Tag Archives: glutenvrij

Purple Matters!

Purple Kale Salad_mainIf colour means anything let purple take control. It’s always interesting to see what happens if you let a colour decide on the dish. Obviously, make sure the other ingredients go well with it. This one is colorful and tasteful like a dynamite!

[highlight]INGREDIENTS[/highlight]

Bunch of purple kale
Bunch of palm cabbage
1 Radicchio
1 Beetroot
2 Purple carrot
2 Spring onions
1Celeriac
1 Avocado
3 x3 cm Ginger
Black sesame
Rice vinegar
Sea salt
Ground pepper

[highlight]INSTRUCTIONS[/highlight]

1. Bake the beetroot, or use pre cooked beets. Pre-heat the oven to 200c, rub the beets in some olive oil and wrap in foil. Toss them in the oven for 1 hour, depending on their size. Take out and let cool in the foil. Once cool enough to handle, remove their skin and cut in segments, set aside.

2. Was and discard the kale in cold water. Transfer to a pan and blanch in just boiled water for 20 seconds, finish with cold water. Squeeze out all the water, drop in a bowl and fluff with a fork.

3. Peel the carrot and ginger cut in in the carrot strips and the ginger in matches. Heat up a wok, add some sesame oil and fry the ginger for a minute or 2. Save 1/4 of the carrot strips and add the rest to the ginger and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Take out and set aside.

4. Finely slice the spring onion, slice the celeriac, grate a lemon and finely chop the red pepper. Add tot the carrot/ginger mixture and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Purple Kale Salad_done

Punk Kale Salad

Punk Kale salad

Kale is the thing to eat now in cities like London and New York, spiced up in a salad or as side. Here in Holland kale is a popular winter number, originally mashed up with potatoes. Our urban Rooftop in Rotterdam was overloaded with the green stuff and since the weather was still not cold enough to long for that steamy pot of mash I came up with a salad, new style. Believe me, this will make you want to skip winter altogether…

INGREDIENTS
serves 4
5 to 6 bunches of kale
mint leaves
a mix of sultanas and raisins
dried apricot
red onion
roasted and salted almonds

Dressing:
1 tp lemon juice
2 ts  honey
1 ts horseradish
2 ts oil
3 ts cider or white wine vinegar
mixed ground pepper
course sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1.Pre-heat the oven to 180 C, remove the outer skin from the onion, chop in 4 and wrap in foil. Throw in the oven for up to 20 minutes. Remove, let it cool, segment the onion and set aside.

2. Soak the sultanas and raisins in water for 20 minutes and drain, set aside.

3. Remove stalks from the kale, chop roughly and wash under cold water. Drop the kale in the sink and pour boiled water on top, stir for 20 seconds, drain and splash with cold water. Squeeze out all the water, drop in a bole and fluff with a fork.

4. Chop the apricots and almonds, set aside.

5. Prepare a dressing by whisking together all the dressing ingredients.

6. Mix kale with onion, sultanas, apricots, almonds and toss. Pour the dressing over the kale, mix well and serve. Awesome as a side dish with veggie fries or as a lunch salad.

Kale salad-done

Mashed up mash!

Mashed up mash_main

Its great to mash things up. Throw in some other chopped up bits and you’ll have a delicious mess. Its so easy and the thumbs always go up.  

The sweet potato is well shaped to be mashed and whilst it was summer I picked the super healthy chard as a side kick. Pink was sort of the theme color here so I chose beets, red spring onions and salmon for extra toppings. Result? They are a smashing team!  

[highlight]INGREDIENTS[/highlight]
serves 2

2 sweet potatoes
2 chard stems
1 beetroot
1 bunch of red spring onions
200 g smoked salmon
50 g parmesan cheese
olive oil
sea salt,  mixed ground pepper

[highlight]INSTRUCTIONS[/highlight]

1. Peel and roughly chop the sweet potatoes, Steam for 5 minutes or until soft.

2. Rub the beet with a little olive oil and wrap in foil,  bake in the oven for one hour. Skip this step if you use pre cooked beets. Let it cool, remove the skin en chop in small cubes.

3. Wash and shred the chard in thin strips.

4. Mash the sweet patato with a drop of olive oil, grated parmezan cheese, ground pepper and sea salt.

5. Gently fold in the beet and shredded chard to one mixture. Put the lid on to keep it warm.

7. Grill the salmon in its own oil in a hot grill pan and then shred. Continue to grill the spring onions

8. Divide the mash over the plates and serve with the salmon and spring onions. Now indulge and scrape the pan!

14__Mashed up mash_post  14__Mashed up mash__post3  Mashed up mash__post

 

Baked Beetroot

Baked Beetroot

Because beets are the most versatile vegetables. They are so fantastic in whatever form or shape:  baked, steamed, mashed or in fluid. Throw them in the oven wrapped in foil for an hour or so and you will get such a juicy thing. Mash it with sweet potato or turn it into a juice with avocado, celery and apple. Beetroot is rock and roll in the kitchen!

[highlight]INGREDIENTS[/highlight]

4 mixed beetroot and their greens
200 g smoked salmon
100 g goat cheese
soya cooking cream
1/2 avocado
small handful olives
pistachio nuts
sea salt
ground pepper
2 tablespoons dutch apple syrup
vinaigrette
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
50 ml tarragon vinegar
musterd
capers
2 tablespoons honey
sea salt

[highlight]INSTRUCTIONS[/highlight]

1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Remove the greens from the beets by twisting, dont cut!

2 .Wash the beetroots and wrap individually in foil and bake them in the oven: small beets take one hour, big ones up to 2 hours. They have be soft,  check by squeezing a little. Let them cool, peel off the outer skin and shave or cut in thin slices. If you use pre-cooked beets so can slice them straight away.

3. Mince the salmon and finely chop 1/4 of the avocado. Mix well and add seasoning. Cover and put away in the fridge.

4. Prepare the vinaigrette:  Blitz together the vinegar, mustard, honey olive oil and little salt until one smooth sauce. Do you have fresh basil? Add and blitz as well. Stir in the capers.

6. In a little saucepan warm up the cream, when it start to boils take of the heat and whisk in crumbled goat cheese and if you have blue cheese to a slight stiff substance.

7. Wash and tear the beet greens and mix with other leaves like rocket or.

8. Slice the remaining avocado, halve the olives and mix them with the salad leaves.

9. Remove the salmon from the fridge

10. Pile a firm amount of salad on your plate. Use a cooking ring to make your salmon tartar. Then make your beetroot tower with the cooking ring. Alter layers of beetroot with the cheese cream, start and finish with beetroot slices, make sure you carefully lift the ring.

11. Warm up the syrup and drop a spoonful of melted syrup on top of the tower. Drizzle vinaigrette over your salad and a little on the salmon and serve up!!

 

Baked Beetroot_result_done  Baked Beetroot_result_done_03  Baked Beetroot_result_done_02

Aubergine and quinoa roll ups

11_aubergine roll ups_main

That’s the difficulty when a veg has different names in different countries. An aubergine is also called a zucchini, which means courgette in French. A recipe that meant to start with a purple egg shape thing ended up with his green alter ego. I gave up, until I moved back to the Netherlands where things are called what they are. I learned that aubergine is an incredible versatile ingredient that lends itself in many varied ways. Rolled up for example, with little kumquats on the side, nice!

[highlight]INGREDIENTS[/highlight]

1 Aubergine
10 oyster mushrooms
3 kumquats
200 g Quinoa
handful yellow raisins
handful hazelnuts
flat leaf parsley
100 g goat cheese, mixed with 30 g parmesan
handful purple sprouts
olive oil
Salt &  ground Pepper
herbal stock cube

[highlight] INSTRUCTIONS[/highlight]

1. Prepare a veggie broth and bring to boil, reduce to simmer and add the quinoa. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

 2. Slice the aubergine with a cheese slicer in thin  strips, leave out the two end pieces with their skin on.  Sprinkle the strips with a little salt and heat up a grill pan. Once the pan is hot grill the slices on both sides for about 2 minutes or when brown (not black) stripes appear. Put aside and start the stuffing.

3. Heat up a pan, cut the remaining aubergine ends to small pieces and tear the mushrooms. Add some oil to the pan and start with the aubergine. After 3 minutes add the mushrooms and stir for another 2 minutes. Then add the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir to one mixture and season with salt & pepper. Fill the grilled aubergine slices by adding some of the stuffing to the thicker end (about a dessert spoon), and roll it up.

4. Once cooked transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and squeeze in some cumquat juice, then add chopped hazelnuts, raisins, parsley and finish with a good pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper.

5. Serve with the rolled up aubergine and garnish with purple sprouts and kumquat. No need to peel, you can eat the skin of kumquats.

Rolled up Aubergine_result_doneRolled up Aubergine_done2Rolled up Aubergine_done3