Magic Chocolate Fondant

There are a lot of instant chocolate cake recipes around, you know the ones made in a microwave. This moist fondant is inspired by them, but made in a traditional oven – I’m not a big fan of microwave…

Besides, it is a magic dessert that makes itself while you’re enjoying your main dish! Just tuck it in the oven when you're about to start your meal. Remember to set an alarm to 12 minutes, then remove the fondants, place them on serving plates – and when you’re ready with your main dish, the fondant will be just the right temperature to be eaten!

I was astonished that this recipe, that involves no beating, melting, and so on - it only takes 2 minutes to make the batter - resulted in the most perfect fondant I’ve ever managed to bake.

Think of replacing the coconut oil by a neutral tasting one if you’re not a fan of coconut. I just love the rich taste of coconut – but the men in my family don’t ;)

 

For 5 portions you need:

• 3 eggs


• 3 Tbsp yoghurt


• 3 Tbsp coconut oil


• 6 Tbps sugar


• 3 Tbps whole-grain flour


• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder


• a pinch of salt

…and 5 pieces (or 2 if they're very small) of dark chocolate

First, combine eggs, yoghurt, and coconut oil (or sunflower oil) in a baking bowl. Stir with a fork. Then add the rest – sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt, and stir again. Ready! Don’t worry if the coconut oil remains a bit lumpy – it will melt in the oven, and you won’t notice a thing.

Now, divide the batter into five silicone muffin forms. Tuck a piece of dark chocolate inside each of them – this will be the liquid core of your fondant. Bake in a preheated oven (190 C) about 12 minutes, or until still not quite set from the inside.

Transfer onto serving plates, decorate with berries and a bit of confectioner’s sugar, and serve!

 



P.S. Just think how altruistic I am – to come up with this perfect recipe, I’ve eaten my way through of at least four less perfect instant chocolate cakes ;) So I do hope you like it :)

Desserts That Make Themselves

Some of you might remember that Finnish bank ad from quite a few years ago, that featured “a house that cleans itself”. Well, I can promise you something even better: a dessert – or actually quite a few of them – that make themselves while you’re enjoying your main dish. You just have to sacrifice 2-3 minutes more in the kitchen, and the rest will take care of itself. It’s like magic!

I’ve tested this concept for five days now, and it works even too well. I have namely served dessert with every single meal! And even between the meals! ;) One just needs to remember to take that chocolate fondant out of the oven, or turn the heat off when cooking those apricots in Cointreau. (I suggest you use an alarm.)

Curious to learn more about instant desserts, like this chocolate fondant? (No, it's not the microwave one.) Then stay tuned! In the following posts, I’ll reveal some of them – and more fast main dish recipes, of course.

 

Omelette with Goat Cheese, Red Pepper, and Rucola

Omelette is an excellent choice if you’re cooking for only one or two people, and not bad for a bigger lot either – as long as you have a big pan! It goes so fast that you definitely need to set the table before starting to cook.

You can top the omelette with almost anything: mozzarella, feta, goat’s cheese, blue cheese, tomatoes, pepper, rucola, any herbs of your liking… My favourite combination is soft goat cheese, sweet red pepper, and rucola.

This recipe is for one person!

For the omelette:

• 2-3 organic eggs


• 1 Tbsp milk


• salt and pepper to taste


• a bit of olive oil for frying

On top:

• 50g soft goat cheese, cut in cubes


• 25g sweet red pepper, sliced


• a handful of rucola


• 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

This is how to do it:

1. Combine the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Beat slightly with a fork.

2.Heat olive oil in a heavy pan and pour in the omelette batter.

3. With a wooden spatula, move the batter on the pan with long, slow moves until the omelette starts to set, then stop and let it set completely. Flip the omelette as if it was a pancake and fry just enough so that the other side gets a bit of colour as well. Remove from heat.

4. Add goat cheese, pepper, and rucola on top of the omelet. Sprinkle with Parmesan – and a bit more salt and pepper. Serve immediately!

Avocado Soup with Lemon and Coriander

I love guacamole. Whenever there’s good guacamole around, I wish I could just take the whole bowl and spoon it all up! Well, with this soup, I can finally do that without looking like I’m lacking all manners ;) This rich and smooth soup is like guacamole gone to heaven... And best of all, it only takes 5 minutes or so to make it. Amazing!

This soup can be served either cold or warm. I prefer it warm. Not hot, though: when warmed up too much, the avocados get a horribly bitter taste. Been there, done that..! So, any leftovers should be eaten cold rather than be warmed up again.

Remember to only use ripe avocados!

For 4 small or 2 very big portions you need:

• 500ml vegetable broth


• 200ml heavy cream (non-dairy cream for a vegan option)


• 500g peeled avocado, the seed removed (about 2 big or 3 smaller ones)


• 3 Tbsp lemon juice, or to taste


• salt and black pepper to taste


• fresh coriander to serve

This is how to do it:

1. Bring the broth to the boil. Remove from heat.

2. Pulse the avocados and lemon juice with a hand mixer into a smooth puree.

3. Now, add cream and avocado puree into the hot broth. Stir, check the taste, and add salt and pepper according to taste.

4. Divide into soup bowls, sprinkle with some fresh coriander and serve with a slice or two of good bread.

Could cooking get any easier than this?!

Sesame Noodles

Preparing and eating these decadently delicious noodles for the first time was something epic. How can something have such a rich and fulfilling flavour, a smooth texture, be 100% vegan, and be ready in no more than 5 minutes? Yes, you heard me right: from the moment you enter your kitchen, this dish will be on your plate in five minutes – provided you (or rather your stove) get that water boiling fast!

Furthermore, sesame noodles are tasty without being spicy at all, so kids love them as well.

There are a lot of different recipes out there for sesame noodles, and my starting point was New York – les recettes culte, although I’ve modified it a bit.

For 3-4 portions you need:

• 250g noodles (I use the ones made with wheat, and without egg)


• 50g tahini paste


• 50g peanut butter


• 50g sesame oil


• 4 Tbsp rice vinegar


• 3 Tbsp sugar


• 2 Tbsp soy sauce


• 18g fresh ginger, peeled


• 12g garlic, peeled


• 100ml water

.. and fresh cucumber, coriander leaves, and sesame seeds to serve

This is how you proceed:

1. Bring 3 liters of water to the boil. Add a bit of salt, then the noodles, cover, and take away from the heat. Let stand about 3 minutes.

2. In the meantime (yes!), prepare the sauce. Measure all ingredients in a bowl, and pulse with a hand mixer into a smooth paste.

3. Transfer the noodles in a colander, wash with cold water, drain, and place into a serving bowl. Add the sauce and stir.

4. Decorate with sliced cucumber, fresh coriander and sesame seeds.

5. Serve with a cold drink!

I prefer to eat this dish a bit warm, not cold as suggested in the original recipe. At what temperature do they taste the best to you? Well, I guess you’ll have to make them a couple of times to find out…!
 

Spaghetti with Broccoli and Home-Made Pesto

Quick food doesn’t necessarily mean pasta. The mother of all quick meals is nevertheless pasta with pesto, at least for me. Everyone loves it, kids and adults alike – even the picky ones – and to get it on your plate, you really only need the time it takes to cook the pasta. So if the package says “cottura 18 minuti”, forget about it! We need it quicker.

In this recipe, broccoli is cooked together with spaghetti – both require exactly the same time to be al dente! Miraculous! And with that much broccoli, the whole thing seems a lot healthier ;)

This is what you need to feed 4 hungry people:

• 500g spaghetti, with 8-9 minutes cooking time


• 400g broccoli


• 40g basil leaves


• 40g Parmesan cheese


• 10g pine nuts


• 100g olive oil


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• salt and pepper to taste


• plus a couple of basil leaves, pine nuts, and some grated Parmesan to serve

This is how you proceed:

1. Bring enough water to the boil in a large saucepan to cook the spaghetti. When waiting for the water to boil, cut the broccoli in pieces. Then add some salt, spaghetti, and the broccoli. Stir once in a while.

2. When spaghetti and broccoli are cooking, you have exactly 8 minutes to prepare the pesto and set the table – but it’s more than enough! Wash and drain basil if needed, place it together with olive oil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper, in a bowl. Pulse everything with a hand mixer into a smooth paste.

3. Drain pasta and broccoli and place them in a serving bowl. Then add the pesto, stir, and decorate with basil leaves and pine nuts. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan and serve!

For a vegan version, forget the cheese – or use a vegan alternative. My favourite is No-Moo Piquant.

 

Hit-and-Run, or the Faster than Fast Recipes

There are days where I love to spend time in the kitchen. But there are also days where I’m feeling too lazy or tired to bother. Yet one has to eat something. And especially the kids do. And most of the time, they just can’t wait. Even pizza delivery would not be an option when a little princess is crying she is “so hungry she can’t wait any second longer!” That empty plate should be filled fast – but how?

So, what are the options for those days where even looking for that frying pan might seem too difficult a task, let alone all of that chopping, cutting, frying, simmering, and of course, waiting?

Pizza delivery – as mentioned before – just takes too long. But maybe one could walk or drive to the closest supermarket and buy ready-made meals? No chance, at least with those hungry kids!

But luckily, there are surprisingly many recipes that allow you to have a proper meal on your plate in just ten to fifteen minutes, or even less! The recipes I like to call hit-and-run recipes (and the Germans Blitzrezepte) require little or no effort and almost no time at all. It takes less time to make them than it takes to walk to the supermarket and back!

In my next posts I’m going to reveal my favourite hit-and-run recipes. Stay tuned!

Stir-Fry with Fennel, Kohlrabi, Carrot, Cucumber, and Leek

On Friday, I checked my “compost” box in my fridge. It had the green parts of one leek and stalks and greens of one fennel. In addition, I peeled two carrots, one kohlrabi and one cucumber for the kids’ salad for lunch. That left me with 300g still perfectly usable vegetable parts that I was determined to eat for lunch.

As I was in a hurry, I opted for this quick stir-fry. It really only takes less than 10 minutes to have this dish ready! If you want, you can serve some cooked rice with it. Then this portion would be enough for two.

For one portion you need:

• 300g stalks, stems, leaves, greens, or peels of organic, well-washed vegetables


• 1 Tbsp sunflower or olive oil


• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 2 Tbsp soy sauce


• 1 Tbsp sesame oil


• chili to taste


• a handful of nuts – I had pistachios, but would have used cashews if I’d had some :)


• fresh coriander

Chop the vegetables very small – especially the fennel. If left too big, they will be too hard to eat. Heat oil in a heavy pan and add vegetables. Fry some 3-4 minutes over a medium heat, then add chili and garlic, stir and fry 1-2 minutes more. Then add nuts, soy sauce, sesame oil and a bit of water (3-4 Tbsp), and let simmer 2 more minutes. Check salt – add if needed.

Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve!

Stock made with Grilled Vegetables

This is a perfect recipe for those that are not feeling adventurous enough (yet?) to eat carrot peels, radish greens and such perfectly edible but less noble parts of vegetables. Here those parts are grilled in the oven, then cooked to get a delicious stock – to be used in your next risotto, for example.

To make the stock, I chose a variety of vegetables, as you can see from the picture: carrot, cucumber, rutabaga, kohlrabi, radish...the more diversity, the better!

Grilling the vegetables first brings another depth to the flavour of this stock. If you’re in a hurry, though, you can skip the grilling part and cook the vegetables right away.

For about 1 liter of stock you need:

• 900g vegetable greens, stems, peels, stalks – organic and well washed


• 2-3 onions, quartered


• a couple of garlic cloves, halved


• salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste


• 1 liter of water

Place the vegetables, onions, and garlic cloves on an oven tray. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and grill in a preheated oven (250 C) 15-20 minutes. Check once or twice the veggies and stir them so that the ones on top don’t burn!

Once nicely grilled, take the vegetables out of the oven. Place them in a saucepan with 1 liter of water. Bring to the boil and let simmer over a low heat, covered, about 30 minutes. Check salt and add more if needed. Then run the stock trough a sieve, discard the vegetables, and your home-made stock is ready to be used!

P.S. If any vegetables did burn, remove them before cooking the broth. Burned veggies give a bitter taste to the stock :(

My Root-to-Stalk Lasagne

Since January or so, I have made an effort to use all edible peels, stalks, leafs, greens, and so on, of all vegetables I buy. If not used immediately, I store them in the fridge, in a plastic box with a lid, and use them within the three following days.

In the beginning, this new habit wasn’t quite appreciated by other family members, though:

Once my husband game home from work quite hungry. I told him the kids were going to eat sausages with mash, but for the adults, there would be “THIS”, showing him that plastic box full of what looked like compost. “No WAY I’m going to eat THAT!! This a joke or what?” he cried out. Well, one hour later, he was happily eating this lasagne, claiming it was the best lasagne I had made so far. :)

For 8 generous portions you need:

•  18 lasagne sheets

Tomato sauce:

•  1 big onion


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• olive oil


• 800g canned (cherry) tomatoes


• 2 tsp sugar


• fresh herbs (I used rosemary, marjoram, sage, and basil)


• salt and pepper to taste

White sauce:

• 4 Tbsp butter


• 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour


• 800ml whole milk


• salt and pepper to taste

Sautéd vegetables:

• 4 Tbsp olive oil


• 800g vegetable peels, stalks, stems, leaves, greens (I used mostly kohlrabi, carrot, and fennel) - organic and well washed


• 2 tsp Italian spice mixture - I used this one from Herbaria


• salt and pepper to taste

On top:

• 300g mozzarella, sliced


• 2-3 fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced


• 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced


• 100g grated Parmesan cheese

Start with the tomato sauce. In a large pan, sauté onions with some olive oil. Then add garlic, stir, and add the canned tomatoes, a bit of water, sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes - the longer, the better! Once in a while, check if more water is needed.

Then it’s time to prepare the vegetables. Chop them very small, especially harder stems and peels. Heat oil in a heavy pan and add the vegetables, first the ones that need more time to cook, then those that need less time. Sauté about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add a bit of water, the spice mixture, and salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat until vegetables are tender, or about 20-30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the white sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Stir well and let cook 2-3 minutes, but don’t let the flour gain any colour. Then add warmed milk gradually, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and let cook 1-2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Now, take your lasagne form. Assemble lasagne in layers as follows: tomato sauce, 9 lasagne sheets, white sauce, tomato sauce, sautéd vegetables, 9 lasagne sheets, white sauce, tomato sauce, sautéd vegetables, 9 lasagne sheets, tomato sauce, garlic slices, fresh tomato slices, mozzarella, parmesan.

Bake in a preheated oven until the lasagne is thoroughly cooked, cheese has melted and turned nicely brown. Enjoy with a green salad!

Radish Green Soup

If you’ve ever been to Portugal, you know that a meal without a soup just isn’t possible. Even the Portuguese McDonald’s serves soup, I’ve been told. And there’s a fast-food chain serving only soups!

The inspiration for this soup comes from the most famous Portuguese soup, caldo verde. But instead of Portuguese kale, traditionally used in this soup, I opted for radish greens – a part of radishes I wasn’t used to eat! But they actually taste better than the actual radishes, if you ask me. They have a pleasant, nutty taste, and can be used fresh in a salad as well.

If you’re a meat eater, feel free to add a couple of slices of choriço per portion. Instead, I added some Backerbsen, or traditional German soup pearls.

For 4 portions, served as a starter:

•  200g leek


• 2 garlic cloves


• 450g potatoes


• the greens of 2 radish bunches


• olive oil


• salt and pepper to taste


• Backerbsen, if available


• water or vegetable broth, about 1 liter, divided

First, peel the potatoes and cut into cubes. Wash the leek and chop it. Peel and slice the garlic. Heat olive oil in a saucepot, add potatoes and leek and fry over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and let fry a 1-2 minutes. Then add water or broth to amply cover the vegetables, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let simmer over a low heat until potatoes are tender, or some 20 minutes. Puree with a hand mixer.

In the meantime, prepare the radish greens. Wash them thoroughly and chop, using a knife or scissors. Boil about 300ml water or broth in a smaller pan. Add 2 pinches of salt (not needed if using broth) and the radish greens. Let cook until the leaves are cooked but still somewhat crunchy. It goes quite quickly!

To serve, divide the pureed soup onto four soup plates. Then divide the radish greens on the plates – with a bit of their cooking water, especially if the soup is very thick! Then sprinkle some olive oil, salt, and pepper – and Backerbsen, if available. Enjoy with a slice of good bread – and good conscience!

P.S. Unfortunately, one needs to peel the potatoes to make this soup. But instead of throwing them away, you could deep-fry them in oil, sprinkle with some salt, and serve as chips! Remember to use organically grown potatoes and wash them well.

Think Like a Bunny, Eat Like a Bunny, or How to Reduce Food Waste by Using Veggies from Root to Stalk

It all started with my pet bunnies. When I gave them a carrot with the greens still attached, the bunnies always devoured the greens first. Only when the greens were all gone, they would start chewing the carrot itself.

So I thought, those greens must really taste good! Yet I kept throwing the greens away, or asking the farmer the cut them off.

Until I found Lisa Casali’s excellent book, Cuisiner mieux en jetant moins, where the Italian author tackles the problem of food waste and explains in detail which parts of the most common fruit and veggies can be used for cooking. And surprisingly enough, that includes – just about everything! One just needs an open mind and a bit of imagination to create delicious meals out of potato peels, carrot peels and greens, radish greens, orange, pear, and apple peels, and so on.

When you think of it, it actually doesn’t make any sense to first buy a product and then throw in some cases most of it away! It’s not good for your wallet, and it isn’t good for the environment, either.

So in the past months, I’ve developed a couple of new habits to reduce my food waste. For instance, I try to use up all I have in the fridge and cupboards before going grocery shopping (see my No Cost Food Week). But I’ve also started to put those carrot, potato, and orange peels, kohlrabi leaves, radish greens, and so on, into use. Just one example is the orange peel powder, needed to make Orange and White Chocolate Ice Cream.

During the following days, I’ll be posting some more of my best no-waste recipes!

Orange and White Chocolate Ice Cream

Here's the ice cream recipe I promised yesterday! I love the combination of white chocolate and orange, there's something royal in it. (Not everyone shared my opinion, though, but most did!)

I've been making ice cream for some time now, but so far I've never tried recipes involving egg yolks. I've thought they're not necessary - if you buy ice cream at the supermarket, there's no egg in them either! (But some artificial thickening agents to compensate, I guess...). But now that I gave it a try, I do understand there is a clear advantage when using eggs in ice cream: the texture is much creamier, even after two days of freezing.

For about 5 smallish servings you need:

• 3 egg yolks


• 100g sugar


• 50g white chocolate


• 300ml milk


• 200ml heavy cream


• 1 Tbsp dried orange peel powder (if you don't have any, try grated orange zest instead!)

First, choose a baking bowl that you can use for a hot-water bath. Then, place yolks and sugar in the bowl and mix until pale yellow. Scald 150ml milk and beat it to the yolk-sugar-mixture. Now heat the custard in hot-water bath, constantly stirring, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Be careful, it overcooks easily! Remove from the heat and add the rest of the milk, cream, melted white chocolate, and the orange peel powder and stir until well combined. Chill for a couple of hours.

Prepare the ice-cream according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker. Serve with rhubarb tarte Tatin, for example!

P.S. To make orange peel powder, I dried peels of organic oranges in the oven, at 50 C. It took about 24 hours for them to be totally dry - and during that time, there was a heavenly smell at hour house! Then I asked a friend to grind the dried peels into powder (I don't have any machines at my kitchen, besides ice cream maker, coffee grinder, espresso machine, water boiler, and an old hand mixer...). I warmly recommend!

Rhubarb Tarte Tatin

I’m really blessed to live close to an organic farm, and I do most of my grocery shopping there. Everything they have is premium quality, seasonal (how else?), and the service one gets is amazingly friendly.

Sometimes, like yesterday, even too much so. Let me explain. I asked if they’ve got rhubarb yet. “Well, only in the garden, but let’s go and fetch some for you!” We went together to the garden, and the poor rhubarb plants were just tiny little babies! But they insisted in giving me as much as I wanted. I actually wanted to tell them I didn’t want any - just let the poor babies grow! - but didn’t find a polite way to protest. So I left the farm with about half of their rhubarb crop and one thing on my mind: these rhubarbs have to end up into something really, really, special.

And they did. I used them to bake this rhubarb tarte Tatin, and made some orange and white chocolate ice cream to go with. A match made in heaven.

Here’s what you need for the tarte Tatin:

For the dough:

• 100g butter


• 190g whole-grain spelt flour


• a pinch of salt


• a pinch of sugar


• 3 Tbps cold water

For the syrup:

• 120g sugar


• 3 Tbsp water

And:

• 350g rhubarb


• 30g butter, sliced

First, make the dough. Cut the butter in small cubes, add flour, sugar and a pinch of salt, if using non-salted butter. Work with your fingertips until the texture is like fine crumbles, then add water and work the dough into a ball. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the caramel. Place sugar and water in a heavy pan. Heat, stirring from time to time, until sugar has melted and turned into golden brown caramel. Attention! This burns easily! Remove from heat and pour the caramel in a round cake tin (mine has a diameter of 26cm).

Now, wash and trim the rhubarbs. Cut them into sticks about 4-5 cm long. Arrange them nicely in the form. Place thef butter slices on the rhubarbs. Roll the dough out into a circle just slightly bigger than the form and place on top of the rhubarbs. Bake in a preheated oven (200 C) until the dough is golden brown and you see some juice bubbling on the sides.

Once out of the oven, let the Tatin cool about 5 minutes. Then flip it around on a serving plate – remember to wear oven gloves, it's still hot!

Serve warm with a dollop of ice cream – preferably Orange White Chocolate Ice Cream, the recipe of which will follow tomorrow.

P.S. You can use all-purpose wheat flour as well. Actually, I think it would be even better. But my family protested, saying it was so good exactly because of the spelt flour!

Orange Drink, Swedish Style

On normal days, I only serve water at the mealtimes – and between. But there are special days, and for those, one needs special drinks as well. This fresh and not too sweet orange drink definitely is one of my favourites! The idea comes from Flickorna Lundgren, the most unique coffee shop experience I’ve had the pleasure to have!

I drastically reduced the amount of sugar, though, and left the additional citric acid away. Citric acid is used to improve the taste and make the drink last longer – but if it already tastes perfect and is consumed within 3-4 days anyway, why use it? ;)

What you need for about 1 liter:

• 1kg organic oranges (this time, I used blood oranges)


• 500g sugar


• 500ml water

First, boil water and dissolve sugar in it. Let cool. Wash the oranges and remove their zest with a potato peeler. Squeeze the juice of the oranges. Set the zest, juice, and water-sugar-mixture in a bowl and cover. Place in a cool place and let stand for 1-2 days.

In the meantime, make sure no one in your family throws away your drink-to-be! Wouldn’t be the first time ;)

Then, run the drink through a sieve to remove the zests. Bottle the syrup and keep chilled. To serve, use 1 part orange drink, 2-3 parts water. Or how about a glass of prosecco with a splash of orange taste?

When Melon Died and Went to Heaven, or the Best Melon Sorbet Ever

When at an Italian ice-cream shop, I always choose the same flavour: melon. Melon with hazelnut, melon with raspberry, melon with chocolate… And most of the time, I’m slightly disappointed. It could have been just a bit better.

Last weekend, I brought a Cantaloupe melon from Italy, and was wondering what to do with it. To cut it and serve with prosciutto to my still very much carnivore kids? To serve it as a part of a fruit salad? Luckily I didn’t do any of those, but instead, used it to make the best melon sorbet I’ve ever had. It just could NOT have been better. And it’s simple as well! Here’s how it goes:

In a pan, heat up 100ml water and dissolve 100g sugar in it. Let cool. Prepare a large Cantaloupe melon, cut it into cubes and puree with a hand mixer. You should have about 600g of puree. Pour the syrup into the melon puree and cool well. If only served to adults, add 2 Tbsp melon liquor, meloncello (for a vegan version, leave this out, it has cream in it).

When the mixture is cold enough, prepare the sorbet according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker – and serve immediately!

Creamy Risotto with Asparagus and Lemon

For a couple of years, I used to make asparagus risotto with shrimps at least once every spring. Then we decided to reduce our meat and fish consumption to a minimum, so I needed to come up with a new version of that great dish. Suddenly I remembered a creamy lemon risotto a friend of mine used to make, and a new dish was born: creamy risotto that combines the flavours of lemon, basil, asparagus, and the best Parmesan cheese you can find. I guarantee – this just can’t go wrong! For a vegan version, either leave out the cream or substitute it with a vegan alternative, and use vegan cheese instead. My favourite is No-Moo Piquant.

For 4 hungry people you need:

• 1 bunch of green asparagus


• 1 medium-sized onion, chopped


• 3 Tbsp olive oil


• 400 ml Arborio rice


• 800 ml vegetable broth


• salt and pepper to taste


• the grated zest of 1 organic lemon


• 150ml double cream (or a non-dairy cream)


• basil leaves


• freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or No-Moo Piquant)

Wash the asparagus and cut off the hard ends, if necessary. Bring enough water to boil in an asparagus cooker, or, if you don’t have one, in a large kettle. When the water is boiling, add a bit of salt and the asparagus. Let cook for 8 minutes, then remove and cool quickly either in ice bath or cold water. (This will stop the cooking.) Once the asparagus has cooled, cut it into about 3cm long pieces, but keep a couple of spears for decoration.

Now, prepare the risotto: sauté chopped onion in a large pan with olive oil. Then add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add hot broth, salt, pepper, and the lemon zest. Let boil over a low heat until most of the liquid has absorbed, or about 15 minutes. The rice should now be al dente - if not, cook a bit more! Add more broth if needed. Now, whip the cream until soft peaks form and pour onto the risotto. Stir gently. Then add the cut asparagus and stir again.

Remove from heat and decorate with grated Parmesan, basil leaves, asparagus spears, and lemon. Sprinkle some more salt and pepper – and enjoy with a glass of chilled white wine!

Aubergine Rolls with Gorgonzola

We spent last weekend in Italy, on the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Como. The mountains around still had snow on their peaks, the water in the lake was deep greenish blue, and it was sunny the whole time. Yet – sadly? – the highlight of my weekend was grocery shopping at the local supermarket! Even looking at those beautifully displayed delicious vegetables, fruit, cheeses, and so on, made my head buzz with new ideas… which I’ve been busy trying out this week!

This is one of them: Involtini di melanzane al gorgonzola, also known as aubergine rolls filled with Italian blue cheese, baked in the oven with tomato sauce.

This portion was supposed to be for two, but I was tempted to eat it all by myself – yesterday was, after all, the international no-diet day!

This is what you need for 2 people (or one very hungry ;) )

•  1 large aubergine, about 400g


• 100g gorgonzola

For the tomato sauce:

•  1 medium-sized onion


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• olive oil


• 400g canned (cherry) tomatoes


• 1 tsp sugar


• fresh herbs (I used rosemary, marjoram, sage, and basil)


• salt and pepper to taste

First, prepare the tomato sauce: in a large pan, sauté onions with some olive oil. Then add garlic, stir, and add the canned tomatoes, a bit of water, sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes - the longer, the better! Once in a while, check if more water is needed.

Now, wash the aubergine and cut the stem off. Cut the rest into long, thin slices. Fry them on a frying pan on both sides (no oil needed) until light brown and soft. Let cool some 5 minutes. Then divide gorgonzola in as many pieces as you’ve got aubergine slices (I had eleven). Place a piece of gorgonzola at one end of each aubergine slice and roll them tight. Arrange in an oven dish, cover with tomato sauce, and bake in a preheated oven (180 C) some 30 minutes.

Serve with a slice of good bread and some green salad!

Rhubarb Sorbet with Rosemary

It’s double my favourite time of the year again! Both the rhubarb and the ice cream season have started - at least if you live in the right place ;) Here’s a recipe that will impress adults as well as kids, the latter provided you don’t exaggerate with the rosemary. “Tastes like Gummibärchen!” “Criminally good!” Just guess which comment was from my husband and which from my son…! I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful shade of pink – how can those mostly green stalks give this sorbet such a dazzling colour? A miracle…

Here’s what you need for 4-5 smallish portions:

• 400g rhubarb


• 1 twig of rosemary (a tiny one if served to kids)


• 500ml fresh water


• 100g sugar

Wash the rhubarb and, using kitchen scissors, cut into pieces (about 2,5cm long). Place in a pan with the rosemary twig and the water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the rhubarb is tender, about 10 minutes. Drain through a sieve (you don’t have to press, just let drain) into a smaller pan. Now add sugar and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Place in a jar or a plastic recipient with a lid and let cool to room temperature first, then refrigerate until cold (this took me about 6 hours in total).

Once cold, prepare the sorbet according to the instructions of your ice cream maker. With mine, it’s oh so practical: I put the ice cream maker to work just before I serve the main course, and by the time we’ve finished, the ice-cream/sorbet is ready! How convenient indeed!

Decorate with mint and serve right away.

Finnish Rye Bread

It looks greenish and disgusting, feels like concrete in your hands and stinks like something you just might want to feed to your worst enemy. But here’s the miracle: when you bake it, it turns out to be one of most delicious breads in the world. And also the healthiest. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you – the Finnish rye bread!

As you might have guessed, I bake my rye bread with sourdough starter, without any additional yeast. My starter is based on all-purpose wheat flour, but about 12 hours before I want to make the rye bread dough, I take 60g of the starter, place in a clean jar, and refresh with 60g water and 60g rye flour. That way, there is only a tiny little bit wheat in the final bread (less than 5%). I’ve also tried to maintain a rye-only-starter, but it has always turned bad after a couple of days…

This is what you need for one loaf:

• 150g sourdough starter, refreshed 10-12 hours before


• 350g fresh water


• 450g rye flour – whole-grain, if possible


• 10g salt

Combine 300g water and the flour in a baking bowl. Stir with a fork until all the flour is moist. Add the rest of water if needed. (Some flours are thirstier than others ;) ) Let stand for about 20 to 40 minutes. Then add the starter and salt. Knead for about 10-15 minutes, or until you can no more – unless you’re using a machine, in which case 10 minutes should be enough.

Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let ferment at room temperature for about 6-8 hours. Then fold the dough a couple of times and place in a floured proofing basket. Let ferment 1-2 hours more. Preheat your oven to 250 C and bake the loaf about 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 225 C (or even 200 C) and bake until thoroughly cooked, or some 30 minutes more.

Let cool - and eat with lots of butter ;) This bread keeps very well, at least one week.

P.S. If you don’t have a proofing basket yet, do buy one! Before I had one, I never managed my breads to grow so beautifully…