Focaccia with black olives, rosemary and garlic – Focaccia met zwarte olijven, rozemarijn en knoflook (GF-SF-V-DF)

Just as I decide I don’t need any other bread recipe, I am in the mood for some nice Italian flat bread, because I want to sweep up the nice juices from a aubergine and bell pepper casserole. I am in love of Mediterranean cuisine!

It’s because we have these super warm summery days this may. Walking barefoot in the kitchen, doors open to the terrace, all my neighbours heating up their BBQ’s, my plants growing, the strawberries getting sweeter and sweeter. What a great time, late spring!

This focaccia is a no-knead bread, best eaten the same day, but the next day eaten was not bad at all, for a gluten free bread. I ate it with one of my best friends, no celiac herself and she loved it!!

Ok then, let’s cook.

Ingredients: 

110 g buckwheat flour

100 g brown rice flour

75 g almond flour

60 g tapioca starch

½ tsp sea salt

1 sachet of organic dry yeast, 9 grams

250 ml warm water

2 tbsp good olive oil

1 tsp apple vinegar

20 black olives, in small bits

2 tbsp fresh rosemary, cut fine

1-2 cloves of garlic, in thin slices

1 tsp Maldon or other salt flakes

Mix the flours and the sea salt with the sachet of dry yeast. Stir in the warm water, olive oil and apple vinegar. Stir vigorously with a spoon. Add pieces of olives and the rosemary and stir them in too. The dough is ready.

On a baking tray, put a piece of baking paper and scoop the dough in the middle.

Wet your hands and flatten the dough into the desired form, about 1cm thick. Slice the garlic. Divide  the slices over the top of the bread.

Cover with cling film and let it rise on a warm spot, about 1 hour or longer till it has risen well. You’ll see!

Pre heat the oven on 200 °C.

Remove the cling film.  Sprinkle with some salt flakes and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Bake the focaccia in the middle of the hot oven till golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Let it cool and enjoy with some juicy veggie dish.

I also made a very nice variation with black olives, dried oregano and sundried tomatoes, also very yummy.

What is your favourite flavour?

Ingrediënten:

110 g boekweitmeel

100 g bruine rijstmeel

75 g amandelmeel

60 g tapioca meel

½ tl zeezout

1 zakje droge gist, 9 gram

250 ml warm water

2 el goede olijfolie

1 tl appelazijn

20 zwarte olijven, in stukjes

2 el gehakte rozemarijn

2 knoflooktenen, in dunne schijfjes

1 tl Maldon of andere zoutflakes

Meng de eerste 6 ingrediënten in een kom en voeg water, olijfolie en azijn toe. Roer goed door elkaar met een lepel. Voeg dan olijfstukjes en rozemarijn toe en roer nogmaals goed door elkaar.

Bekleed een bakplaat met een vel bakpapier en stort het deeg hierop in het midden. Maak je handen nat en druk de focaccia in de gewenste vorm, ongeveer 1 cm dik. Snijd de teentjes knoflook. Leg ze op het brood.

Pak de bakplaat in met huishoudfolie en laat het brood minimaal 1 uur op een warme plek rijzen. Je ziet het vanzelf!

Verwarm dan de oven voor op 200°C.

Verwijder de folie en bestrooi met zoutflakes en besprenkel met flink wat lekkere olijfolie.

Bak de focaccia in het midden van de hete oven tot goudbruin, ongeveer 25-30 minuten. Laat afkoelen en eet met een sappig groentegerecht.

Een andere variatie die ik maakte was met olijven, gedroogde oregano en stukjes zongedroogde tomaat op olie. Ook erg lekker!

Wat is jou favoriete smaak?

Roasted cauliflower salad with millet and spring flowers dressed in a simple salsa verde (GF-DF-SF-V)

As promised here is the I-love-millet-salad I showed yesterday.

Now I have a small plot in the community garden in my neighbourhood, I can pick edible flowers every day. Pick them and eat them or just look at them and enjoy the multitude of colours and forms. Johan, the gardener, knows everything about flora: plants, flowers and vegetables. He is such a dear man, always interested, always helpful, always cheerful. Must be the green job he does for over 25 years ;-)

He loves the garden and his veggies, but he doesn’t like cooking at all, can you imagine? When he gave me some chard-babies he told me he never ate them himself. So I promised him to cook them for him once they are ready. I like to give something back to him.

Ok. Before we go into the kitchen I want to share with you this site. Check it out. I met Renate this weekend on the Zaaimarkt (Sow and Grow market) in Rotterdam, where she sold her hand-made gluten free Goodies with a sharp twist. They were so good, incredible!!

The millet salad recipe:

WE’ll need:

1 cauliflower, rinsed and in small florets

Some good olive oil

Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven on 200 °C and prepare a baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

Mix the ingredients and bake in the oven till golden brown and almost tender, about 20-30 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the millet:

Cook ½ cup of rinsed millet in 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt, softly with the lid on till all water is evaporated. This will take 10-12 minutes. Take of the heat and let it rest with the lid on; this will help the millet steam a little further. Make the millet loose with a fork.

Set aside.

Make the salsa verde:

I had a big bunch of freshly picked cilantro and half the amount of flat parsley; cut it roughly and put it in a small processor. Add a small clove of garlic, cut roughly too, some salt and freshly ground pepper, the juice of half a lemon and about the same amount of good olive oil. Blend this into a smooth or a bit chunky sauce. Taste and add seasoning to your liking. Set aside.

Composing the salad:

In a big salad bowl mix together the millet and cauliflower and mix in salsa verde, as much as you like, from 2 to 6 tablespoons. Carefully add and mix in edible flowers and petals. I used borage flowers, tiny thyme flowers, calendula petals and the lila flower petals of chives. I added some toasted chopped walnuts too, for a bit of crunch.

This salad is very versatile, you could add some olives, spring onions, roasted bell peppers, you name it, check your fridge! Enjoy!


Geroosterde bloemkool salade met gierst en lentebloemen met een simpele salsa verde

Dit recept is simpel te maken, maar bestaat uit 3 verschillende onderdelen. We beginnen met het roosteren van de bloemkool:

Verwarm de oven voor op 200°C en leg een stuk bakpapier op een bakplaat.
Was en verdeel de bloemkool in kleine roosjes en besprenkel met wat olijfolie en peper en zout.
Bak in de oven tot bijna gaar en mooi goudbruin, dit duurt ongeveer 20-30 minuten.

Ondertussen koken we de gierst. 
1/2 cup gierst wassen en met 1 cup water opzetten en met een deksel erop zachtjes gaar koken. Ongeveer 10-12 minuten. Zet het vuur uit en laat gewoon staan, de gierst stoomt nog een beetje door. Voor het gebruik met een vork losroeren.

Voor de salsa verde heb ik een flinke bos koriander geplukt en de helft van deze hoeveelheid peterselie. Was beide blaadjes en stengels, snijd grof en stop ze in een kleine foodprocessor. Voeg een klein teentje, grofgehakte knoflook toe, wat zout en versgemalen peper, het sap van een halve citroen en dezelfde hoeveelheid goede olijfolie. Maal tot een enigszins grove maar mooie saus.

De salade samenstellen:

Meng gierst en bloemkool in een grote kom en voeg 2 tot 6 eetlepels salsa verde toe, zoveel als je lekker vindt.
voeg dan eetbare bloemen en bloemblaadjes toe, ik gebruikte komkommerkruidbloempjes, thijmbloemetjes, blaadjes van bieslookbloem en goudsbloem. Schep voorzichtig door elkaar.
Ook mengde ik nog wat geroosterde en gehakte walnoot door de salade.

Maar je kunt van alles toevoegen aan deze salade: olijven, lente ui en geroosterde paprika's, wat je nog in je koeling hebt!!
Geniet ervan!

I love millet – salad (GF-DF-SF-V)

I was planning to give you a thorough description of my thoughts about millet and why I love it so much instead of quinoa, but hey, what was I thinking?

Doing the same as so many foodies, nutritionists and health-seekers? Singling out 1 particular food item and declaring it a superfood, without which you cannot be sane/healthy? Seeking out the best fitting scientific proof for my statements and leaving out the ill-fitting ones? Going with the vibe, created by the food industry?

No! I just love to eat millet; it’s a gluten-free grain which corresponds very well with my intestines, which quinoa does not. It makes my tummy ache and I dislike the taste, especially the taste of the flour. Besides, I love to eat more locally grown, read very local to European, products, so, literally quinoa is very far away from me.

Ok. One thing I believe is that I do not need a grain which is so rich in protein etc., because I don’t live on high altitude and I am not a poor farmer, labouring very hard on the fields every day, needing a (it used to be) cheap protein to live on.

Back to millet then.

I like the versatility of the grain; It’s super-easy to cook, you can make sweet and savoury dishes with it and the mild taste goes very well with all kinds of different flavours.

How to use it:

*Just cook it like rice; 1 cup of millet and 2 cups of water, bring to the boil, with or without a pinch of salt. Lid on, softly, about 20 minutes. Make it loose with a fork. Let it cool for use in salads or just eat as side dish of rice.

* When you want a more creamy millet, add ½ cup more water and maybe a cup of vegetables like carrots or cauliflower. When it’s cooked, mash it and you’ll have a wonderful creamy vegetable millet mash. Or use Sarah’s super recipe for creamy millet mash.

* For a bit more nutty flavour, first toast the millet in a cast-iron skillet for a few minutes till you smell it, stirring continuously. Then cook it like described above.

* grind the millet and use the flour in whatever you’re baking. Make a mixture with some other gluten-free flours like buckwheat or rice flour. Here is a Pinterest link to loads of lovely millet cookies!

My next post will be the recipe of the yummy millet salad with roasted cauliflower I made yesterday!