Tomato Slices!

These oven-baked tomatoes are so delicious! The flavour will be totally enhanced, they slightly caramelize, and there's a hint of garlic and olive oil. I made a sheet with three tomatoes. They taste great when still warm but they're also a nice snack when already cold. I kept some in the fridge and added them on my bread for breakfast.

3 tomatoes
3 cloves garlic 
olive oil
sea salt and black pepper

Cut the tomatoes in slices and spread on a sheet. Smash the garlic cloves (don't peel them) and place them between the tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with some olive oil. Bake in the middle of the oven for a few minutes until they get slightly brown at the edges. My gas oven was at mark 6 and it took about 10-15 minutes.
The garlic cloves were pretty burnt but the slices had this great subtle hint of garlic.

Parsley Pesto Again!

This pesto is slightly tart, fruity and tastes like summer. It's basically the Parsley Cashew Pesto  but with only a third of the cashews and additional dried cranberries.The dried cranberries give this pesto not only a tart taste but also a very light texture.

Parsley Cashew Pesto.

Pesto is not used very often in my kitchen and if so it's store bought. Now and then I try a version of my own and this time I had parsley, cashews and a very good, mild and fruity olive oil. Look at the bright green colour of the olive oil!
Turned out really well. I totally love parsley.

- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup cashews (unsalted)
- bunch parsley

Pull apart the leaves and stems of the parsley. I also use the thin stems and discard only what's really to bad. Roast 3/4 cup of unsalted cashews in pan on medium heat, stir very often and watch carefully. After a few minutes it begins to smell adorable and the cashews get golden-brown spots. Turn down the heat and replace the cashews in a bowl where they can cool.

Then mix parsley, roasted cashew nuts and olive oil in a food processor or with a handheld blender until you have smooth and creamy pesto.
You can use it to for pasta (mix with a little hot cooking water from your pasta pot) or use a little for sandwiches. 

Pasta with king oyster mushrooms and parsley cashew pesto.

Eggplant spread.

- 4 eggplants
- 1 big onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- salt, pepper


This is one of the best spreads at all. Don't let you fool by the boring colour - it's amazing. Go ahead, you eggplant lovers.

First the eggplants have to be baked. Put them in the oven as they are, just cut the skin once or twice with a knife or they could explode in your oven. This happened to me many years ago and you don't want to a have a oven full of eggplant slobber so please avoid this. In a gas oven at gas mark 6-7 they need around 30 minutes. Once they're very soft and done, let them cool completely.
Then cut them into halves and scrape out everything you get off the skin with a table spoon. 

Finely chop the onion and smash the garlic. Fry in 2-3 table spoons olive oil until translucent. Then add the baked eggplants and stir for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, you can also add a tiny bit of lemon juice. 
Blend everything with a handheld blender until smooth. 


This spread is already very good when it's still warm. The best thing is to put in the fridge and wait until it's completely cool. Enjoy on white bread, baguette or whatever. Out of the above-mentioned ingredients I got a tiny bit more than 1 and 1/2 cup of spread.

Fancy simple stuff.

- 2 king oyster mushrooms
- 200g tofu
- one small broccoli head
- one small onion
- one clove garlic
- 1 tblsp shiro miso
- soy sauce
- olive oil
- pepper
- salt


Cut the broccoli into florets and cook in water with some salt. While the broccoli is cooking cut the piece of tofu into small cubes, dice finely the onion, slice the mushrooms and smash the clove of garlic. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a pan and first add the tofu. When the tofu begins to get slighlty golden-brown add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Stir from time to time until tofu is brown and crispy. Deglaze with some soy sauce and season with a tiny amount of pepper.
In a small bowl prepare the dressing for the broccoli: mix the tblsp miso with some hot water and 1 tsp olive oil. 
Cook the broccoli only for a few minutes until it gets soft but not wibbly-wobbly. Strain it. Then toss the broccoli into the miso dressing. I had some arugula left and tossed it in, too.
Serve tofu-mushroom mix with the broccoli and add some of the dressing.
Very hearty and umami but light and fresh though.

Hummus with peanut butter.

As I didn't have any tahin at home today but wanted to make hummus, I decided to use peanut butter instead. 
I'd prefer tahin but it was tasty though and definitely a variation which I will keep in mind. And it's Woschech approved! 

- 1 big can chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- salt
- smoked paprika (optional)
- cumin
- olive oil
- paprika


Blend the drained chickpeas together with peanut butter, salt, smoked paprika and cumin. Add splashes of water until you have the preferred consistency. Serve with a little olive oil on top and sprinkle with paprika.

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

King oyster mushrooms with chard and tofu

150g king oyster mushrooms (oyster mushrooms will do to, but they taste different)

500g chard

200g firm tofu

soy sauce

pepper, salt, vegetable broth

1 tblsp olive oil

Cut the tofu into small triangles and marinade with soy sauce (about 2-3 tblsp). Heat 1tbslp olive oil in a pan and add the tofu. Fry till tofu starts to turn golden. In the meanwhile cut the white chard stems into bite size and add, stirring frequently. Stack the green chard leaves, roll them up and cut into strips, add them to tofu and chard stems, stir. If all seems to dry, add only a few splashes water. After 2 minutes add the mushrooms, cut into slizes. Stir well, add fresh ground pepper, a little salt and a little vegetable broth. Cover with a lid and let cook for about 3-5 minutes, remove the lid and let cook for another minute, before serving. Full of proteins from mushrooms and tofu, the chard has a lot of vitamin K, A and E as well as magnesium, potassium and iron. You could serve this with rice or potatoes, but it's also totally fine on it's own! This is a fast, healthy and full of flavour dish which is very easy to prepare.

Braised Tomato Tofu w/ Lavender Potatoes.

400g tofu

1/2 chinese cabbage

1 small can tomatoes

2 carrots

red onion

garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

vegetable broth

a bit orange juice

200g potatoes

1 teaspoon dried lavender

salt, pepper, rosemary, mint, light soy sauce

yoghurt (optional)

Cut the carrot and onion into dices, the cabbage into slices, smash tha garlic (as many cloves as you like, I used three) and put in a casserole with some water and the olive oil.

Cut tofu into slices and drape onto the veggies, sprinkle everything with soy sauce, rosemary, mint (I used fresh herbs) and a bit fresh ground pepper. 

Than pour the can peeled tomatoes over it and spread til everything is covered. Mix some vegetable broth with hot water (I used the empty tomato can, half filled with liquid) and add.

Bake everything in the open casserole for about 20min in the oven, gas mark 4. After 20min add a dash of orange juice and bake for another 15-20 min.

While the tofu braises in the flavoured tomatoes cook the potatoes with some salt and dried lavender. I used red potatoes and left the peel because it's less work and I like unpeeled potatoes a lot. Serve together and add some yoghurt or Tofutti sour surpreme to the potatoes, if you like.

Scrambled tofu day aka Sunday.

This time with a roughly grated carrot, a hint of curry, salt, a dash soymilk, a teaspoon olive oil.

Hoummous.

Fucking love hoummous. There are thousands of recipes out there, but mainly it is pureed chickpeas with tahini, lemon juice, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil. Rrrrrrr.

White bean hoummous.

Just blend: white beans, salt, pepper, olive oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander.