Légumes d'Hiver au Vin

When I am in France, looking at le menu, I usually chuckle a bit when reading le menu. Everything has really fancy names, the meat is served avec sa sauce de, or sur son lit de. And often the time spent crafting those fancy sounding titles would have been better spent working on the dishes they serve. Lesson learned: Not everything that sounds fancy, is fancy.

That seems to be the theme for many situations in life. What looks great at first glance may not be so great when looked at closer. Like the first course of studies I started that turned out to be wrong for me. Like the ex who turned out to be not right for me. Like the nice shoes that ended up killing my feet.

Sometimes though, things turn out well when you don't really expect them to. Like when we found this Ethiopian restaurant and now love this cuisine and keep going back for more. Like when I met my boyfriend at university, studying what turned out the wrong path, but the right man. Or when you cook something out of humble ingredients and it turns out beautifully.

This weeks Food Matter Project recipe was Vegetables au Vin with Coq. I actually did not really look at the recipe before I decided what I wanted to do. I was also influence by an article about René Redzepi, the chef of Noma (the famous restaurant) and his idea of cooking vegetables like meat. So for this dish, I started cutting all the vegetables in rather large pieces, searing them in a cast-iron skillet until browned and only then braising them in the oven with white wine. You could use any combination of vegetables you want as long as they keep up well enough for searing and braising. Winter vegetables are suited best though, I'd say. In the recipe I list the vegetables I used, but feel free to use anything you have in your fridge (like I did).

Black Bean Burgers

For these burgers, I made the buns myself, the burgers, and even he pickled radishes you can see in this picture. The radishes and the salad came from a local farmer, who brings his organic produce to my door every Tuesday.
And I feels really good to know that I made this. The whole thing.
And I guess it made the hamburgers taste a lot better, knowing the connection I have with the food I am about to eat.
I know that what I eat matters on a global level, but I also came to realize that putting more thought and time into what I eat, makes me appreciate the food a lot more. In a time when lots of people want and do spend less time preparing and eating real food, I feel connected and complete when I stand in the kitchen, preparing food. It almost feels like a rebellious act. 

So I shared my hamburger buns in the last post, and these are the burgers that went into the buns that night. I had never made buns before, mostly because we don't eat to many burgers around here. Considering that they were rather easy to make, I don't think I'd ever buy the packaged stuff again.

Then there were the burgers. They were only the second vegetarian burger I ever made from scratch. (If I remember correctly). They were rather quick to throw together, baked quickly in the oven and made for a really tasty burger.

Potato Salad with Greens

If I was born not in the 80ies but in the 90ies, I might have been diagnosed with ADHD. This is a thought that just occured to me today. I always wanted to do too many things at one time. I was always distracted, thinking about something else. I was a good student, so nobody complained, but I often forgot my homework, the coursebooks and the library books, too. The only time I did only one thing was when I read a book. I read a ton of books back then. Somehow I stopped, I don't really remember when or why, it brought my so much pleasure.
And still today, I have difficulty doing one thing right, not many things at once. I start writing here, then suddenly it occurs to might that I wanted to write an email, do the dishes, that I wanted to look up this recipe, or that I wanted to look up this movie that I read of in the newspaper. I am a tabs-person - at the moment I have 8 tabs open, one with a bread recipe, a basic yoga routine , some blogs, and a dictionary. I have stacks of books to read, dealing with new topics that I became interested in. I want to learn to draw and paint, I want to learn about the art of photography, about master bread-baking, and many things more. I just get distracted.
I keep reading about people unplugging from the internet, the constant connection. I need to focus too, but not by being absent but by being more present. One focus at a time, not several.
My focus in the kitchen in the last few days was on potatoes. I never really liked plain potatoes. I like chips and fries like any other person, but regular potatoes, cooked in salt water, not really. So it is really shocking to me, that I made a version of this Potato Salad for Lunch the last two days and made it again tonight for dinner. Crazy. I just love how the mustard adds some kick to it, I adore the sharpness of the vinegar, the greens. I already bought more potatoes today. It's a bit scary, really.

Roasted Carrot and Sesame Pesto

While I have been talking and thinking about "In Defense of Food" in the last weeks, some amazing bloggers started the Food Matters Project. I missed the first two weeks because I was away and not cooking much, but now I'm back and ready to join in.

Right now I want to talk about our holidays to Spain. I have been to Spain before, but never to the south, (or the north, but we kept that for other holidays). We travelled by bus (30+ hours) to Granada. You may have seen pictures of the Alhambra before, but it was even more breathtaking when I saw it in 3-D for the first time. We loved this town, it is just beautiful.
It was cold, though. The funny thing about it is that it was about 15°C warmer than in Switzerland, but they arent used to cold winters in Spain, and without or only little heating it was really cold at night. 
We then travelled on to Cordoba and Seville, both equally amazing cities. The last few days we then spent close to the sea, hiking a day, relaxing more.

Regarding food, I'm always a bit disappointed when in Spain. There is an abundace of fresh produce available, even now in winter when I usually struggle with finding new ways to cook carrots and beets. But the Spanish Cocina somehow manages to fry everything in sight, and to not use the vegetables around.

I researched some veggie friendly restaurants before we went to Spain, but even then it was quite difficult to eat healthy, and not just Tortilla Española. There were some great thing, too, though. I really enjoyed the Tostada con Tomate as a breakfast (Toasted Bread with Tomato, I'll share a recipe when I find out how to do this with canned tomatoes, or in Summer). I loved the gazpacho, though it was not really in season right now (it's a summer soup) and the fresh orange juices. I loved the idea of eggplant with honey, but have to find a way to do it without having to fry the eggplant. I had a great Tuna Tataki with Quinoa in a restaurant in Cordoba, and all the rest we ate was not bad either, just not how I would cook with all this produce available.

Well, I'm back home and ready to incorporate some spanish flavours into my cooking. An idea for a vegtable-heavy paella is forming in my head, and I have some things written down I want to try out over the next weeks. But right now, I want to share with you what I did with this weeks recipe of the Food Matters Project. This weeks recipe of the Food Matters Project, a Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto, was chosen by Heather from girlichef. I have made a similar spread or "pesto" before, and really loved it, but it is deep winter here in Switzerland now, so I wanted to change things up a bit. Well, a bit turned to quite a lot. My version of this pesto is Asian inspired, I guess I needed something different after a heavy dose of olive oil in Spain the last few days. Carrots are roasted with a few spices, then processed with sesame seeds and seasoned with soy sauce and mirin.

I used this pesto on top of a bowl of udon noodles (I would have used soba, but had none around), I guess you could use it as a dip or spread, too.

Good Morning Citrus Smoothie

One part of my eating habits I wanted to change is breakfast. As I said before, I love bread, but I just don't thrive on bread alone. And I end up starving after just 2 hours after eating, which is not that great, really.
So the smoothie entered my life. I did not stop eating bread completely, but I really try having something else whenever possible now. I began with making green smoothie (aka the Green Monster), tried one with beets in it (kind of strange, tasted really healthy) and now this. Citrus for the wake-me-up-boots I really need in the morning. Banana for sweetness, and what I really love about it, some chicory (or Belgian endive, however you may call it). I have been adding some greens to most of my smoothies, but I love the chicory here, because it doesnt change the color of the smoothie. Green smoothies just don't look that great.
One of Michael Pollan's food rules in In Defense of Food is to eat mostly plants, and mostly the leaves (not seeds) of them. I like to eat salad, but I love to have other options to increase my intake of leafy plants. And you can't actually taste it (I tested it on my boyfriend), which is great, because I don't always want to have a green tasting smoothie. The chicory loses the bitterness it usually has in between the brightness and sourness of the lemon and orange juice and the sweetness of the banana.
Oh, and I felt great this morning, much more awake than after a cup of coffee.

Coconutty Energy Orbs with a Kick

I have been quite absent in the last weeks. I spent a day at a local film festival, I went to an art museum, cooked some indian food. Wrote a paper for university, worked and met friends and family.
Somehow, I just couldnt seem to think of something to write about here. Or rather, I had too much going on in my head but couldnt get anything out on paper or screen.
The last week or two I have been thinking about what and how I eat a lot. I reread Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food, and after I didnt' really have a great impact on my way of eating the first time, it somehow touched me now. Perhaps it has to do with all the people (mostly women) around me who talk about diets way too much. Who think just eating the right kind of food will just make the pounds drop in a heartbeat.

Maybe it's the way people in our society seem to think of food, mostly in shouldnts, linking it to self control (or lack thereof), guilt, slip ups, temptations.
Maybe it is the joy I found in making as much as possible by hand, to not rely on processed food anymore (Or less so).
One thing I want to change in my eating habits is my intake of refined flours. I grew up eating lots of bread and pasta, and while I really enjoy eating them, I dont feel great after too much of both. And I get hungry again soon after eating them. Way to soon. One way to avoid eating something baked as a snack, which I often do, is to bring something with me.
This is where these energy orbs come in. I saw a basic recipe for them on My New Roots, but added some things to spice them up. You could use whatever combination of nuts and dried fruit and add spices to your liking. I do like the kick of the ginger and the coconut they are rolled in. The almost look like buttery and sugary truffles, but they are not. Which is not a bad thing, really. At least that is what I think.

Red Lentil Falafel with Mint

Do you have any new year's resolutions?
I don't. Or not really, rather. I want to go to the cinema more often. To concerts, too.
I want to invite more people over, to cook more often for company.

I want to try new food. To cook through some of the recipes in my every growing folder of recipes-to-try.

I want to keep up with my friends, talk often.
I want to go to a Jazz club.
I want to go swimming in the Aare, the river here.
I want to go hiking.
Make lots of bite-sized food.

I want to finally make a poached egg.
I want to take a tour of the city I live in.
I want to make Ricotta.
I want to go canooing and snowshoeing.
I want to throw a party.
I want to go to some museums here.

And some things more.

But these are not resolutions. I keep this list so that I would always have an idea on what to do on a free day or weekend. I'll add to this list whenever I have a new idea.

After looking at this again, I now see that you could probably say that my new year's resolution is to make more amazing memories. I can live with that.


To start the year off on the healthy side, I made this Red Lentil Köfte. And did you notice I put "Make more bite-sized food" in my list? Let's start this year off right, 2012 is going to be the year of the small bites!
I saw different recipes for a Lentil Snack online, and found a recipe for Red Lentil Köfte in Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean.
These little nuggets are quite crunchy, a bit spicy and really good for you.

Gingery Noodle Soup

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I am back home, after I spent two days at my parents house. I'm actually quite happy to be back in my kitchen, I feel comfortable here. In my parents kitchen I always feel a bit unsure of myself. My mother is a bit bossy when it comes to cooking, and a bit conservative. I just dont want to be explaining why I want to do something differently anymore, and so I stick to cooking what everyone likes, if I cook at all when I'm there.

I only moved out of my parents house two years ago. I only really started cooking about a year ago. And now I just can't accept the way we always did things as "the only" way. I don't mean to change my parents, and my brothers and my sister still live at home and have to find out what they want when they move out, too. But only when I'm at home, in my kitchen, the one with only one flat surface, with the little wonky garden table that we eat almost every meal at, with the very impractical floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinets and the old, too hot, oven - only then can I really cook.

I'm back home, and I needed a break from the food I ate over Christmas. It was good food, but it was not my food. Do you ever feel the same?
So I made this soup. It's light. Gingery. Slightly spicy. And so refreshing after days of eating and drinking too much.

Vietnamese Rice-Paper Rolls with Dipping Sauce

Some time ago I bought this little bowl. You might have noticed that I use if often. I just love it. It makes me happy whenever I use it, even months later. I find it really interesting how most of the time it is the little things that make me happy. I often think that it is the big things that make me happy, vacations for example. But it's when I fail to appreciate the little good things happening in my life that I get kind of grumpy.
Especially when I have many things I should be doing I fail to enjoy the small things. (Btw. I love Kelle from Enjoying the Small Things, I want to be like her when I grow up) Because there are many things to enjoy. I'm really grateful for a friend who let me copy all her lecture notes, I enjoy the morning sun when I have to commute to work. I love making plans for the upcoming holidays, and the vacations to Andalucia, Spain. I love making a thank you gift for the friend I mentioned before. (This is a great edible gift idea, I made Hot Chocolate on a Stick and used this recipe. I bought silver spoons at a thrift store and used these instead of stick, looks much nicer) There are many things that make me happy, I just have to keep looking for them. Because it is so easy to miss the beautiful moments when we are so busy. Today I chose to bake little Jasmine tea muffins, the Jasmine flavor is great but the texture of the muffin wasn't quite right. I'll try again and share them soon. They made me happy too, I love Jasmine tea, it has such an uplifiting scent. But since the recipe still has to be adapted, I share with you an other recipe.
One of the first things I made when I bought the bowl were these Vietnamese Rice-Paper Rolls plus a Dipping Sauce. The recipe is out of Vegetarian Planet, and while the Rolls are a bit fussy to make, the dipping sauce is really simple. The the crunchy vegetables together with the soft rice vermicelli make for a really interesting texture, and the dipping sauce is both sweet and sour.

Pasta with Thyme

I am back to college. Suddenly I have to shift from the lazy days of summer to a busyness I don't always like. I already miss the whole days spent in the kitchen. The long elaborate meals I shared with my boyfriend. The hours spent reading about food and cooking. The long bike rides. The spontaneous jumps into pools and lakes. The little things you don't really notice until they are over. 

But I am also happy to be back. I miss the structure of college days in summer. It requires a lot of effort to fit in running when I don't have my days, my times to just go. I miss the conversations, the challenges and the opportunities to learn.

But college also changes my cooking and eating habits. When I get home at 6.30 I'm just too hungry to wait longer than 7 till I can eat. I eat more pasta, more sandwiches for lunch and more not-so-tasty food in the cafeteria at college.

These last days I used lots of thyme. I bought a bunch, then I bought some more, and now I even picked lots of it in my parents garden. Until now, I sort of overlooked thyme, but with the colder temperatures, it is just right for me.

Stuffed Eggplants

I told you about my love for eggplants just a while ago. Today I planned on cooking "Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans" out of Heidi's book Super Natural Cooking. I planned on buying chard, but ended up buying a cute little eggplant. I planned on making the beans with eggplant instead of chard.

I cooked my beans on low heat, for a little bit too long. My beans were mushy, no chance turning them into "crusty". I decided to puree the beans and use them as a sauce for pasta, with eggplant chunks that I sautéed in olive oil. But then I cut the eggplant in half and decided that it was perfect for filling. I sprinkled some oats, pepper and piment d'espelette (a souvenir from my holidays) on top and put them in the oven. That's how I usually cook, and I tried really hard to follow a recipe. There must be something wrong with me...