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.

Radish soup.

This was a quite delicious radish soup although the picture of the soup itself doesn't look delicious at all.
Fried one diced onion together with some smashed garlic cloves in a little olive oil, added 1 litre water, some veggie broth, salt, fresh thyme and sage and two bunches of small radishes, together with the radish leaves.
After 15 minutes I pureed everything and seasoned with a little salt and pepper.
Unfortunately the small radish loses the bright pink colour during cooking and together with the greens it looks more like spinach than anything else, but is has the typical taste of radish just slightly milder than fresh ones and this is sure a good variation to eat these pretty pink veggies.
I served it with fried potatoes.

Oyster mushrooms in anise sauce.

200g oyster mushrooms

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

some leaves radicchio

rice

soy sauce

anise seed

salt

pepper

corn starch

veggie broth

olive oil

fresh mint

Cook the rice in salted water. Fry oyster mushrooms with one finely cut onion and smashed garlic in 1 tsp olive oil. Cut radicchio in thin stripes and add at the end when the mushrooms start to get darker golden brown.

Bring 200ml water to the boil, add some veggie broth, soy sauce and 1 tsp anise seed.

Mix 2 tsp corn starch with some cold water and stir in the cooking water. Lower the heat and keep stirring until the sauce starts to thicken a bit. Turn off the heat.

Mix cooked rice with the second finely cut onion and some soy sauce.

Serve mushrooms with the sauce and rice and sprinkle with some fresh mint.

Great flavours from hearty (mushrooms) to bitter (radicchio) and this anise thing which fits pretty well. If you're afraid of the anise try a just a few seeds first and not a whole teaspoon. But it's really worth a try!

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.

Caramelized beetroots and tofu.

 Inspired by a Post Punk Kitchen recipe for caramelized beets I made a similar thing with beets and tofu today:

- beets, peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes

- 200gr firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes

- 1 tomato, finely cut

- 1 red onion, finely cut

- 3 cloves garlic, smashed

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 3 tbsp crema di balsamico

- small piece of ginger, grated

- pinch of salt

In a big bowl mix olive oil, crema di balsamico, salt and a little warm water. Add the veggies, ginger and tofu and toss very well. Transfer to a lasagna dish and bake for about 45-60 minutes on medium heat in the oven until the beets are soft and the tofu golden. After 30 minutes check from time to time and stir the mixture to make sure everything is cooked evenly. It depends on your oven and your taste when the dish is definitely done.

The tomato adds more or less just a bit of fluid to the dish. You could use more tomatoes if you want a tomato flavour or omit them and add a little more water instead

tossing beets and tofu with the marinade

 I served it with hash browns (they were frozen, not self-made) and a salad made of cucumbers and baby leaves, tossed in a lot of soy yoghurt (spiced with salt, pepper, fenugreek and dill). 
The caramelized beets and tofu dices are totally addictive! And even if you think you don't like beet roots: give it a try. Baked veggies are SO MUCH BETTER than cooked ones and the beets tastes a bit different than the ususal cooked ones.

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.

Potato-Carrot-Curry w/ Green Tomatoes

- red onions

- garlic

- carrots

- potatoes

- TVP flakes (or big chunks cut into strips)

- apricot-peach jam 

- green tomatoes

- corn starch

- cinnamon, paprika, curry powder, cumin, sugar, salt, pepper, vegetable broth

Like most of the time, I can't give you measurements. I used a big pot and I know that I used 2 litres of water, we had about 4 big portions (with rice).

Fry finely diced onions in 2 tablespoons oil until trunslucent. Add smashed garlic and spices and stir well for about 1 minute, make sure not to burn the spices.

Add a small cup of water and let boil this mixture for 2 minutes, stir occasionally.

Dice carrots and potatoes. Add 2 litres cold water to the onion mixture and immediately add carrots and potatoes, stir well and let cook.

When the water is boiling, add the TVP soy and green tomatoes ( I had quite small ones and just cut them into halfs, if yours are bigger ones cut them into quarters) and let cook for about 20 minutes. Add vegetable broth and maybe a bit more spices, as the TVP soaks a lot of flavour.

Add the apricot-peach jam and stir well. Mix 1 tablespoon corn starch with water and add to the boiling mixture while stirring well. A lot of stirring, hm? The mixture will thicken a bit and gets creamy, lower the heat and stir for another 5 minutes.

If you don't have green tomatoes, leave them. Red tomatoes are much sweeter and would add a totaly other flavour and might be to sweetish. On the picture you see my version without the green tomatoes, was also quite good, but I liked it much better with the green tomatoes. I had a tomato plant and the last fruits wouldn't turn red and as was end of October I thought that I maybe should use them and this curry was the result.

Serve with rice.

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.

Just another scrambled tofu.

This time with onions, a little chicory and parsley. Ate it with a sesame bagel with mango-chili-spread, a big cappuccino and cold orange juice. Saturdays can be so great.