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

Fried tofu and deglazed cherry tomatoes.

Lime maple dressing.

For a nice and cosy silvester potluck (for which everyone cooked waaay too much) I made a pasta salad with the best dressing I've ever made before. 
I'm seeing lots of different salads with this dressing, not only pasta. I see potatoes, I see chickpeas, I see green salad and fresh tomatoes, lamb's lettuce and so on and on....

for the dressing:

oil

2 big pink (or red) onions

2 cloves of garlic

maple syrup

juice of 1 lime

salt, pepper

rest of this salad was:

500 g pasta (linguine)

200g cherry tomatoes

1 small can artichokes

 Finely dice the onions, smash the garlic gloves and dice, too.

Fry on medium heat in a little oil until onions and garlic are getting translucent, stir from time to time.

Deglace with maple syrup. I don't have a clue how much I used, but it was approximetaly 100ml.

Add salt and pepper and let simmer for 2 minutes to caramelize the onions. Then add the lime juice and simmer for another 1 or two minutes.

When I tried it, it was very sourish so I added another table spoon maple syrup. Just do this to your taste.

Then put the dressing aside and cook the pasta al dente.

In the meanwhile, cut cherry tomatoes in half and sautée in a little oil til they begin to melt. For about 4 minutes or so. Drain the artichokes and cut in half.

Mix everything with the linguine and add dressing. I let sit the salad over night but in retrospective I'd say it was even better when it was fresh.

Asparagus with oystermushrooms and cherry tomatoes

- 125g green asparagus

- 150g oyster mushrooms

- some yellow and red cherry tomatoes

- garlic

- salt, pepper

- lemon zest

- nutmeg

- oil or margarine

Cut off the ends of the asparagus and cut the rest into 3 cm pieces, the mushrooms into stripes. Smash the garlic with the side of a big knife.

Heat 1 tblsp margarine or oil in a pan and add aspargus first. Stir from time to time and fry for a few minutes until the asparagus starts to get brown. 

Now add the mushrooms and garlic, I had 2 big cloves. Fry for another 5 minutes on medium heat, slightly stir from time to time. Add salt, pepper, lemon zest and a big pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. When it's almost done cut cherry tomatoes into half and add. Lower the heat and wait til the tomatoes begin to melt. Serve this on its own, considering it a low-carb thing or serve with a rice or potatoe dish. Great flavours and the tomatoes bring enough liquid to have a luscious and tangy dish.

Cannelloni.

Recently I had cannelloni in a quite quick version. It took me about 15 minutes to prepare and about 30 minutes to bake it. 

The filling was made of

- TVP

- tomato purée

- red bell pepper pesto

- garlic

- salt, pepper

The tomato sauce was made of

- 1 small can tomatoes

- salt, pepper

The topping was a béchamel sauce

- margarine

- oil

- soya milk

- salt, pepper, vegetable broth

- mustard

- dash of lemon juice

I mixed the TVP with salt and pepper, soaked it in hot water and added the other ingredients. If you don't have a vegan red bell pepper pesto just add a little olive oil and maybe more tomato purée or diced fresh bell peppers. Let sit the mixture for 5 minutes til TVP is more or less soft.

Fill cannelloni with the filling, layer in a casserole dish and pour canned tomatoes over it. More salt and pepper and minced garlic.

Then I made a béchamel sauce for topping and baked it with tin foil for 20 minutes, then another 10 minutes without the tin foil.

Seitan-Gyros with zaziki, carrot salad and cherry tomatoes.

Fried fennel.

Caramelized fennel with cherrytomatoes, potatoesalad and white bread with red pesto.

Penne with chard and cherry tomatoes

Fried chard with cherry tomatoes and a little cheezly, served with penne: