a clove of garlic and two tomatoes and fry them in some olive oil in your tajine with some salt and pepper. After a few minutes add the prawns and put lemon slices on top of the prawns and top this with some cilantroand put the lid on for five to six minutes. Stir and check your if your prawns are cooked. If not, leave to simmer for a bit more until cooked. Take them out of the tajine and keep warm. Add 600 grams of chopped up spinach along with one chili pepper (without the seeds if you don't want your food to be too spicy, although this also depends on the kind of pepper you use) and stir this every once in a while until the spinach has fully shrunk down (won't take more than a few minutes). Stir in your prawns again and let simmer for another minute or so. Put the (still closed) tajine on the table (oven mitts!!!) and open to reveal the amazing aroma of this dish. No cooking pot can give you that lovely first impression of a dish...
Saturday 9 January 2010
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Week 16: Vegan Risotto
I've had some green lentils lying around in a cupboard for a while now and figured it was time to finally use them so I went looking for a recipe and found this. I modified it just a tiny bit but you'll see why later on.
You start by chopping up one and a half sticks of leek (you need about 2 cups chopped up), 1 red capsicum (about half a cup), one red onion and a clove of garlic. Sauté all of this for a few minutes and then add 3 cups of vegetable broth ,one and a quarter cup of brown rice and pepper, salt and basil. Let this all simmer for about 40 minutes while stirring every once in a while so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile wash three quarters of a cup of green lentils and let them cook in some water (three cups water for one cup lentils) for 20 minutes. Make sure the water boils before you put in the lentils or they will stay quite hard. Drain the remaining water and add to the rice and vegetables once the 40 minutes are over. Here's where I changed it a bit, normally you would be done now but what I did was add one chilipepper and some extra curry powder to give it a bit more taste because I thought the taste was quite faint. Reheat a bit until it's piping hot (it said so in the original recipe :p) and serve with some finely grated carrots and freshly choppped parsley on top.
Hope you enjoy it!
You start by chopping up one and a half sticks of leek (you need about 2 cups chopped up), 1 red capsicum (about half a cup), one red onion and a clove of garlic. Sauté all of this for a few minutes and then add 3 cups of vegetable broth ,one and a quarter cup of brown rice and pepper, salt and basil. Let this all simmer for about 40 minutes while stirring every once in a while so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile wash three quarters of a cup of green lentils and let them cook in some water (three cups water for one cup lentils) for 20 minutes. Make sure the water boils before you put in the lentils or they will stay quite hard. Drain the remaining water and add to the rice and vegetables once the 40 minutes are over. Here's where I changed it a bit, normally you would be done now but what I did was add one chilipepper and some extra curry powder to give it a bit more taste because I thought the taste was quite faint. Reheat a bit until it's piping hot (it said so in the original recipe :p) and serve with some finely grated carrots and freshly choppped parsley on top.
Hope you enjoy it!
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