Broken flowers.

Baked beetroots and tofu.

3-4 beetroots
200g tofu
garlic
rosemary
mint
sage
matcha
smoked salt
oil 


Peel the beetroots and cut into sticks. Don't be frightened about the beetroot and its colour. Yes, your fingers will get a little pink but hey, I've got news for you: it will wash off.
So just peel them like potatoes, cut into slices and then into sticks.
Put the sticks together with two to three smashed garlic cloves and twigs of rosemary, mint and sage in an oiled casserole. Cover up with a lid or tin foil and bake for 20 minutes in the oven until the beetroot is tender.
Meanwhile cut tofu into cubes and fry in a little olive oil on high heat until it gets golden to dark brown and very crispy. Sprinkle with smoked salt and a pinch of matcha. Stir well and fry for another minute.
The matcha will not only add a touch of mint green colour but a subtle hint of bitterness which fits pretty good the sweetness of the baked beetroots.

Keep it simple.

As it's way too hot to cook I stick to sandwiches and salads most of the time. 
For example a sandwich with avocado spread and vegan cheddar cheese, thin slices of tomato and lettuce.

If I do cook, it's something quick and simple but yet delicious like this:

- 1 yellow zucchini
- a few cherry tomatoes
- lots of garlic, smashed
- scallions
- olive oil
- fresh rosemary and sage
- salt and pepper

Cut the zucchini into cubes. Heat the oil and fry zucchini for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes (cut into halves or quarters),herbs and the scallions (cut into small rings). Fry for another 5 minutes, stir from time to time. Season with salt and pepper.

Summer food.

From time to time I cook at punk shows for a bunch of people and I never know what to cook until last minute. I barely can follow a recipe, recipes make me totally confused and so I just think about something that sounds good, make a rough plan and go shopping. If I find everything I planned - yay. If I don't find everything - I make something different. It doesn't matter because I use everything I find in the particular kitchen where I cook and often change the plans during cooking anyway or add something I never thought of beforehand. I improvise and it's always way too much but more or less it's tasty.
Yesterday I got asked: "So you make awesome stuff off the top of your head?" Erm, yes. Kind of.
But then I always forget how I made it, which is irrelevant most of the time, but yesterday I made the best lentil salad ever. I hope, that I can remember everything.

- red lentils
- ground hazelnuts
- garlic
- lemon (juice and zest)
- mint
- salt, pepper, paprika, ginger, soy sauce
- olive oil
- dash of sugar

Heat a little olive oil in a pot, add lentils. Stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Add water until lentils are covered and stir from time to time. Red lentils cook very quickly, from 10-15 minutes. Add salt, pepper, ginger (I didn't have fresh one, I used powder as I found this in the kitchen and thought: oh, ginger!), juice from one lemon, soy sauce, sugar.

In a small pan heat some olive oil and add ground hazelnuts and smashed and chopped garlic, stir well until it smells very, very good and the hazelnuts are getting a bit darker. Turn off the heat and put the pan aside.
Chop a lot of fresh mint. When the lentils are done fold in the mint and the hazelnut-garlic mixture together with the zests of one lemon.

Serve on chicory leaves and enjoy. I might have good ideas for cooking, unfortunately I don't have good ideas for names. So this is just a very good summer lentil salad. Or THE summer lentil salad.

Yesterday I served this salad along with arugula salad with caramelised cherry tomatoes; the dressing was something like balsamic vinegar, oil, tahini, salt, water, mustard. The main dish was tagliatelle with a zucchini-snow peas-sage-cream sauce and roasted walnuts, which were also very good and I was very happy with the result altogether.

In general: just add roasted nuts and as much fresh herbs as you can and everything will be perfect.

summer lentils

arugula with caramelised cherry tomatoes

tagliatelle w/ zucchini, snow peas, oat cream, roasted walnuts

Lemon and sage potato casserole.

This was a pretty simple but truly awesome potato casserole I had a few weeks ago.

Cut potatoes into thin slices and layer in a baking dish, season each layer with salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Add some fresh sage leaves, rosemary, basil and slices of lemon on to the top and sprinkle with some olive oil.

Pour 150ml soy cream over the potatoes and cover the dish with tin foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes. The potatoes will be super tender and every aroma has melt together to a soft and crispy potato heaven.

Bento.

I made a non-fancy but yummy bento for my first day at my new job tomorrow.

Cucumber salad

- diced cucumber

- soy cream 

- salt, mustard

- mint, dill, basil

Baby carrots

Pasta salad

- Rigatoni

- fried red bell pepper and zucchini, glazed with a tsp cider vinegar

- sage, basil, thyme

- salt, pepper, smoked paprika

- soy cream 

Chocolate soy milk


Work sucks. Bentos do not. 

Creamy 8-minute-pasta.

- 200g pasta 

- 1 big onion

- 200ml coconut milk 

- salt, pepper, veggie broth powder

- fresh herbs e.g. mint, sage, basil

- oil

I came home from a meeting quite late and was totaly hungry but the fridge was quite empty today and I wasnt' really in the mood for cooking. I found the canned coconut milk and thought of a simple pasta dish - in the end it turned out way better than I expected. It's a very good idea to have fresh herbs on your windowsill. Almost everything is 100% better with it.

Heat a pot with enough water for the pasta. Cut the onion finely into small cubes and fry them in a teaspoon oil until they're translucent. Add coconut milk and spices, let simmer on medium heat. 

When the water is boiling, add the pasta and a big dash of salt, let them cook for 8 minutes (or whatever your pasta instructions tell you), stirring from time to time. 

Also stir the sauce from time to time, right before the pasta is done you can turn off the heat. 

Drain your pasta and add to the sauce. Cut your herbs into fine stripes and mix everything very well.

The sauce is not that coconut-ish as it might sound. It's more a very creamy, white sauce with the aroma of the herbs you use and the hearty taste of the veggie broth. Only a slight hint of coconut, but this may depend on your coconut milk brand. Of course you could use soy cream as well, the sauce will be ready in the same time.

Orange-Sage Scrambled Tofu.

- 200g tofu

- piece of ginger

- some fresh leaves of sage

- 1 orange

- salt, pepper

- dash of smoked paprika (optional, use regular paprika otherwise)

- 1 tblsp oil

Heat the oil and fry crumbled tofu on medium heat. Grate a big piece of ginger and add together with salt, pepper and (if you have some) smoked paprika to tofu. Stir well.

Peel the orange and cut out the filets. This is way easier as it sounds, but you need a very sharp, big knife otherwise you'll just have a mushy lump of orange in your hand.

Then cut the sage into thin stripes and add together with orange filets to tofu, the tofu should already have some golden brown spots. Stir carefully and fry for another 5 minutes on medium to low heat.

Even if you don't have smoked paprika this dish has a warm hearty flavour by the sage, while orange and ginger give a fresh and fruity (but not very sweet) note.

I love scrambled tofu and always try new variations. Most of the time I don't have an idea beforehands, I just have the idea that I want scrambled tofu.

Of course I have a basic recipe, but sometimes I want a new flavor - then I'll throw in whatever I have in the kitchen and might be suitable. 

This was one of the best scrambled tofu variations I've ever had and I'll defintively keep that in mind. Yum!

The windowsill garden.

These are the herbs for this year: sage, honeydew melon sage, orange mint, rosemary, lemon basil, koriander.

Lemon basil.

Sometimes birds visit this tiny garden, too.

Potato-Chickpea-Stew w/ Tofu.

-onions

-garlic

-carrots

-potatoes

-salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, veg broth, dried or fresh sage, curry powder

-tomato paste

-tofu

-soy cream

-fresh parsley

Fry finely diced onions and mashed garlic in a little oil until translucent. Add diced carrots and stir for 3 minutes. Fill up with 1 litre cold water and add diced potatoes. Season to taste with paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, veg broth, sage. In the meanwhile dice tofu and fry until golden, season with salt and a hint of curry powder. 

When potatoes are almos done add canned chickpeas and 1 tablespoon tomato paste. Just before serving add the fried tofu and a little soy (or oat) cream and lots of fresh parsley.

This is the perfect food when you just caught a cold like me at the moment. It's full of flavour and healthy things, it warms you and it's not too heavy.

Tofu with white beans and beetroot leaves.

Soak 100g white beans over night and cook for about 60-70min with some rosemary needles till done. Drain, season with 2-3 tbsp lime juice and sea salt.
Cut 100g tofu into small cubes and fry in a tsp olive oil with sage leaves and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

Blanch the leaves of three to four beetroots in salted cooking water for 3 minutes, than chill with cold water. Serve together. The combination of herbs, garlic and lime juice add a wonderful aroma. It's not optional.

Tomato-Sage-Quiche

This was a tasty birthday quiche for a friend. As ready vegan puff pastry is so easy to use I avoided to make a short crust, only the filling is made from scratch.
You need:
-enough puff pastry to fill a baking dish
-soy milk
-flour
-tomatoes
-1 onion
-sage
-oil
-salt, pepper, ...

Dice onion into very fine pieces and cook slightly in oil.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of white flour, stir and add little by little soya milk
to make a béchamel sauce.
Cut sage finely and season the sauce to taste with sage, salt, pepper, paprika, nutmeg...

Line your baking dish with puff pustry but keep some for decoration. Pour béchamel onto it
and thin slices of tomatoes. I cut out butterflies and stars with my favourite tiny cookie cutter and arranged it on the quiche. At last I drizzled some vegan parmesan cheese mixed with a little soya milk over it, made a golden crust, but it's not necessary to use the vegan cheese. The soya milk alone will make it golden and yummy-looking.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is good looking and the béchamel is congealed.
Let cool in the baking pan before serving.