Roasted sunchokes and celeriac soup with kale and ginger - Geroosterde aardpeer-selderijknol soep met boerenkool en gember (GF-SF-V-DF)

A really grounding and warming winter vegetable soup!

Winter is finally coming our way, which I regret deeply, but what can you do?

 The farmers need a good frost to loosen the soil, which now is very wet; nature is already awakening slowly, birds start singing their mating songs, underground bulbs our sprouting.  

It’s not easy to hibernate when it’s not a real winter, so, o.k. let’s say  1 week, I can handle that, but then I want sunshine too;-)

To prevent a cold make soup and eat it whenever you feel cold;  instead of a glass of juice eat this juicy warm smooth(ie) soup!!

Roasted sunchokes and celeriac soup with kale and ginger (6 bowls)

400g peeled and cubed celeriac

300 g peeled and cubed sunchokes/ Jerusalem artichokes

1 onion, chopped roughly

3 cloves of garlic, whole

Pepper and salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dried thyme leaves

2 l vegetable stock

300g washed and cleaned kale (rip off the hard middle rib)

1 tbsp cumin seed

Juice of ½ lime

1 tbsp freshly fine cut/grated ginger

Pre heat the oven on 200 °C.

Put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray.

1. Prepare your veggies and put the cubes (2cm) of the sun chokes and celeriac on the baking tray. Add onion, garlic, thyme, pepper and salt  and the olive oil. Mix with your hands and put the tray in the oven for about 30 minutes till the veggies are tender. Halfway, stir the vegetables.

2. Heat the vegetable stock in a big soup pot and keep it warm till the vegetables are done.

3. Wash and clean the kale and put in a colander.

4. Roast the cumin seeds in a heavy bottom frying pan and grind them after cooling down.

5. Add the roasted veggies to the stock together with the kale and bring to the boil, let it simmer, with the lid on for 15 minutes more.

6. Grate or cut the ginger very fine.

7. Add ginger, cumin and lime juice to the soup and blend the soup to a smooth consistency. Mine has still a little bite from the kale. Taste and add lime to your taste, maybe a little pepper.

8. You’re done, enjoy this lovely grounding soup in this chilly time!!

Hazelnut polenta with roasted pumpkin- hazelnoot polenta met geroosterde pompoen(GF-V-SF)

Yesterday I made this polenta dish which is so great with the use of hazelnut meal. I came upon the recipe in a Dutch magazine about organic food: Smaakmakend.

The hazelnut meal gives the polenta a nuttiness and a bite which goes very well with the roasted pumpkin, the white beans and  the goat’s cheese.

Comfort food as it should be, soft, cheesy and hearty. My son even loved it, although he is not a big polenta eater. We liked it so much that I almost forgot to take a picture; with a little left-over I could manage these ones ;-)

Hazelnut polenta with roasted pumpkin (2 pers)

70 g polenta

70 g hazelnut meal

500 ml water

1 tbsp Herbes de Provence

50 g Parmesan

400 g pumpkin, cleaned and in cubes

2 cloves of garlic, in thin slices

1 onion, chopped in half moons

10 black olives, de-pitted and chopped roughly

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, cut fine

2 tbsp olive oil

1 can of big white beans, drained

100-150 g soft goat’s cheese

fresh parsley

Pre-heat the oven on 200 °C. Prepare a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.

Put a big pan on the fire with 500 ml of water and bring to the boil. Mix polenta and hazelnut meal well. When the water is boiling pour in the mixed polenta/hazelnut while you keep on stirring! So no lumps will form. keep on stirring and let the polenta cook conform the description on the package. This can range from 5 -30 minutes, so have a good look what type of polenta you’re using.

In the meantime prepare the vegetables and mix pumpkin, onion, garlic, olives and rosemary with the olive oil, salt and pepper and put in the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes, stir half way, till golden brown and cooked. Set aside for a minute till the polenta is baking.

When your polenta is done cooking, mix in grated Parmesan and  pour on a flat oven-proof plate or casserole and, after removing the baking tray with pumpkin, adjust the oven to grilling  and grill the polenta for 3-5 minutes.

Mix pumpkin with the white beans  and gently scoop on top of the polenta and sprinkle goats’ cheese on top and put under the grill for another 5 minutes.

You’re done. Sprinkle some parsley on top and serve with a simple green salad and enjoy this tasty comfort dish.

Buckwheat knäckebrot with carrot chutney (GF-SF-V-DF)

Making bread, glutenfree bread that is, is always a challenge.

This winter I have a plan to start a sourdough experiment and try creating a tasty sourdough bread, gluten free. It’s in my mind.

That is how it works, it all starts in my mind. An idea has to ripen there first before I start experimenting. 

So for the time being I stick to my every day, delicious bread, which is a version of this great bread.

But today I was craving something different, something crunchy to go with the carrot chutney I made yesterday.

And so I made this knäckebrot or cracker or crispy flat bread, whatever name you want to give it. It’s tasty, easy, quick to make and above all: naturally glutenfree and consisting only of seeds!

What you’ll  need for 1 baking tray or about 12 pieces:

110 g pumpkin and sunflower seeds

35 g flax seeds, roughly ground

90 g sesame seeds

130 g buckwheat grouts, ground into flour

2 tbsp olive oil

200cl boiling water

½ tsp sea salt

First pre-heat the oven on 160°C. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray and set aside.

Stir everything well in a big bowl, first the dry ingredients, then olive oil, then boiling water.

Place on the baking tray, lined with a sheet of baking paper, and press out with your hands till almost covering the tray. The dough will be about ½ cm thick.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 55 min, till golden brown and crisp.

Let it cool and break or cut into desired shape.

Eat for example with some jam in the morning or with some of this full-coloured and spiced carrot chutney.

Carrot chutney 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion, chopped fine

1 clove of garlic, chopped fine

1 tbsp freshly cut ginger

½  tsp curcuma

1 dry red chilly

1 tomato, chopped fine

1 ½ cups carrots, small cubes

½ tsp sea salt

Squeeze of lemon juice

Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds.

When they start to splutter, add onion and fry them very softly for about 8 minutes till translucent. Then add ginger, garlic and curcuma and stir a few times.

Add red chilli , stir and add the tomatoes, fry them till they are soft.

Then it’s time for the carrots, salt and a few tablespoons of water.

Stir everything well and put a lid on top. Let it cook for 15 minutes, while stirring every 5. When they are cooked, turn of the gas, let it cool a bit, add some lemon juice to your taste and puree the chutney. Let it cool completely and enjoy!