Florence - here I come

One of the perks of living in Europe is that Tuscany is just around the corner. Well, not exactly, but close enough for a weekend trip. Thursday is a holiday and we took Friday off and booked a get-away weekend in Florence. I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning. Ever since my first school trip to Italy I have been a fan of this country. Well, the school trip then was more about drinking and who goes with whom, but still, the country's charm got me.

Then last winter my then-boyfriend "kidnapped" me and took me on a surprise trip to Rome where he proposed to me. Hmmmm, romantic - and one more reason to love Italy.

And now Florence. They say it has the most cultural treasures of all of Italy. I've googled a bit and read that they also have nice rich vegetable stews such as pappa pomodoro and ribollita. And as I've noticed last year in Rome, in Italy pizzas are not necessarily drowned in cheese. It was totally normal ordering pizza without cheese in restaurants, every street vendor had some. And all those yummy grilled antipasti veggies... Coming from Germany, Italy is vegan heaven.

And the weather is supposed to be really nice for the weekend - I'm excited as a six year old on Christmas Eve :-)

To end with a recipe I'll present you with one of my favorite soups: green split pea soup. Easy as pea pie :-) To get me into this Italy mood we had it with fresh oregano and some extra virgin olive oil drizzled over it.


1/2 cup split green peas
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small piece of ginger, minced
1 carrot, grated
water
bouillon cubes
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 large leek, sliced
handful of dried tomatoes, sliced
the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford
some fresh oregano


Place the peas in a large pot together with the onion, the garlic, the ginger and carrot, cover with plenty of water, bring to a boil and cook until tender - 30 min to 1 hour (or longer, depending on the water in your area) Soaking the peas for a couple of hours before cooking will considerably speed things up. Do not add any salt to the water or the peas will take forever.

Once the peas are tender add bouillon cubes to taste (depending on how much water you've used), the potatoes, the dried tomatoes and the leek. Cook until the potatoes are tender - 10-20 minutes. By now the peas should have totally disintegrated, making for a nice, rich, creamy, hearty, stew-like consistency. Serve with fresh oregano and some olive oil drizzled over it. For complete protein serve with a slice of toasted sour-dough bread (or regular bread, we had it with sour-dough - the usual bread in Germany).

Without the olive oil this is a naturally fat-free dish.

And with this I'm off to Florence :-)

Cranberry-blood orange jelly

I love February. Not because of the weather - definitely not. But February is blood orange season. In Germany, all oranges must be imported (pre-climate change climate provided... this winter would totally have been warm enough for orange trees to prosper), and more often than not their quality doesn't live up to my standards. But come February and all this changes. Blood oranges are always juicy, aromatic, tangy, and fragrant. I devour them by the pound.

Then the other day I found a leftover bag of cranberries in my freezer, and an idea started to form in my head. I'm the biggest fan of bitter orange marmelade, something you can only homemake with proper bitter Seville oranges - not marketed here. But how about a blood orange-cranberry jelly? Yes, gotta try that.

The verdict? Itsh hard to shpeak wish my moush full of bagel wish jelly... O my goodnesh, thish ish gooooooooood :-)


I used the frozen cranberries and juiced what seemed like 6 pounds of blood oranges. I brought the cranberries together with the orange juice to a boil, let it gently simmer for a while, covered with a lid to avoid boiling it down. I then strained it, pressing the pomace to squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and then measured 1 liter (4 cups) of liquid. I let it cool (important), then mixed this with 25 g of pectin, brought it to a boil again, stirring very frequently, added 300g sugar (1 cup), brought it back to a rolling boil and let it boil for approx. 3 min, stirring constantly.

so totals of:
cranberry juice + blood orange juice + juice of 1/2 lime, together a total of 1 liter (4 cups)
300g sugar (1 cup)
15g pectin (1/2 ounce) (use according to instructions on package!)
I'm giving the totals in metric values since they are a bit more precise.

I filled the hot hot hot jelly into scalded glasses with a twist-off lid. It is important to work quickly here, the jelly must be filled while it is still piping hot. Caution: the glasses get VERY hot. Use a clean towel to handle them, do not touch the rims with the towl. Since the glasses are too hot to hold while filling them, I always place them on a deep plate and then hold the plate.

I closed the lid tightly, and placed the glasses upside down. The remaining air in the glasses contracts as the jelly cools and produces a vacuum, thus tightly sealing the glasses. If I did it again I'd probably use less sugar, though, since the oranges were pretty sweet already. However, since the sugar acts as preserving agent I didn't want to cut it back too much. Still, if you use this ratio, your jam will still only have an added sugar content of 23% and a fruit content of 77%. Compare this to shop-bought jelly.

The key is to work as sterile as possible. Do not lick the spoon you are stirring with, do not touch the inside of the glasses or lids after scalding, do not wipe the glass rims with a cloth you used before for washing dishes or the like. Take a new cloth! Try to keep things surgically clean and the preserve will keep forever in a cool pantry - provided you don't eat it first. I've been making jams and jellies all my live and I've never had a batch go bad.

Homemade jelly is much much softer than store-bought brands (use mor pectin for firmer results). It is also much much yummier. Also, it usually is much much fruitier as well, preserving this typical pizzaz and tanginess missing in most store-bought brands. Plus, on one Sunday afternoon you can make a year's supply of jelly and jam of the fruit that's in season. So start peeling already :-)

Chickpea Soba Soup with a Secret Ingredient

Last night as dinner time was approaching I was leafing through V-con and the Chickpea-Noodle Soup caught my eye. Unfortunately, I didn't have half of the ingredients and was too tired/lazy/cranky to go shopping again. But I had set my mind on this and was craving it, it had to be a chickpea-noodle soup. Luckily, I happened to have a can of chickpeas and a pack of Japanese soba on hand.



I didn't measure what I put in the soup. I used instant vegetable stock, zucchini (courgettes), chickpeas, soba noodles, a secret ingredient (more of that later), and handful of arugula (rocket). I love throwing arugula into soups. It adds color, crunch, vitamins, iron... and taste :-) I brought the broth with the chickpeas to a boil and added the soba and the sliced zucchini at the same time, and cooked it for five minutes until the soba were tender. The zucchini were still al dente, so if you like your veggies softer you might want to throw in the zucchini first.

I didn't have the miso the V-con recipe called for. So far I have not been able to find fish-free miso here. Once I was in an Asian supermarket and was looking at the misos. I checked the German list of ingredients - all fine- and had the pack of miso in my shopping cart already when I noticed the Japanese inscription on the front of the pack. I turned the pack around again and checked the Japanese list of ingredients. After living in Japan as a vegan, the one thing I can decipher is animal ingredients on labels. There was fish in the miso!

I am still shocked and cannot believe the slack labelling. Food laws stipulate that all possible allergens must clearly be indicated - and fish is one of them. Plus, it WAS clearly indicated in Japanese, but of the 10 or so ingredients in Japanese, only 3 were translated... My trust in labeling of imported food is now a bit shaken...

Anyway, I'm digressing. So no miso. But a mixture I came up with a couple of months ago and which truly takes brothy soups to another level is a 1:1:1 mix of tahini, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. With lots of "umami" it makes soups nice'n'creamy. So, this is my secret soup ingredient, and both me and my husband love it.

Now drool over the picture and/or get a copy of V-con as I'm sure that V-con's soup is even tastier.

For more brothy soups check out Japanese Nabe.
For more creamed vegetable soups check out Broccoli-Cauliflower Yin-Yang Soup.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Purple Potato Salad

The other day I stumbled across some purple potatoes in the deli section. Their color intrigued me and so I managed to ignore their outrageous price and bought some. I cooked them in their jackets because I was afraid their precious color could fade plus their surfaces were really uneven which would have made it hard to peel them. Then I proceeded with my family's potato-salad recipe, adding a dash of wasabi for extra pizazz.

Their color was a big hit at our dinner table tonight, and so was their taste. I served these with an unbelievably good soup (more of that later) and a kick-ass vegan sandwich: I baked a crusty focaccia and put on some ground horseradish, generous amount of hummus, sundried tomatoes, sliced black olives, avocado slices, broiled tofu, loads of arugula (rocket), cucumbers and ketchup. I'm telling you, my husband really loves me now :-) (I mean, he does anyway, but no man can resist good food :-))


Purple potato salad
Serves two as a side

1/2 pound purple potatoes
1 red onion, diced
1 cup strong vegetable broth (instant)
1-2 tblspoon mustard
1-2 tblspoon balsamic vinegar (depending on how vinegary your mustard is)
a dash of wasabi

1/2 juicy, aromatic apple
2 tblspoon sliced pickled cucumbers

Cook the potatoes in their jackets. Drain, and peel the hot potatoes. Bring the broth to a boil, add the onion and cook for a few minutes. Stir in 1 tblsp mustard and vinegar, taste and add more if you want. The dressing should be quite vinegary and salty.

Slice the potatoes into 1/2 - 1 inch slices, dice the apple, slice the cucumbers. Add everything to the hot dressing and turn off the heat. Let sit for approx. 1/2 hour, stirring every once in a while. The potatoes will start absorbing the dressing and the starch of the potatoes will mix with the liquid resulting in a creamy potato salad - with no fat added. Serve at least at room temperature, preferably a little warm.

For more side salads check out Arugula with white beans, cherry tomatoes, and red onions.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Spaghetti with Caramelized Veggies in Creamy Red Wine Sauce

Susan over at the FatFree Vegan Kitchen is again hosting Vegetable Love. This is an event where she collects fat-free, vegetable-centered, healthy, sexy recipes for Valentine's day. So, what is the most sensual thing to eat with candlelight, a glass of good red wine, and subtle music? Think Lady and the Tramp.... It's spaghetti. Seriously. Comfort food that a simple sauce can transform into an aphrodisiac and which will still retain its simple, sensual appeal. And if that sauce is veggie-based it meets all the other requirements above. So here I give you the recipe for our all-time favorite pasta. Sweet caramelized onions, earthy mushrooms, and tender courgetts with perfect al-dente spaghetti enveloped in creamy, aromatic, red wine sauce. (Picture of Lady and the Tramp: Disney).

Spaghetti with caramelized veggies in creamy red wine sauce

Serves two plus leftovers

2 cloves garlic, minced
3 red onions, halved and then thinly sliced
4 courgettes
8 oz brown portobellos, sliced
8 oz shiitake, sliced

3/4 cup soymilk (see note)
3/4 cup red wine
3/4 cup vegan stock (instant)
salt, freshly ground pepper, fresh thyme

Lovingly set the table with flowers and candles and put on romantic music.

Cut the courgettes in half lenghtwise, then shave them with a potato peeler into thin slices.

Ligthly spray a non-stick skillet with olive oil. Gently fry the garlic for a minute over medium heat. Add the onion slices and cover with a lid. The onions will now start cooking in their own juice. Stirr frequently, adding 2 tblsp of water if the onions start browning too much or sticking to the pan. After about 20 minutes the onions should be tender and caramelized.

Turn the heat to high and add the mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes on high until the mushrooms start exuding their juices. Add the courgette slices together with the soymilk, red wine and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, cover again and cook for two minutes. Uncover and stirr. The steam should have softened the courgette slices, they are so thin that they will cook in no time. Cook for one or two more minutes of needed. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and sprinkle with fresh thyme. Add more liquid if needed.

Pour over your steaming hot spaghetti and serve to the one you love. Slurp on the same strand of spaghetti. Kiss.

THE END


Mmmmmmh, can you smell it? Mmmmmmh... :-)

For more yummy pasta recipes check out Spaghetti with arugula, garlic, and grape tomatoes

Note: If you are not concerned about fat-free, use soy-creamer.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Japanese Nabe

This is the story of a very traditional Japanese dish and what I made of it. First of all, I took out all that crawled before. And second, I cannot find half the original ingredients over here in Germany, so I had to make some adjustments. Even so, nabe is one of my all-time favorite soups. It is quick, easy, warming, and in its vegan version almost fat-free.

Nabe is a traditional winter dish. It is cooked at the table in a wide flat pot. The ingredients are nicely arranged in the pot, the longest cooking go in first, the most tender last. Then everybody takes out some of the food, and new ingredients are placed in the broth. This goes on until everybody is full. Now you have a deeply aromatic broth left. Enter the rice. On festive occasions in Japan, rice is usually served last. Maybe it is because this is the weekday staple, and on special days people want to fill up on something else. The cooked rice (some Japanese also use soba) is placed in the rich, fragrant broth, left there to soak up the liquids, and then enjoyed at the close of the meal.

I remember cold cold winter Sundays in Japan when I was out all day. When I got home I only wanted to do one thing: curl up on my heating carpet and slurp hot nabe soup until my bones were thawed again. Also my Japanese friends frequently invited me for nabe nights - evenings full of laughter and playing cards - and eating lots and lots of nabe.

Back here in Germany, I don't have a nabe pot, so I make it on the stove like a soup. I love how the flavors play together. The pumpkin and cabbage lend it some sweetness, chrysanthemum leaves have a delightful bitterness in them, lotus root adds some crunch, and the mushrooms and tofu are heavenly tender.

Above are two pics I took in Japan of my beloved pot and what it looked like in the soup bowl. Below the instructions for my westernized veganized Nabe. I give you the original ingredients first, and in parentheses the possible substitutes if you have trouble finding things.

Japanese Nabe
Serves two

vegan nabe broth (or vegetarian yeast-based stock or vegetable stock)
vegan Japanese sesame dressing to taste (or 1:1:1 tahini + balsamic vinegar + soy sauce)
1-2 cups Japaneses mushrooms (shiitake, king trumpet mushrooms (eryngii), enoki)
1/2 cup fresh lotus root (or water chestnuts)
5 oz firm tofu
1/2 small kabocha pumpkin
1 small Chinese cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
a good handfull of chrysanthemum leaves (or arugula (rocket))
1 oz rice noodles (original: Japanese rice or soba)

Cook the rice noodles (or Japanese soba or Japanese rice) according to instructions on the pack.

Place the stock and some of the sesame dressing to taste together with the tofu, the pumpkin, the mushrooms and the fresh lotus root in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until the veggies are tender. Add the Chinese cabbage and the sprouts and simmer for a few more minutes. You do not want the cabbage to overcook. Taste and adjust spices. Add the arugula (or better: chrysanthemum leaves) and the rice noodles and serve, the heat of the soup will wilt the arugula to perfection.

For more easy but impressive soups check out the white and green Broccoli-Cauliflower Yin-Yang soup.

I'm making my veganized Japanese Nabe my contribution to "No croutons required" which is hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen and Holler from Tinned Tomatoes - this month centers around vegetable soups.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Potato Gratin "Heaven and Earth" with Lambs Lettuce

My contribution to the Paper Chef #26 - The Return. The four ingredients to be used were potatoes, bacon, swede/rutabaga and plum tomatoes. Ilva urged us to get creative so I was trying to think of of something a little more... out of the ordinary.

There is a dish in North-West Germany called "Heaven and Earth". It is basically mashed potatoes (earth) with cooked, mashed apples (heaven). I had never actually had it myself but had heard its praises sung so much that I decided to try a hommage to Heaven and Earth by including apples in the gratin.

So, how was it? It was WOW. I'm glad I tried what when I first thought of it seemed crazy and probably inedible. It was heaven, so to speak. The mealiness of the potatoes was perfectly complimented by the swedes' texture, and the apples contributed sweetness, a little tartness and juiciness (duh). All in all the comfort of a gratin with an interesting zing. I am definitely making this again.





Potato Gratin "Heaven and Earth"

2 pounds mealy potatoes
1/2 pound swedes
1 apple
some fresh thyme

1/2 cup soy creamer
1 1/2 cup vegan stock
2 bay leaves

1 tblsp flour, dissolved in some water

some lemon juice, nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper

Bring the soy creamer and stock with the bay leaves to a boil, stirr in the dissolved flour and stirr until it thickens slightly. Season with freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice and add salt to taste. You want to be a little on the salty side since the potatoes absorb a lot of flavor.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Peel the potatoes, swede, and apple and slice approx. 1/4 inch thick. Layer nicely in a flat, wide gratin form, tucking in a slice of apple here and there, and sprinkling it with some fresh thyme. Gently pour the sauce over the veggies. Bake for approx. 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender and nice and golden. If it starts browning too much, lower the heat to 350°F (170°C). Serve with Lamb's Lettuce, Plum Tomatoes, and Faux Bacon.


Lamb's Lettuce, Plum Tomatoes, and Faux Bacon

Cut 2 ounces of extra firm tofu into small cubes. Heat some olive oil in a pan, add the cubes and fry until they are crisp and golden. Add a generous splash of soy sauce. This will give the cubes a deep dark color and give them this savory, salty touch.

Wash lambs lettuce (between the two of us we eat 5 ounces), slightly salt it and give it a generous splash of good balsamic vinegar and fruity extra virgin olive oil. Toss. Add plum tomatoes and "bacon" pieces.

Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Thai Curry with Spelt-Basmati Rice

A couple of years ago shortly after going vegan I took a trip to Thailand. I was shocked by the fact that in tourist restaurants they seemed to offer meat only, and thrilled when I found a little eatery that had vegetarian options on their menu, most of them vegan. There I had some of the most flavorful dishes I ever tasted.

Fast forward: Some months ago I was browsing the shelves of an Asian supermarket in the nearby city and stopped dead when I saw a vegan Tom Ka paste. Lovely. I've been cooking not a soup but more of a curry based on this, and both the husband and I really have to fight this urge to lick our plates after dinner... This curry is pretty heavy on Chinese cabbage, but then again Chinese cabbage contains loads of calcium.

As for the rice: I've recently discovered that brown rice when cooked tastes as good as white rice, only it contains so much more that is good for you. And my latest discovery: adding a few spelt kernels to the rice is an awesome thing to do. I love the crunch the spelt adds, not to mention the added nutrients. All in all this was one nutrient-packed Sunday lunch. Um, have I mentioned it was yummy?

Thai Curry with Spelt-Basmati Rice

1 large king trumpet mushroom (eryngii) (approx. 4 ounces), sliced
7 ounces extra firm tofu cut into 1/2" pieces
1 14ounce can light coconut milk (or coconut water to make it fat-free)
1/2 cup water

1 dry red chili (or a lot more, depending on how spicy you like it)
2 bay leaves
2-3 tblsp vegan Thai tom-ka paste
spice mix, containing galangal, lemongras, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root

1 small Chinese cabage (approx. 1 pound), cut into bit-sized pieces
1 1/2 cup shiitake, stems trimmed, sliced

splash of lime

Bring the coconut milk together with the water and the spices to a boil. Add the tofu and the sliced trumpet mushrooms. Let simmer for a few minutes so the mushrooms can soften and the tofu can absorb the flavors. Add the remaining ingredients, simmer for a few more minutes. Adjust spices, add a splash of lime. Done.

I bought the spice mix ready assembled in a bag, it's called Tom-Ka spices. I bet their fresh counterparts will give this curry even more flavor but here in Smalltown, Germany, I consider myself lucky finding dried exotic spices. So if you get a chance to buy fresh galangal, lemongras, kaffir lime leaves, and coriander root you should definitely go for the fresher taste.

1 1/2 cup organic, fair-trade, brown basmati rice
1/2 cup spelt (leave out to make it gluten-free)
4 cups water

I cooked the rice in my rice cooker, ignoring the water marks and using 2 cups of water for every cup of brown rice.

Serves two.

Bonus pic: Look at this beauty! This is the orchid my brother gave me for christmas. Lucky me :-)

Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.
Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.

Spring Rolls with Chili and Ponzu Sauce

Wow, what a week. In September, I started business school and this past week truly lived up to expectations. We had class from nine to seven, even on Saturday, and loads of reading to do at home. Plus, it takes me two hours to get to school. And when I was riding the train I would think about the things I'd like to cook but when I got home at nine in the evening I simply couldn't be bothered...

Yesterday, Saturday, was the last day of this marathon. And you know how after your last day of something very exhausting you suddenly have lots of energy because you know you can sleep in the next day and relax? I finally had energy left to cook and I had a craving for spring rolls, something I last had years ago back in my omni days. Fatty fried foods give me a hard time so the challenge was to make them vegan and as fat-free as possible.

To fill them I used whatever I found in the fridge and pantry but I bet they'd be great with vegetables only. I'm thinking bean sprouts, carrots, and broccoli.


Ponzu Sauce

3 tblsp reduced sodium soy sauce
3 tblsp lime juice

This is a very simple version of my favorite Asian dipping sauce. It is almost not a recipe, too easy to be spelled out and yet too good to not mention it.



Spring Rolls

24 rice sheets for spring rolls (diameter ca. 6 inch)

3 carrots
3 scallions
1 cup Chinese cabbage in thin stripes
ginger garlic chili to taste

1/2 cup small TVP chunks
1/2 cup hot double-strenth vegan broth
1 tblsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tblsp balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp dark sesame oil

Reconstitute the rice paper in batches: let some water run over the sheets and place them on a wet kitchen towel. Mine took forever to soften so you might want to do this first.

Reconstitute the TVP chunks in the broth with the soysauce and the vinegar. Stirr once in a while to make sure the chunks a the top also get soaked. Cook them in a skillet for a few minutes. I'm not sure this is necessary but I didn't want to eat these raw.

Peel and shred the carrots and the scallions. Add them together with the cabbage to the pan and give them a quick sweat. Season generously with ginger (I was lazy and used the powdered version) or whatever strikes your fancy.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Place two sheets of softened rice paper on top of each other. Place some of the filling in a row in the center. Fold the sides over and then roll them up.

Lightly lightly coat the rolls with some sesame oil using a brush (or lightly spray them) and place them sealed side down on a sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them until crunchy. Mine took 15 minutes but this will depend on your oven. Makes six rolls.

We had these with ponzu sauce and with sweet chili sauce I made (but so far have not managed to take a decent photo of).

I was really happy with how they turned out :-)

Serves 4 as starters or two as main course.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Glutenfree depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Broccoli-Cauliflower Yin-Yang Soup

Two cruciferous vegetables cooked in aromatic homemade vegetable stock wich reduces the amount of salt needed - ultimate heart-healthy luxury. Um, did I mention that it is delicious as well? This soup is one of my contributions to HotM. Joanna promised me I could enter more than one soup - that sure got me cooking.

Broccoli-Cauliflower Yin-Yang Soup

1/2 head cauliflower
1 head broccoli
1 cup soycreamer (or soymilk or leave out to make it fat-free)
vegan stock (preferably homemade)
nutmeg, pepper, sea salt to taste

Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets, you should have more or less an equal amount of broccoli and cauliflower. Place the broccoli in one small saucepan and the cauliflower in another saucepan. Cover with stock and cook until tender. Add half the soy creamer to both pots. Blend. Add stock until the two soups have about the same consistency. Season the cauliflower with a generous pinch of nutmeg, the broccoli with some freshly ground black pepper.

Take some aluminum foil and fold it to a stripe. Place the stripe upright on the plate marking the yin-yang-dividing line. Then very slowly and carefully start pouring the two soups from the two sides onto the plate. When the plate is filled, carefully remove the stripe. Spoon a drop of white soup on the green round and vice versa.

It only took me about 30 minutes total - 15 minutes cooking time and 15 minutes for bringing the soup onto the plates, so this is the perfect make-belief-its-fancy dish.

Simple and easy to prepare but quite impressive. For more simple yet impressive soups check out Roasted Pepper Soup with Cinnamon and Ginger.

Serves two.


Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Caldo Gallego a la Scarborough Fair

During my time at university I spent almost a year in Spain. I was living in Galicia in Spain's beautiful north where the hills are green and the winters cold and where you will see snow almost every winter. To keep warm during the colder months, the people in Galicia, gallegos as they call themselves, cook up a rich and warming stew, the Caldo Gallego.

The main ingredients are white beans, potatoes and two leafy greens I cannot come by in Germany, namely rapini and collard greens, these can be perfectly substituted with curly kale. Alas, the original also contains copious amounts of that-which-must-not-be-named but I chose to just ignore that. This soup is not to be confused with the similar Portuguese Caldo Verde. Caldo Verde does not contain beans and is more on the light side, served as a starter. Caldo Gallego however is a thick, filling soup that is usually served as a one-pot meal.

I fell in love in Spain - with this creamy, rich, aromatic stew and after going vegan this was the first thing I tried in its all-vegetable version. I had been planning on making this my contribution for HotM. While I was making the soup, I was humming the tune of Scarborough Fair. It was then I realized that I happened to have fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme on hand. So in order to give this recipe a twist and make it even more heart healthy I added the English touch to this Spanish stew - the Scarborough fair herbs.


Caldo Gallego a la Scarborough Fair

1 cup uncooked white beans
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
vegetable stock (ideally homemade to make it super heart-healthy)

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups curly kale, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 sage leaf, chopped
1/2 teaspoon rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme, chopped

sea salt to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Soak the beans overnight. Cook them the next day with the bay leaves and the diced onion and garlic until tender. Do not add salt (or salty instant stock) before the beans are tender.

When the beans are done, remove the bay leaves and add the potato cubes and the kale. Cook until tender, around 15 minutes. If you are using homemade stock, you need to add only very little salt since the broth will be very aromatic already, an added heart-healthy bonus. For serving, sprinkle each plate with some of the herbs and give it a drizzle with your finest extra virgin olive oil.

Serves two.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

I love soups, always have. Back in the pre-veg days I used to make my own stock from that-which-must-not-be-named. After quitting meat I resorted to shop-bought vegetable instant stock. The results were never as satisfying as the stock I was used to. One day a fellow veg*n told me he was making his own stock. An idea started to form in my head.

Back home, I chopped up some veggies, threw in savory things like bay leaves, allspice, and dried mushrooms, and let it simmer. When I tasted it after 30 minutes I was disappointed. The stock tasted like - well, like plain water. I left it on the stove for another 30 minutes, and - oh miracle - there was the faintest hint of taste in the broth. After three hours I could hardly contain my joy: I had a rich, smooth, aromatic stock that I drank on the spot - it tasted like the best consomme.

So, the trick is to cut the veggies in as tiny morsels as you can manage and leave it on the stove simmering for a few hours. You do not want it to be boiling because then the liquid will evaporate. Once I left the veggies cool in the pot overnight before straining the stock and it turned out even richer.

If you do not want to waste veggies for just stock you can simply save the bits and pieces left over from peeling veggies, this is what I often do.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

1 carrot
1/2 leek
1/2 celeriac (or celery stalks)
1 onion
some allspice, pepper, parsley, bay leaves
sea salt to taste

variations: other root vegetables, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms ginger, sherry, soy sauce...

Chop the veggies finely and simmer with the other ingredients for at least two hours. Do not let it boil too much or else the liquid will evaporate. Strain and add salt to taste. Enjoy in soups, stews or straight as consomme.

You can adapt this any way you like. Adding more carrots makes it sweeter, using the outer leaves of Brussels sprouts makes it very rich and slightly bitter, adding more onions gives it a great flavor, more mushrooms make it earthier and richer, garlic gives it an amazing zing... In summer I like to throw in some tomatoes as well. You can't go wrong, just experiment to create your ideal broth.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Roasted Squash with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

Ok, maybe this is a little off-season. Just before Christmas I saw the first (probably this season's last) acorn squash I had ever seen in my life and bought it - only because it was so beautiful. At least I think it is an acorn squash. It is kind of an orangy brown with a blueish hue. Beautiful. We were gone over Christmas for our honeymoon, and I returned with a nasty bug that upset all that is inside me so I couldn't hold down anything for another two weeks. But yesterday the beautiful squash was finally able to shine.



(Lady Sunshine and Mr. Moon: fall's last squash and spring's first tulips.)

After so much pumpkin soup, pie, muffins, etc. in fall I wanted to try something different. I'm glad I did. Roasting the squash elevated its flavor to a level I had never expected from this somewhat unexciting vegetable that is unvariably adorned with powerful spices to make it interesting. Roasting it, the squash's very own aroma was brought out. Alas, my active English vocab is not comprehensive enough to describe the rich, smooth, intensive taste of this orange beauty when roasted.

To go with it I made wasabi mashed potatoes. Not that this is a novelty, its just something something I had never tried before. Ooooooh, spicing up the mash was just as good as roasting the squash, and the two things went together perfectly.


The best thing about it: this was easy as (pumpkin) pie. No, easier. I peeled a chunk of squash, cubed it, lightly coated the cubes with olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and dried garlic, and roasted them for 15 minutes at 400 F - and voila, they were done already. For the mashed potatoes, I made them as usual and added 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder per serving. Easy-peasy as Jamie Oliver says. But good. Very good. Comfort-food good.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Arugula with white beans, cherry tomatoes, and red onions

This salad is one of my favorites. Crisp arugula (rocket), tender beans, fruity cherry tomatoes, and aromatic red onions kissed by smooth-tasting extra-virgin olive oil, subtly sweet balsamic vinegar, and fine sea salt. We always keep a can of white beans in our pantry just for this salad.

I never measure what goes in the salad. And measurements aren't that important here. It will turn out nice with more beans and less tomatoes or the other way around. However, what is really indispensable here (as in any other salad) is high-quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Three years ago in Japan I discovered that sea salt also really makes a difference. I was on one of the Japanese tropical islands and bought a small bag of locally produced sea salt. Back home in Osaka I regretted forever that I didn't buy a larger bag. This salt was still moist which really surprised me. When I tasted it however, it was unlike any other salt I had ever tried before. It had a taste of its own apart from being salty. It feels like shop-bought bone-dry sea salt is never quite as tasty so we brought back a BIG bag of moist sea salt from our honeymoon on the Cape Verde islands.

So, anyway. On topic again. A wonderful salad with only four main ingredients which still looks impressive and tastes great :-).

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Brussels Sprouts and Tomato Curry with Gnocchi

Last night I ran into the same problem Susan over at the Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen once described*. The food was good. But how do you photograph it so that it looks good on a blog??? A uniform, yellowish curry... So you just have to take my word for it - this was delicious! And it contains a cruciferous vegetable to boot. Especially Brussels sprouts haters might wanna give this a try since the curry and the spices take off the edge of the taste so many people don't like. I love Brussels sprouts in all forms and this is one of my favorites :-)

Brussels Sprouts and Tomato Curry With Gnocchi


1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
4 cups Brussels sprouts
1 cup dried tomatoes
1 pack ready-made gnocchi (or other gluten-free pasta to make it gluten-free)
2-3 cups of water
1 cup soy creamer (mine has 17% fat, substitute soymilk or coconut water to make it fat-free)
ginger, curry powder, chili and salt to taste

Heat a little oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and onions. Cover with a lid and let sweat until the onions caramelize. Be careful not to burn them. If they start browning too much, add a tblsp. water.

Remove the outer leaves from the sprouts, trim the stems, and cut them into quarters. Cut the dried tomatoes into thin stripes. Add to the onions. Add the water, the soy creamer, ginger, curry powder and chili. Simmer until the Brussels sprouts are tender. Add the gnocchi directly to the pan and heat them in the sauce.

I used real Italian sun-dried tomatoes I get at the local farmers market - in their dried form, not reconstituted and packed in oil. They are quite salty so I didn't add any salt to my curry, but if you can't find dry dried tomatoes you might have to add salt.

* Help, all you experienced bloggers out there!!! How do I hide a link behind a word??? Sorry, I'm still a total blogging illiterate... Update: Thanks to Paulina's help I was able to solve the problem :-)

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Roasted rosemary potatoes and garlicky grean beans

Alas, I still don't eat, but my hubby does. We still had beans sitting in our vegetables basket, and so I thought of surprising him with something tasty, garlicky, tangy, rosemary-y. And when I saw the green beans and the yellow potatoes sitting in the dish I threw in some ripe, juicy, sweet tomatoes, just for the color. And sure enough they turned out lovely.

Peel and quarter potatoes, remove strings and ends of beans. Toss with fruity olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with your best sea salt and some freshly ground white pepper. Sprinkle some fresh (or dried) rosemary over the potatoes, and some chopped garlic over the beans. Arrange with the tomatoes in a dish. Roast, stirring occasionally. Roast until the beans are nice and tender and the potatoes have this delicious roasted crunch. Perfect the beans with a nice squeeze of lime juice and some chopped hazelnuts.

The best part of it? No pots to clean :-)

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

Roasted Pepper Soup with Cinnamon and Ginger

This is the soup I made on New Years Eve. It was planned as just the first course with more to follow but then I got sick. We had just returned from our honeymonn on the Cape Verde islands the day before and it seems like I picked up one of the bugs lurking around there. So I couldn't try any of it (and seasoned it by just smelling it) because my stomach wouldn't permit me any food. The husband loved it and ate the whole pot I made. I guess it was THAT good :-)


Roasted pepper soup with cinnamon and ginger

5 large yellow bell peppers
1 large red bell pepper
(the 6 peppers I used together weighed 3 punds)
6 cups vegan broth (or more to taste, preferably homemade)
salt and pepper to taste
a generous pinch of cinnamon
a generous pinch of paprika
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 cup soy creamer (substitue soy milk to make it fat-free or just leave it out altogether)


Wash the peppers and cut them into quarters. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you'll be glad you did when cleaning up...) and place the peppers on it skin side up. Grill on medium until bubbles form under the skins and they start getting black (depending on your oven this will take around 10 minutes.)

Put the peppers into a plastic bag, close the bag, and let it sit for 20 minutes. The heat and steam will make the skins come off easily, and straight from the oven they are too hot to handle anyway. Peel off the skins, they should come off easily now.

Bring 5 cups of broth to a boil in one pot and place the yellow peppers in it. Place the red pepper in a second pot with the remaining 1 cup of broth. Blend both soups with an immersion blender (or with a food processor or whatever you have and like). Season to your liking with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of cinnamon and paprika to the red pepper and the ginger to the yellow peppers. Let simmer for a few minutes for the flavors to develop. If you like your soup thinner you can always add more broth.

For serving, laddle yellow soup in a plate. With a teaspoon, carefully apply a spiral of red pepper soup on it. Then use anything approx. 1/4" wide (fork grip, wooden spoon, knife blade...), insert it in the center of the spiral and pull it away from the center, crossing the lines of the spiral. Repeat this 4 times at even intervalls. Then do the same movement halfway between the outward lines, this time pulling it inward. The result will be a delicate flower on your plate. Serve with crusty French baguette (or gluten-free bread to make it gluten-free)

Enjoy :-)

Serves 4 as starter, two as main course, or one very very hungry husband :-)

Update: This recipe is one of my contributions to Heart of the Matter.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.