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Special ep. – pumpkin cream soup

From Oana, we have a special recipe today. 🙂

So I don’t know what’s with the extra healthy vegan recipes (not where the idea that vegans are extra healthy comes from, but that’s another discussion…), but you say that the authors conceived them during a delirium in which the thought was on steaks and cheeses, but they were systematically hitting their fingers with a roller, because, doh, you can’t write a cookbook with everything in it, ’cause then you’re the same as the rest of the world that doesn’t shine. It seems that’s all they have in mind, how to replace dishes to get the fasting ones.

I opened this month’s cookbook with the utmost interest because it’s October, if now you don’t have options with what you have picked from the garden, then I don’t know… I was already rubbing my hands that I will for sure get an American veggie spread. Or, well, other treats with vegetables. Nothing, nope, nada. Breakfast dreams of milk and butter and wishful thinking. Smoothies, I promise to make them when I don’t have any more teeth, until then I chew. I had found hummus as entrée, but I won’t make you hummus again because you’ll block me. And some bruschettas with tomatoes (cool!) and strawberries drowned in balsamic vinegar and rolled in basil AND mint (whyyyy? !!! :))))))

Veggie burgers are proposed for lunch. Life is empty without avocado (why? In fact, I know why, so that you don’t get hungry again in 10 minutes, but the avocado consumed in excess is harmful, too…), and the salads are sprinkled with almond/ pecan parmesan. I didn’t even know. Seasoned in excess, as if we would not realize that the recipes do not have beef and real Parmesan. Well, I would. :))) For dessert vegan cakes with vegetable milk and butter and cream. Listen here that I only say once: if you have no problem with lactose and it has nothing to do with you, vegetable alternatives are neither tastier, nor cheaper, nor healthier, on the contrary, if they are filled with sugar to have some taste… And, yes, even though they are raw, we still can’t put in the cakes matched with the kilogram. As I said.

I was so upset by the disrespect for the delicious tastes of the vegetable world, that I got a butternut squash at a great offer and in order not to stay hungry, I made you a cream soup because autumn is coming, cover my heart with something. I did a google search and based my creation on the first result, a recipe by Jamie Oliver. Do a search to see how he does it, what came out to me is the minimalist version for the lazy hungry: D.

Ingredients:

1 red onion

1 carrot

2 cloves of garlic

a bit of hot peppers – be careful not to come out too hot, as mine

olive oil

1 kg of pumpkin butternut

1 liter of chicken or vegetable soup

pumpkin seeds

It’s quite easy peasy. Peel, cut and sauté the onion, carrot, garlic, pepper and a pinch of salt and pepper. After 10 minutes add the peeled pumpkin and cut into cubes and soup and cook together for about 30 minutes. When ready, blend everything and serve it with fried pumpkin seeds. Tasty, even the kid ate it, nourishing, I will make it again and try the version with Parmesan croutons. Bon Appetit and have a good veggie spread like me :).

You have to have two drops of soup next to it for maximum artistic effect!

The recipe should have been from book number five proposed at the cookingbookclub in September/ October, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, by Angela Liddon, but as the members of our select club have full freedom of action, this time we have a creative process in pure form. 🙂

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cookingbookclubEN, disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 82 – zucchini noodles with sauce

Well, it doesn’t matter the sauce – although, obviously, it was about it in the recipe on page one hundred and seventy-something, because the disaster in me lit up when saw the zucchini noodles. 🙂 Because if we don’t burn things in the kitchen, my multiple personalities and I like to push our limits. 😛

And now a little parenthesis: no matter how good, and tasty, and full of vitamins and other are the pumpkins and his brothers, zucchini, I did not put my mouth on such a thing until the moment I received as food on the plane a casserole with a kind of vegetarian kind that contained almost raw zucchini. A blasphemy in Romanian cuisine, a small miracle for me, because, almost raw, zucchini were edible. Which is why I managed to diversify my vegetable options. (What, did you feel like I wasn’t once a kinder who only ate potatoes and schnitzel? :))))

Zucchini noodles are made using either a machine/ robot that cuts them in a spiral, or a special grater, or a vegetable peeler that cuts julienne. I just didn’t have the utensils in my kitchen. So I improvised big time. 🙂

I used an alien to clean vegetables and cut zucchini into lengths, then with a very sharp knife (from the one kept for enemies 😀) I cut it into julienne slices. Aka julienne in length. The result didn’t look like spirals, but the it was better than I would have thought.

The thing is to get zucchini that do not have too many seeds, otherwise you can throw the inside. (Or use it for something else). Phase number 2 is to be able to prepare them without softening completely, since they are only water. 🙂 You can eat them raw or make like me, in a pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, discard the vegetable noodles (dry), mix gently for a maximum of 1-2 minutes and remove from the heat. Pour the juice of half a lime on top and set aside.

If you want a vegan dish, you can use a sauce of tomatoes and mushrooms or tomatoes and other vegetables. If you are not vegan, use what you have in the fridge, in my case a beef sauce with a lot of carrots. 🙂 (Creativity in the kitchen is a must!)

And look, we managed to get a recipe from book number five proposed at the September/ October cookingbookclu b, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, by Angela Liddon. The next book, the last one this year, appears in November.

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Cookingbookclub 5 | recipes with veggies :)

This year’s number five book to read & cook was The Oh She Glows Cookbook, by Angela Liddon.

Now, not that we would be slightly anti-vegan, but it was not the most successful book suggested at cookingbookclub. 🙂 Although, the explanations for Angela’s limited success with our gang are much simpler: the book ended up in one of the busiest times of the year, when I didn’t even think about cooking; plus I have tried some of the recipes already, throughout the year, so in order not to do the same thing, the options suddenly became limited.

But, hold your horses, because we have 2 recipes. You didn’t think you were escaping, did you? 😉 Plus no matter how vegan a recipe may be, it can be enhanced with some animal protein. :)))

You probably forgot that the famous gang is also slightly creative… 😛

Well, stay close. 🙂 Plus – and now I’m giving from the house – the next book will be very successful. (Or if not, hope dies last :)))

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 81 – ciabatta

Chef says, let’s make ciabatta, my oven bakes better than yours. In case you didn’t know, my oven is also a small disaster, it burns everything it catches. :)))

Well, said and done, I go to the home of the miracle oven and the process went as follows: Chef made ciabatta and I looked at him. :)) I also tasted the result in the end, on the word of disaster. 😀

As with any bread recipe, it requires exactly measured ingredients (the number two reason why someone else had to implement this recipe, because I don’t really measure things… 😛).

For 2 pieces, I measured 385g of 650 flour, 7g of salt, 38g of olive oil, 2g of dry yeast and 288ml of water at a temperature of 25 degrees. Did you also get lost among so many quantities? 😛 Water with yeast, oil, flour and salt, mixed well with a spatula (or by hand) directly in a box after which is left at room temperature for 45 minutes with lid on or a plastic wrap. After 45 minutes, the dough is wrapped about 4 times – once in each of the 4 directions – after which it is left to rise for another 30 minutes; repeated the process, left for another 30 minutes, and left for 40 minutes. Sprinkled with flour, turned it out of the box on the table, cut into 2 pieces, covered with a towel and left for another 30 minutes. Then transferred to the oven, about 20 minutes at 220 degrees.

Another way is to throw the ingredients in the robot (rounded – 400g flour, 300g water, 7g yeast / salt, 2 tablespoons oil), mix them, then leave them in the fridge for about 12 hours, to rise slowly. Packed once or twice, formed, left to sit for a while, put in the oven and voila, you have ciabatta.

Logically, I feed myself until I couldn’t. :)))

The good part is that it is relatively easy to make and it does not require advanced skills in the field. The downside is that you need a good oven – with a bad one, it comes out ok, but you have to guess the temperature and the cooking time.

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 80 – meat pie

Well, what to do when you boiled some hen in a soup, that probably caught the pre-Brexit times? 🙂 You cook a meat pie.

You take the boiled meat nicely and pass it through the mincer. Because that’s the only way it can be made edible. 😛 Mix the minced meat with a beaten egg and spices (salt, pepper, etc.).

In a pan greased with oil, you put a sheet of puff pastry, then the meat mixture and on top the second sheet of puff pastry. Bake at the right heat for about half an hour or until the dough is baked.

Did you make the recipe with your little hands? Noooo, the little hands belong to my mother. 😀

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 79 – wholemeal pasta pudding with eggplant

Well, this is obviously an invented title. 🙂 But what would be the combination of pasta, eggplant and mozzarella called? (If you have better ideas, I look forward to them). 🙂

This recipe looks like a lasagna, only I put a limited amount of pasta (did you succeed? I did it!).

So you measure 100g of wholemeal pasta, no more, no less, then boil them al dente. Don’t ruin them, please, no matter how disaster you are! 🙂

Meanwhile, you prepare the vegetables; I used an eggplant, a red onion, a pepper and a couple of small carrots; cleaned, washed, chopped, put on the fire with oil and spices (according to preference, salt, pepper or vegeta, basil, mint or thyme). Towards the end, a can of tomatoes in sauce.

In the pan, put some tomato sauce, then three layers of pasta and two of vegetables. Top with sliced mozzarella. The sauce should cover the ingredients – although if it’s too much, it doesn’t help.

Bake until the mozzarella melts and the smell of the oven makes you die of appetite. 🙂

It is a creative way to introduce more whole grains into your diet. Plus a vegetarian recipe. 🙂

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 78 – ramen

Ramen soups are a Japanese dish, an adaptation of the 19th century of Chinese wheat noodles. Traditionally, noodles are served in a chicken or fish soup, with soy sauce and various toppings (pork, seaweed, etc.).

In this case, the noodles are from the package, Vietnamese. 🙂 Yessss, from a packet of soup. :))) Boil in water and strain. Then put them in the bowl.

The soup is chicken soup, made from some chicken legs boiled over low heat, with salt, pepper, an onion, a carrot and half a pepper. Ideally, it should be more concentrated and without too much fat. Strained and mixed with soy sauce, chopped ginger and a clove of chopped garlic and left on the fire for a few minutes. Some more rice vinegar would have worked, if I hadn’t forgotten about it. :))) When it’s ready, pour it over the noodles.

On top, toppings: chopped green onions, chopped red peppers, chicken, half a boiled egg.

It is full, spicy and is eaten until you say “disaster”!

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disaster in the kitchen

Ep. 77 – baked chestnuts

I have to admit that until I got to Baia Mare I didn’t eat chestnuts. 🙂 In recent years they have also appeared in supermarkets, but years ago you couldn’t find much of that in the store. Meanwhile, the chestnuts from Maramureș exist only with the name and the festival from September.

There are two ways to prepare edible chestnuts, we boil them or bake them in the oven or on the stove. 🙂 By-the-way, those from Brasov trees are good only for decorations. 🙂

I tried both ways, the baked ones are better but if you don’t eat them quickly, they turn into white weapons. :))) They look similar to boiled white potatoes, only with a different taste.

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Cookingbookclub 5

We have two more books and the year is over. 🙂 This year’s number five book to read & cook is The Oh She Glows Cookbook, by Angela Liddon. There is also a sequel to the book, if you are passionate about vegan recipes, you might like it.

You can safely skip the introductory part that praises veganism; what interests us is to discover new ideas to gloriously combine vegetables. 🙂 Of course, if something catches your eye, you can change the recipe and add animal protein as needed.

The deadline for reading, choosing a recipe, trying, posing and sending feedback is October 10. 🙂 Give me a message to tell you where to find the book. 🙂

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Ep. 76 – pickled salad

I don’t know about others, but when I think of pickles, I salivate instantly! :)) It is true that due to global warming we no longer consume so many pickles (or because we no longer drink alcohol ?? 😀), but Xmas cannot come if we have not made at least one pickled salad. 🙂

Well, the salad in the picture is made of the following: 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 cucumber, 1 white cauliflower, 1 cabbage – where 1 means, as the case may be, 1 kg or 1 portion. Grated.

In a pot heat 1l vinegar, 2l water, 6 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons honey (if you make more portions logically multiply the liquid) – hot pour over vegetables, mix gently, let soften, then I put them in jars, the juice on top, the lid, in the cellar. 🙂

Disastrously good !!!

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