Almost green gazpacho – bijna groene gazpacho (GF-SF)

In the line of easy, fast, green and versatile recipes I made this beautiful gazpacho this weekend.

The sun was out for a change, and on my tiny balcony on the south side the wind had no influence so I came to the idea of a cold soup.

With all there was in my fridge and the herbs and very ripe avocado that I was forgotten, I made this  gazpacho or cold soup or maybe you could call it even a veggie smoothie. Anyway you name it, it’s delicious, lusciously smooth because of the almonds  and all the raw goodness of all these veggies and herbs! it's easy to make vegan, just leave out the yoghurt!

It’s a long list of ingredients, but all you have to do is wash the veggies and chop them roughly and throw them in a blender. Add anything you like more or less to your own tastes. This soup is all about tasting. You don’t have a green bell pepper, just use a red or yellow one, like I did. You don’t have a cucumber, maybe you have a zucchini. The same with the herbs, use what you have, sniff and taste and make your own heavenly blend.

Depending on the thickness, the amounts of liquids, this recipe makes about 1 liter of soup.

Almost green gazpacho

1 big celery stick

½ cucumber

2 handfuls of turnip tops (you could use spinach )

1 red bell pepper

1 avocado (or when not in the house just leave it out)

2 spring onions

1 clove of garlic

1 big handful of basil

1 big handful of parsley

1 big handful of coriander/cilantro

A few leaves of mint

75 g almond meal or ground whole brown almonds

2 tbsp fragrant vinegar like dandelion or cider

60 ml good olive oil

125 ml of full fat organic yoghurt (vegans can leave it out)

250 ml or a little more cold water

1 tsp sea salt

Ground pepper

Lemon juice to your taste

Clean and chop the veggies and fresh herbs roughly.

Add everything to a powerful blender and blend into a smooth soup.

Taste and add seasoning to your liking.

Eat it directly or cool the soup for several hours in the fridge.

                                           not very appealing as a picture, but very delicious

Bijna groene gazpacho

1 flinke bleekselderijstengel

½ komkommer

2 handenvol raapstelen (of jonge spinazie)

1 rode paprika (of groen of geel)

1 avocado (als je die hebt, anders niet)

2 lente uitjes

1 teen knoflook

1 grote handvol basilicum

1 grote handvol peterselie

1 grote handvol koriander

Paar blaadjes munt

75 g amandelmeel, of  gemalen niet-geblancheerde amandelen

2 el geurige azijn, zoals paardenbloem of cider

60 ml lekkere olijfolie

125 ml volle biologische yoghurt (of laat weg als je vegan bent)

250 ml of iets meer water

1 tl zout

Gemalen zwarte peper

Citroensap naar smaak

Maak de groentes schoon en hak ze grof, zo ook de kruiden.

Doe alles in een grote blender en mix tot een mooie romige soep.

Proef en voeg naar smaak toe wat de soep nog nodig heeft.

Eet direct of laat een aantal uren in de koelkast koelen.

Another green recipe! Cucumber and celery relish – komkommer- en groenselderij relish (GF-DF-SF-V)

So funny, this month I am only sharing green recipes, must be something in the air ;-)

This recipe came with my organic vegetable box from the Landzicht farm. It’s an easy and quick made relish, simple ingredients with maximum taste. I eat the relish on a sandwich, together with some fatty fish like mackerel or on anything which needs a tangy zing!

I keep my blog posts short, because I cannot work for more than 20 minutes at my laptop now, my aching bones won’t allow it yet. So I take good care of myself and listen to my body.

You have a favorite relish or pickle? Let me know!

Cucumber  and celery relish (1 big pot)

1 cucumber, washed and cut in brunoise

6 stalks of celery, washed, cleaned and cut in brunoise

2 tsp sea salt

½ cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

4 tbsp honey or agave syrup

1 tbsp fresh ginger, cut very fine

1 tbsp black mustard seed

1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed roughly

Bring vinegar, honey or agave, ginger and mustardseed to the boil. Immediately add cucumber, celery, salt and crushed peppercorns and stir together very well. Let it cook slowly for 5 minutes, than turn of the gas. Fill your (well cleaned) pot(s) with the mixture, close with a lid and let them cool upside down.

Store in the fridge, it will hold for at least 2 weeks for sure!

Komkommer-groenselderij relish (1 grote pot)

1 komkommer, in fijne brunoise

6 stengels groenselderij of bleekselder

2 tl zeezout

125ml witte wijnazijn of rijstazijn

4 el honing of agave siroop

1 el verse gember, zeer fijngesneden

1 el zwart mosterdzaad

1 tl zwarte peperkorrels, geplet

Breng azijn, honing, gember of agave en mosterdzaad aan de kook. Voeg meteen de fijngesneden komkommer en selder toe, het zout en de geplette peperkorrels. Roer goed door elkaar en laat 5 minuutjes zachtjes koken. Haal van het vuur en vul een of meerdere (goed schoongemaakte) potten met het mengsel. Zet op zijn kop en laat afkoelen. Bewaar in de koelkast, blijft zeker 2 weken goed!!

Green beans, potato and cucumber salad – spercieboon, aardappel en komkommer salade (GF-DF-SF-V)

This evening I’m going to eat with my friend M. and her son.

In her garden, in the sun, with some veggie and some fishy things on the BBQ, a glass of rosé and this great salad, which I prepared already, so all flavors can blend together and the salad is chilled. We have sunshine at last and are going to celebrate it.

The great thing about this salad is the perfect and simple combination of ingredients.

The salad is inspired by a recipe from The New Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. It’s already an “old” book, from 1996, no pictures in the book, only recipes for every season. She is California based and it’s always a pleasure to read her stories about food, it’s sunny, it’s earthy, it’s all about good ingredients. I love this book!

Speaking of love; her latest book is called Love Soup and as a soup lover I will order it soon and let you know all about it.

Green beans, potato and cucumber salad (enough for 6 pers)

750 grams new potatoes, washed

350 grams French beans

350 grams cucumber

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh dill

¼ cup finely chopped red onion

2 big tbsp good olive oil

2 big tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ tsp sea salt

½ tbsp agave syrup

1 full tsp Dijon mustard

freshly ground black pepper

First boil the potatoes in plenty of water, depending of their size, about 15-20 minutes. They must be just done. Prick in them with a fork to be sure. Drain and let them cool for a little while, so you can just handle them to remove the skin and slice into big cubes.

In the time the potatoes are boiling, clean the beans, cut them in 2 cm pieces and cook or steam them for about 10-12 minutes till al dente. Drain and put them in a big bowl.

In the time the beans are cooking you cut the onion, dill and cucumber. Set aside.

And you make the dressing by stirring together (or put everything together in a glass jar and shake it) the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, agave syrup and black pepper. Set aside too.

When the potatoes are cut, put the chunks on top of the beans in the big bowl and pour over the dressing. Then add the dill, onion and cucumber cubes and mix everything together gently with your hands. Refrigerate for some hours to blend all the flavours and chill the salad well.

Enjoy on a warm evening  or as a lunch dish!

Sperzieboon, aardappel en komkommer salade (genoeg voor 6 pers)

750 gr nieuwe aardappels, gewassen

350 gr sperziebonen

350 gr komkommer

½ cup versgehakte dille

¼ cup fijngehakte rode ui

2 volle el goede olijfolie

2 volle el versgeperste citroensap

½ tl zeezout

½ el agavesiroop

1 volle tl Dyon mosterd

versgemalen zwarte peper

Kook de gewassen aardappels net gaar. Afhankelijk van de grootte 15-20 minuten. Prik af en toe voorzichtig met een vork. Giet af en laat even afkoelen voordat je de schil er voorzichtig afhaalt. Snijd ze in flinke stukken.

Terwijl de aardappels koken haal je de boontjes af, snijd ze in 2 cm stukjes en kook of stoom ze al dente, 10-12 minuten. Giet af en laat even uitlekken. Doe ze in een ruime kom.

Als de boontjes koken snijd je de ui, de komkommer en dille.

En maak de dressing door olijfolie, citroensap, zout, peper, agavesiroop en zwarte peper goed te vermengen of je doet alles in een jampot met deksel en schud de pot flink.. Zet apart.

Als de aardappels klaar zijn doe je de nog warme blokjes op de bonen. Giet eerst de dressing erover en dan de ui, dille en komkommer. Meng alles voorzichtig met je handen.

Laat de salade zeker een paar uur afkoelen in de koelkast tot gebruik.

Geniet op een warme avond of als een heerlijk lunchgerecht.

Socca with shaved green asparagus (GF-SF-DF-V)

Every season there are some dishes coming back in my kitchen again and again.

Socca is one of them. It’s a traditional dish from Nice, made from chickpea flour and really easy to make. You can eat it as a side dish, a snack or a flat bread, you can even turn the socca into a pizza when you top it with some roasted tomatoes, onions and olives or with some mozzarella cheese.

Originally socca is made in a flat copper pan which is put in a boiling hot pizza oven. I don’t have this equipment, so I make it in my oven on the highest heat in a cast iron skillet. This works very well and it’s delicious.

                              

I made this socca with shaved green asparagus.

It’s also very good with very young artichokes. Just clean them and slice very thinly; keep them in some lemony water till you use them, otherwise they’ll turn brown.

Socca

125 g chickpea flour

350 ml water

a pinch of seasalt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

2-4 green asparagus

cast iron skillet, 23 cmØ

                                             

Sift the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the water bit by bit and stir together into a thin batter. Stir vigorously to stir out the lumps. Add salt and pepper and stir in the olive oil. Let it rest for half an hour or more.

Pre heat the oven on highest heat and oil the skillet lightly with some olive oil.

Shave the asparagus thinly on a mandoline.

Put the skillet in the hot oven for some minutes till it’s really hot and take it out with some oven-gloves (take care: hot, hot!).

Pour in half of the socca batter, sprinkle with the shaved asparagus and put it back into the oven. Bake the socca till it’s dry on top and golden brown, this will take about 10-13 minutes . It will bubble and brown on the edges. Good! Socca is a rough type, not a fine crepe. Cut it into pieces and maybe serve with some extra sea salt and pepper. Or with some roasted tomatoes on the side or a piece of fresh goat's cheese.

Close your eyes and imagine you’re in the Provence. The taste is great!!

  

Socca met geschaafde groene asperges

125 g kikkererwtenmeel

350 ml water

Zout en versgemalen peper

2 el olijfolie

2-4 groene asperges

Gietijzeren skillet/ koekenpan 23 cmØ

Zeef het meel in een kom en maak een kuiltje in het midden. Giet het water beetje bij beetje erbij en roer krachtig tot een dun beslag zonder klontjes. Voeg dan peper en zout naar smaak toe en roer de olijfolie erdoor.

Laat minimaal een half uur rusten.

Verwarm de oven voor op de hoogste stand.

Vet de skillet in met olijfolie en zet enkele minuten in de hete oven tot hij gloeiend heet is.

Schaaf ondertussen de asperges heel dun op een mandoline of groenteschaaf.

Haal de hete pan eruit (Met ovenwanten, want hij is zeer heet nu!!) en giet de helft van het beslag in de pan.

Besprenkel snel met de helft van de asperges en zet terug in de oven.

Bak tot de socca droog is en goudbruin. De socca mag lekker hard gebakken worden aan de randjes maar een beetje zacht van binnen blijven. Haal uit de oven en herhaal het proces met het overgebleven beslag.

Snijd de socca in stukken en bestrooi nog met wat peper en zout en evt. wat olijfolie. Eet zo lekker warm of serveer met een geroosterd tomaatje en wat geitenkaas.

Doe je ogen even dicht en proef de Provence!