Red beets salad with caramelized pecans and dill

After travelling and extreme floods, here is finally a new blog post with a fantastic summer salad.

This red beets salad is super refreshing and a perfect way of getting all the raw vegetables and nuts you need.
It's a nice addition to all that meat at your barbecue party and can also be served as a nice and healthy appetizer or as a light lunch or dinner.

I cannot wait to use the beets from our garden for it! Still have to wait a little on those ones...

What you need:

4-5 red beets (fresh)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 spring onions, chopped into fine rings
300-350 g (approx.) 1-1.5 cups of yogurt (around 3.2-3.5% fat)
150-200ml (approx 0,25-0.5 cup) heavy cream
150g pecans chopped
1 bunch of dill, roughly chopped
1 bunch of chives, roughly chopped
salt, pepper, honey/sugar
olive or carmelina oil

Directions:

Peel the red beets.
You may want to use gloves for that because of the red dye. I didn't and it washed off my hands quite easily.
With the grating attachement on a food processor (ideally) roughly grate the beets.

In a pan slowly roast the chopped pecans.
When browned, add some honey or sugar and caramelize the pecans with it.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool down.

In a pan heat up some olive/carmelina oil at medium heat.
Add the garlic and spring onions and sautée for a few minutes, until soft (do not fry them!).
Set aside and let cool down.

In a big salad bowl mix together grated red beets, yoghurt and cream.
Add dill and chive, as well as garlic, spring onions and roasted pecans.

Mix well.

Season to taste with salt and pepper and maybe a tiny bit of sugar.

The salad tastes even better a day later, after it has been sitting in the fridge for a while.

Notes:

All the measurements especially for the yogurt and cream are pretty much measured by eye.
I don't follow a recipe when doing it.
It always depends on how big the beets are. The beets should be nicely coated with the yoghurt-cream mix.
And regarding the dill and chive: Be generous! You cannot really screw anything up by adding 'too many' fresh herbs.

You could use sour cream instead of yoghurt, as well.

ZULA Hummus Café

The best hummus in Berlin for good and reasonable prices.

Authentic Israeli cuisine served by super friendly folks who, if you wish, will explain how to best enjoy the different dishes.

Everything is fresh and homemade. 

The pita bread is warm and soft and the garlic lemon dressing rounds out the hummus' flavors perfectly.

Also try the homemade lemonade with fresh red beets. It's very refreshing!

That was our late breakfast...

ZULA Hummus Café, located on Husemannstr. 10 in 10435 Berlin.

Maccaroni and peas

I made this recipe a while ago already, but never wrote a post about it for some reason. 

It's one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Veg Everyday"- dishes. 

That's the title of his vegetarian cook book from the River Cottage series.. 

I do not own the book, but watched a video where he prepared it on the River Cottage-website and instantly wanted to try it, myself.

 It's really easy to make and I love the color of the bright green pea sauce. 

Here is what you need: 

500g green peas (4 cups), frozen or even better, fresh
500g dry maccaroni (2 cups)
50g of butter 
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced (I'd use 2 cloves!)

25g of Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated (1/2 cup) plus more for serving

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

chopped fresh flat leaf parsley for garnish (something I didn't have...)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions while you make the sauce. 

Heat the butter in a small pan. Add the garlic and cook gently for a few minutes without colouring. 


Put the peas in a separate pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer until just tender. 
This should only take a couple of minutes. 
Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. 


Put half of the peas into a blender along with 6 tbsp of the cooking water, and the melted butter and garlic. Add the cheese. Blitz until you have a smooth and loose puree, adding a bit more of the pea cooking water if needed. Combine with the whole peas and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta as soon as it is ready and toss immediately with the hot pea sauce. 


Serve topped with a hearty grinding of black pepper, some more grated Parmesan and a garnish of chopped flat leaf parsley.

I didn't have parsley, but it still looks really pretty and all lush and green...

Notes:

Only thing that I would do different than Hugh: add more spice!

I thought it was a little bland. He is British after all...

Therefore next time I would just add more garlic, pepper, salt and parmesan, and maybe even some chopped onions to sautée with the garlic. Roasted pine nuts or almond slivers to sprinkle over the dish could be pretty tasty, as well...

Or even better: MINT! Mint and peas is a phenomenal combination! Chopped mint added to the puree with a teaspoon of sugar to add some kick to the peas...yum!
Why did I not think of this earlier?

And those of you who need their meat, could also add some fried bacon or ham cubes...

That way it gets a more savory, as well. 

Green asparagus & strawberry salad with arugula

Just a quick post, since I'm super busy getting everything ready before leaving for Canada next week.

I made this green asparagus & strawberry salad last night. I didn't  have high hopes, but have to say it turned out really good. Both go very well together and a the arugula adds a nice spicyness.

Look closely and you may spot some of the hollandaise sauce and balsamico...

I sliced the strawberries and had them marinate for a couple of minutes in a dash of 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar and black pepper. The amount of sugar depends on how many strawberries, how sweet they are already and whatever you prefer. 

In the meantime I steamed the asparagus and wahsed the arugula.

Salt the asparagus, then pour asparagus, strawberries and arugula in a bowl and mix. 

Season everything with salt and pepper, if necessary.

I made my quick sauce hollandaise to pour over the salad, not the whole amount, though, that would have been too much...half maybe, or even less (you can find the recipe here!). Together with balsamico vinegar sprinkled over it in the end it serves as a nice and rich salad dressing. You can also just use olive oil instead and add some grated parmesan or gruyere cheese. 

That is a little lighter, easier and less time consuming to prepare.

Enjoy, your ultimate spring salad!

Notes: 

I already knew that strawberries taste really well with balsamico and/or pepper. But, boy, it's the first time I noticed how nicely they taste with a bit of salt...

Stinging Nettles Soup

As most of you may have already noticed, Wil and I have been making trips to the countryside fairly regularly in the last weeks and months. After picking mushrooms last fall we began looking into self-sufficiency and are now really curious of what else can be found in nature that is edible and for free. Don't worry, we are not turning into hippies. But once you experienced picking your own food, rather than buying it in the supermarket, you get kind of addicted. For example, at one of our last trips we found chive growing like weeds everywhere we walked. There were also tons of wild strawberry plants that hopefully soon, will carry delicious berries. And we cannot wait to find a mustard, horseradisch or wild garlic plant etc. Yes, all these things can be found, probably a few miles away from your doorstep, and I'm not talking about your local grocery stores here...

well, maybe that is a little bit hippie just without the tree-hugging.

Best is to pick the fresh young nettle leaves.

So in front of Wil's studio, there are tons of nettles. Most people hate them cause they sting and grow like crazy. But, in fact, they also get used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes, for example as a remedy for arthritis and intestinal problems, as well as for purifications and fasts. Nettles are really good for your liver and gall bladder and they help controlling dandruff and make your hair all shiny...

You can also just eat them. When prepared they almost taste like spinach 

(but they contain more iron than spinach!).

Wil found this recipe here for Stinging Nettles Soup, and we couldn't resist, but had to try it out.

It was delicious and really simple to make! Just remember wearing gloves when picking and preparing them...

The purple thingies are wild violets, which we found in the forest, as well.

They smell wonderful, are edible and upgrade every meal!

What you need:

• 2 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
• 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth, or water
• 1/2 lb. stinging nettles
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
• Sour cream, yogurt, or horseradish creme

Our alterations: 

We added one chopped carrot as well as one chopped garlic clove, and left out the nutmeg.
But that was just because we didn't have nutmeg at home, anymore...

And we decided to already stir in a spoon of horseradish and garnished with sour creme/creme fraiche.

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, melt 1 Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat. Add onion and 1 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, about 3 minutes.
2. Add potatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook 15 minutes.
3. Add nettles and cook until very tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 Tbsp. butter, pepper, and nutmeg.
4. Puree soup with an immersion blender or in a blender or food processer in batches. For a silken, less fibrous texture, run mixture through a food mill or sieve.
5. Stir in cream, if using. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if you like.
6. Serve hot, garnished with sour cream, yogurt, or horseradish creme, if you like.

Notes: 

It tastes way better if you use homemade chicken or vegetable broth rather than the powdered one.
I find the powdered stuff often way too salty and chemical/msg tasting...

They grow everywhere!

The Vegan Experiment Day 8 - the finals

Ok, a little late, but here it is: day 8, the last day of my temporary veganism.

Since it is fall and there are pumkins everywhere I decided to try out two vegan pumkin recipes that I found on www.vegalicious.com.

I started the day with a pumkin banana orange smoothie for which I mixed 

1 cup (240ml) vanilla soy yogurt

1 cup (240ml) pumpkin puree, chilled

1 cup (240ml) orange juice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 ripe banana

dash of ground cinnamon as optional garnish    

                                                                                     

You don't have to be too correct about the measurements. Just vary the ingredients however you prefer it! I think with real yoghurt it may taste a bit better. The soy yoghurt just doesn't do it for me.

But besides that, the smoothie was alright. Maybe a bit more allspice and cinnamon to bring out the pumkin flavour. 

For dinner I took the leftover pumkin purree from this morning's breakfast smoothie and made pasta with a nice pumkin pistacchio pasta sauce.

That's what you need for about two servings:

• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• dash of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup water
• 3-5 fresh sage leaves (optional)
• 1/2 lb. penne, fusilli or other pasta
• 3 TBS. minced fresh parsley leaves as optional garish
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Directions:

                                          Saute the onion and red pepper in a small frying pan.

When the onion becomes soft and glassy, add the garlic and lightly saute it also.

Place the pureed pumpkin in a pot and add the sauteed vegetables.

Add the vegetable bouillon, red pepper flakes, nutmeg and water.

Optionally add the sage leaves if desired.

Cook the mixture until it is warmed.

                                      Puree he mixture once again to form a smooth consistency.

Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil.

Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente.

When the pasta is ready, drain and return to the pot.

Mix 1/2 the pumpkin mixture into the pasta and stir to evilly coat the pasta.

Serve the pasta garnished with pistachio nuts and optionally minced parsley leaves.

Serve the other 1/2 of the sauce in a “gravy boat” for people to add on top of their serving.

Optionally if you would like a creamier flavour you can add soy cream.

I added a dash of each cinnamon and allspice to the sauce, as well. It tasted pretty good, but still a little bland. Next time I think I might add something more acidic to it, such as lemon juice, white wine or vinegar. I could also imagine to mix in some carrots to the puree to add more flavour to it and the juice of one orange.

Cooking these two wonderful dishes on the last day of my experiment certainly helped me to forget about my dairy/egg/meat cravings for a while. I actually managed to stay vegan one day longer.

But I ate all the leftovers. so there nothing new to tell you.

On the 10th day Wil and I celebrated with two nice pieces of Entrecote and a glass of decent red wine. Boy, that meat tasted so good! And I can assure you it came from a happy cow!

My final conclusion to this experiment is, that being a vegan is not even that hard these days. There are plenty of options and organic stores offer a lot of alternatives to meat and dairy products, whether those are good or not as good... I didn't feel better healthwise, which I thought was weird. I kind of thought I would sleep better, have an excellent digestion (no lactose) and feel more awake and energetic during the day. But nada. Everything was normal. Maybe I am just healthy already...

I did get a lot of inspiration for more vegetable based dishes. we have been eating a lot of red meat lately. It's just very easy to prepare and you get so much flavour! 

But hey, there are good reasons to eat less of it, environmentally and from a health perspective.

We have been more conscious about where our meat/eggs and dairies come from already. Still I think we can improve on that. It just makes you feel better to know that you are eating something for which no animal had to suffer or go through unnecessary pain.

I will not become a vegan or a vegetarian in the near future, that's for sure. But I have big respect for people who decide to dedicate their life to these kind of diets. I wish some of them would stop being so damn militant about it, though. Veganism is simply not for everyone and it's also not about joining the latest and hippest club. Sorry, but that's often the impression I'm getting. 

I think it is more important to figure out ways to consume less but therefore better and ethically unquestionable animal products from preferably small local business.

The Vegan Experiment Day 7 - the big withdrawal

At day 7 of my vegan experiment the big withdrawal hit me. Nothing could really satisfy me that day.

I wasn't craving meat, but something rich, creamy and fatty, that is not oil, but butter, cream and cheese. Or simply REAL milk.

I still had one bag of "vegan chicken nuggets" with sesame oil and was kind of suspicious on whether those will be any good. Especially after my vegan convenience food shock of day one...

But to my surprise they tasted pretty good. The consistency was kind of rubbery but I didn't mind that too much. It didn't taste like chicken at all. Rather like some sort of savory dough? I sprinkled some sweet soy sauce over the nuggets which added a nice flavor to it. 

 

 Maybe it's just because I'm getting used to the whole non meaty stuff and don't taste the soy anymore.

But later that day I pretty much inhaled the rest of the vegan cookie dough ice cream, searching for satisfaction, and, as mentioned, that didn't work...

Earlier that day I had a vegetarian/vegan wantan soup at the one Asian place my colleagues always go to at lunch break.  There is a lot of Asian dishes that are vegan or at least vegetarian. So, if you decide to become a vegan you will always find something to eat there. Careful wth Indian food, though. They often add cream and gee (clarified butter) to their dishes.

 There is only one more day of my experiment left and, since it is fall here, 

it will be all about pumpkins!

Vegan Experiment Day 3&4

Two days passed, and I still haven't eaten animal.

Day 3

Day 3 started with my beloved vanilla soy coffee (yak) and a pink grapefruit.

So far so good.

For lunch I had a fried lentil-pastry roll which was pretty delicious, I have to say. Nicely spiced and crispy.

I also bought one of my favorite vegetarian/vegan spreads "Allos Classico Gourmet Pastete". That went on a pretzel roll and tasted expectingly good, as well.

Allos Gourmet Pastete Classico tastes a bit likeliverwurst...
...just without the liver and the wurst

But the best part of the day was definitely dinner. I sauteéd some vegetables and had some rosemary crispbread  (it's new from WASA and I can highly recommend it!) with a white bean spread. My friend Ingrid who had been a Vegan for a few years in the past gave me some tips on what to cook and how to keep yourself motivated, and the white bean spread was one of the recipes she gave me.

Hell, that was delicious!

Sorry bout the crappy photo. But it was dark outside
and I only had my iPhone and some bad lamp to use as a spot.
But I'm sure you get an idea...

It's so easy to make. Just buy a can of white beans, strain them and collect the marinade/juice in a separate bowl. Put the beans in a mixer and mix them with 1-2 garlic cloves, olive oil and lemon juice. Season it with salt, pepper and a dash of sugar and if it's not creamy enough add some more olive oil or the white bean marinade/juice. Be careful with the garlic. I used two garlic cloves for half the amount and it was a little too much. The spread is a little bit like hummus but milder and easier to make. I find making good hummus quite a challenge. The steps are the same as with the wite beans but seasoning it is a little trickier because the chickpeas flavour, especially when using canned chickpeas, is much more dominant than with white beans.

Day 4

On day 4 I met up with lovely friend Anna and drank tons of latte macchiatos with soy milk. 

I'm definitely getting used to the taste of soy milk, so strange.

Anna and I had lunch at Maya's Deli, a small vegan bistro on Pappelallee in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin.

While Anna picked an Avocado sandwich I decided to try the warm tempeh sandwich. 

Both came with sourdough bread and were really good. I was surprised by the tempeh, a soy product, made by fermented soybeans formed to some sort of cake. It reminded me a little bit of Nattō, just not as strong.

Very tasty!

 For dessert we tried their home baked cakes. 

Anna chose a chocolate cream cake I went for the red currant crumble.

Unfortunately the chocolate cake didn't taste like chocolate at all.So that was quite disappointing. My crumble cake was good. I think the crumbles contained oatmeal, as well, which has a nice flavor when roasted. 

I only missed the butter in the crumbles. 

They are just so much richer and satisfying with butter than with margarine!

And the whipped soy cream was...strange.

My dinner was pretty unspectacular and not worth mentioning. It was vegan, after all.

But get prepared for the next days. 

I digged out some recipes and will try to bake a vegan cake and some mushroom-nut balls/burgers...

So exciting!

The Vegan Experiment - Day 2

Day two of my vegan experiment is over. I feel pretty good, so far. Still no withdrawal symptoms.
I cannot say that I feel like re-born or something. But things are normal.

I started the day with a vanilla soy milk breakfast. Yeah, that's correct. Since I have it at home, I had to give it another try. I actually like vanilla soy milk. Just not in drip-coffee...

I made a shake that I have made before and which already is almost vegan.
You mix a banana with 200-250g of yoghurt and vanilla soy milk (200-300ml). It tastes delicious! Of course, this time I used soy yoghurt. The result was not as good as with normal yoghurt. But still good. Also, I don't know if I'm being too harsh about this. I wonder if I would taste a difference with this drink at all if I didn't know it was with soy yoghurt instead of with the nomral one. A good side-effect was, that after drinking the shake, I didn't taste the soymilk in my coffee anymore.

Improvement, wohoo!





For lunch I had pretty much the same as the day before. Avocado-tomato bagel with roasted pine nuts.
Only that I added some vegan cheddar cheese to it. The cheese itself isn't that impressive. In combination with other things, for example on a sandwich, it's fine and adds a tiny little bit of sort-of cheese flavor and texture to it. Even though it's much more crumbly than normal cheddar.








I went for this oatmeal-chocolate-energy bar
as dessert, which wasn't that bad either.
At least it tasted like what it was -
oatmeal with a hint of dairy-free chocolate.
And it totally satisfied my needs and got rid
of the sugar craving!













 After work I bought a bunch of vegetables, potatoes, sweet potato, leek, purple carrots, turnip, red peppers, red onion, pumpkin and garlic. I chopped everything up into bite-szed pieces, added a pieces of apple, rosemary, cinnamon and nutmeg and seasoned it with salt, pepper, sugar and balsamico.
I threw everything into a greased (olive oil) baking pan and cooked it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes at 180°C. I sprinkled some of the vegan cheese over one part of the vegetable mix.
Unfortunately the cheese didn't melt.

Everything still tasted pretty good.
Probably because I cooked instead
of eating another one of these shitty
ready-made vegan meat substitutes.

Fetuccine with green asparagus and garlic pepper butter

Before asparagus season is over I had to prepare one more favorite asparagus meal.
Tim Mälzer, Germany's Jamie Oliver once cooked this in his show.
It is very simple, but so delicious!
It's best if you use fresh pasta and not the dried one.
I'm lucky to have several markets near my apartment that have fresh pasta stands.
You do not have to use Fetuccine.
Tagliatelle is fine and might even be better since the pasta is a little thinner.

Here is what you need for two people:

300-400g (fresh) Fettuccine/Tagliatelle

750g green asparagus

250g butter

65g green pepper (in a glass/pickled?)

3-4 garlic cloves (preferably fresh)

chervil (one bunch)

salt

parmesan (grana padano/parmigiano reggiano)

Chop the garlic cloves.
Blend the green pepper corns with garlic and season the mixture with salt.
Mix in the butter until everything is evenly mixed.
Remove the dried out ends of the asparagus and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Heat up a pan and add about two tablespoons of the garlic-pepper butter.
When melted add the asparagus.
Make sure all asparagus pieces are coated with the melted butter.
Fry it for 3-5 minutes.
Then add a little bit of water (about 100ml) and let everything cook for at least another 5 minutes.
The asparagus should neither be too hard nor too soft and mushy.
Meanwhile fill a big saucepan with water and bring the water to boil.
Then add about 1-1.5 Teaspoons of salt and the pasta to it.
If the pasta comes in a bundle make sure to disconnect and losen the pasta strings a bit from each other.
Boil for about 5 minutes or according to the cooking instructions on the package.
Better try in between to make sure the pasta stays al dente.
When al dente strain the pasta.
Then add it to the asparagus and garlic-pepper butter and mix well.
Pour into two bowls and garnish with chopped chervil and freshly grated parmesan.

Pair with a Pinot Gris or pinot Blanc.

PS: I couldn't find chervil this time. So I used parsley as garnish instead.
Chervil tastes better though.
It is finer and tastes almost sweet, a bit similar to anise...

Grilled eggplant pockets

Last weekend we got invited over to our friends Anna and Beau to meet Beau's lovely parents.

Therefore and also because I went a little "cooking crazy" 

I prepared all kinds of summer food stuff to bring and eat.

I already posted the Gazpacho which was one of the things I made. 

But I also felt like trying out more new things!

I've never ever prepared eggplant myself.

 So I decided to make these little grilled eggplant pockets:

For 8 pockets you'll need:

2 big long eggplants

2 plum tomatos (these are the long ones!) cut into a total of 16 slices

225g / 8 slices mozzarella (preferably buffalo mozzarella!)

16 basil leaves

salt, pepper

Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp tomato purrée

1 tbsp Balsamico vinegar

4 tbsp Olive oil

salt, pepper, sugar or honey

Garnish: 

Roasted Pine nuts

roughly chopped basil leaves

To prepare the eggplants first remove the stems, 

then cut each fruit in 8 thin slices (lengthwise!) of approx. 5mm thickness.

The pieces at the edges do not count.

Boil the slices in salted water for a maximum of about 2 minutes 

(they should not be completely cooked yet).

Dry them between sheets of paper towel.

Cut each tomato and the mozzarella in 8 slices.

Now take two eggplant slices and lay them on top of each other in the shape of a cross.

Put a slice of tomato in the middle, season it with salt and pepper and top it off with a basil leaf one slice of mozzarella, again a basil leaf and another slice of tomato seasoned with salt and pepper.

Now flip the ends of the eggplant over the little tomato-basil-mozzarella tower and form a pocket.

It doesn't really matter which eggplant slice you start with.

It just should all stick together and look neat in the end...

Now coat both sides of each pocket with a thin layer of olive oil 

and throw it on the grill of your hibachi! 

Grill for about 5 minutes each side (depends a bit on how hot the hibachi is).

The mozarella should start melting

In case you don't have a hibachi you can also sear them in a pan.

Same thing: 5 minutes each side.

For the vinaigrette mix tomato purrée, balsamico and olive oil and season to taste with salt pepper and a bit of sugar or honey.

Sprinke the vinaigrette and roasted pine nuts such as chopped basil leaves 

over the grilled/seared eggplant pockets.

Eat!

PS: 

I also made some tapas. 

More about this in my next post!

Gazpacho

Summer is approaching and it's steadily getting hotter and unfortunately more and more humid here in Berlin.
A good reason to dig out refreshing and light summer recipes.
I started off with Gazpacho a cold spanish tomato based raw vegetable soup.
This sounds awful, I know.
But, let me tell you, it was pretty damn good!
It is really easy to cook, the ingredients are cheap, and it certainly helps to keep or get back into summer shape (I know with most of us, this is, of course, not the case...).

All you need is:

900g tomatos
1 cucumber
2 red or yellow peppers
1 fresh red chilli
2 garlic cloves
175g white bread crumbs
2 tbsp tomato purrée
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
a dash cumin
salt and black pepper










Peel the tomatos.
Therefore place them in boiling water first (for about 30 seconds)  and then quench the tomatos in ice cold water.
That way it's easier to remove the tougher skin.
It will come off easily now.
Quarter the tomatos.
Peel and chop the cucumber.
Cut the peppers and the red chilli and remove the seeds.
Press or finely chop the garlic cloves.
Mix all the vegetables together with breadcrumbs, olive oil, white wine vinegar and tomato purrée.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and cumin.
Put half or a third of the mixture into a blender.
Add 150-250ml of water, depending on how juicy the vegetables are.
Blend until smooth.
Do the same with the rest of the vegetable mix.
The Gazpacho should not be too thin but have a rather creamy texture.
Therefore be careful not to add too much water.
You can always add more in the end.
Refrigerate it for a couple of hours.

Best served with ice cubes, croutons, some basil or parsley for decoration and maybe a dash of worcester sauce!

Healthy fingerfood No.2: Soybeans in a pod

I have to admit I'm really not a big fan of vegetables. 

But just like artichokes (and some other vegetables...) soybeans in a pod, 

also called "Edamame" (Japan), "Kong" (Korea) or "Maodou" (China), are an exception.

You either steam or boil them in hot salted water for approx. 8 minutes.

Drain the pods in a colander.

Sprinkle them with salt.

Serve hot or cold in a bowl and with an extra bowl for the empty pods.

 

You eat the beans by squeezing them out of the pods.

I usually do that by pulling the pods through my slightly clenched teeth.
That way the beans directly pop into my mouth and I still get some of the salt that sticks on the pods.
Other people prefer splitting the pod with their fingers in order to get to the beans.
However, soybeans in a pod are easy to make and a delicious, yet healthy snack!

And yes, you can just eat meat WITH it!

Artichoke with sour cream-mustard-balsamico dip

For everyone who thought my diet only consists of meat and chocolate, here is the proof that every so often even I consume green stuff with vitamins in it...

One of my favorite vegetables are artichokes.

They are a good side dish and perfect finger food.

I usually buy the big ones. I remove the stem and cut off the tips of the petals with a scissor. 

After that I throw them into a big pot of boiling water with a dash of lemon juice.

It depends on how big they are but usually artichokes need to cook for around 30-45 minutes.

You know the artichoke is ready to eat when you can easily pull off the outermost petals.

Unfortunately you usually cannot eat all parts of an artichoke. 

Especially the big ones are often hard and spiky.

Here are some instructions on how to eat them properly:

1. Start at the base of the artichoke, pull off one of the outermost petals. 
2. Dip the base of the petal into your sauce/vinaigrette. 
3. Pull the petal through your slightly clenched teeth to remove the soft, tender flesh at the bottom of the petal. As you progress upward from the base, the leaves become more tender, with larger edible portions until you reach the choke (the undeveloped flower).
4. Remove and discard the "hairy" choke using a teaspoon.
5. Cut the remaining Artichoke Heart into bite-sized pieces, dip and enjoy!

PS: For the dip mix sour cream, mustard, honey and balsamico vinegar and season with salt and pepper.