Every now and then the overnight tomatoes make their appearance on various food blogs I follow. They have many fancy names like night blushed tomatoes or moon dried tomatoes, but I think the flavour speaks for itself. When I talked with my local vegetable shopkeeper about the many possibilities to enjoy the little heirloom tomatoes I remembered the overnight method and promised to share it with him.
It’s super easy and the result is irresistible. While you heat your oven up to the maximum (250°C), you cut the tomatoes in halves, put them on a baking tray and season them to your liking.
I love to sprinkle them with salt, brown sugar (or maple syrup) and a bit of ground caraway. That’s it.
The moment you put the tomatoes in the oven you turn off the heat and go to bed.
When you open the oven the next morning, you’ll find the most sweet, tasty, semi-dried, wonderful, delicious tomatoes you hardly can contain yourself from eating them right from the tray.
smoothie and raw food combination tips!
Smoothies make a great breakfast (and if you like, you can continue drinking them all day). They replenish your cells with water, minerals and natural sugars! Here a few tips, to make your smoothie experience very enjoyable!!
1. Melon should always be the first meal of the day (never in between other meals) and in a smoothie also best just by itself. The reason why it doesn’t mix well, is, that is has a very high water content, and digests very fast. So if you ate something more dense before, it may cause bloating or even stomach cramps.
2. Smoothies (for the exact same reason) make a great first meal (and also second and third…) but don’t go well after a denser meal. As a general rule of thumb, try to eat foods that are digest faster (high water content = fresh fruit and vegetables, smoothies) first and earlier in the day, and foods that digest slower (less water content = cooked or baked foods) later, or in the evening.
3. Good raw food combinations (apply also for smoothies!):
- Greens go with everything
- Melon goes by itself
- Very sweet fruits (bananas, dates, figs, persimmon,..) go well together and with greens
- Semi sour fruits (all fruits with stones and berries, some apples) go well together and with greens and some sour fruits
- Sour fruits (citrus fruits and tomatoes, pineapple, some apples) go well together and with greens, and with fats (avocados, nuts, flaxseed, coconut) and with some semi sour fruits
- Fats don’t mix well within their own group, but go with sour fruits and greens
These combination guidelines shouldn’t limit you in any way! In fact many many raw food and smoothie recipes break these rules (for example combining fat with sweet fruits, or fat with other fat) and create absolutely delicious treats. Just if you aim to include a lot of raw fruits and veggies in your diet, paying attention to the combinations is gonna safe you a lot of bloating and stomach pains, I promise!
Some of my recent favourite smoothie are:
Bananas + swiss chard leaves + basil + ice
Bananas + dates + vanilla + lupine flour + ice
Strawberries + peaches + ice
I hope this was a helpful introduction to smoothie and raw food combinations!
Much love, Vik (guest blogger today!)
herbs and fruit popsicles
Herbs and fruit popsicles
1 ripe pear
1 ripe banana
1 freshly squeezed orange
1 freshly squeezed lemon
100ml coconut water (or just water)
a few sprigs of lemon balm
3-4 mint leaves
a pinch of dried lemon myrtle
Blend. Fill into the moulds. Freeze. Enjoy!
raw pad thai
| Raw Pad Thai |
2 baby cucumbers
1 zucchino
1 big red bell pepper
1 onion (chopped for garnish)
a handful of fresh sprouts (for garnish)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped, plus a few sprigs for garnish)
1 lime
Using a mandoline or a knife slice the cucumbers, the zucchino and the bell pepper in very thin, noodle sized stripes. Mix to combine.
Dressing
3 tablespoons raw almond cream
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon tamari
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cilantro
1/4 small jalapeno , chopped
In a blender combine all the ingredients for a dressing, blending until smooth. Pour over the vegetable mixture and toss to coat. Top with the garnish and squeeze fresh lime juice over the pad thai. Enjoy!
The original recipe with zucchini and carrots you find in The Sweet Life.
a week of vegan specials
| fresh coconut-agave-strawberry smoothie |
If you, like me, have dipped your foot in vegan waters already, you will know that this week you won’t have to expect any hay, straw and treetasting foods. Especially in summer I crave nothing more than light crunchy vegetables and fruit in all variations, and my daughter Vik, a true vegan and expert cook, has inspired many groundbreaking recipes. Moreover, she knows how to combine food the most effective way, what works best in the morning and evening and especially after a workout.
This week you are in for a treat, and hopefully discover that cooking completely plant based is never getting boring. You can look forward to multiple sauces and dressings, that go with pretty much anything, ice creams, warm and cold soups, even some raw vegan dishes, and some delicious foods that we yet have to name. And for your sweet tooth: I don’t exaggerate, when I say that our chocolated, sea salt sprinkled dates are better than any truffle.
a photo safari along our running track n°2
Pink Mojito Granita
Mojitos are always irresistible; this one is non- alcoholic and frozen, which makes it the best cool down drink after a run through the countryside.
The original recipe will give you a granita that looks like a real mojito. If you want it pink like in the picture above, just before serving throw it into your blender with a couple of spoons of a berry sorbet.
Mojito Granita
(original recipe by David Lebovitz)
2 1/2 cups (625ml) water
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 limes
1 cup (40g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup (125ml) freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 6 limes)
3 tablespoons (45ml) white rum (leave out the rum for the non-alcoholic version)
Mix water, sugar and the grated zest of 2 limes in a saucepan. Cook the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Reserve 5 of the mint leaves, add the remaining mint to the saucepan and remove from the heat. Let cool to room temperature.
Once cool strain the mixture in the container you plan to freeze the granita, pressing firmly on the leaves to extract the flavourful liquid. Discard the mint leaves. Stir in the lime juice and, optionally, the rum, then finely chop the reserved mint leaves and add them as well.
How to freeze a granita you find in my recipe for granita de caffé.
Grandma’s Classics: Black Current & Black Cherry Jam
The fruit/ sugar ratio is always the same: fruit to sugar, 2:1. The rest is stirring. First hot, while simmering, then cold to enjoy the reliable process of thickening.
Today she combined
250g black currants
250g black and sweet cherries, pitted
250g sugar.
Click here for a more detailed description of the cooking process.
Sauce Bois Boudran
I really don’t know why it took me so long to share this amazing recipe with you. It’s a sauce of Michel Roux, who in the seventies had opened several famous restaurants in London like Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn. He created this sauce specifically for Mme Cécile de Rothschild.
Sauce Bois Boudran 1) goes with nearly everything (fish, meat, potatoes, vegetables, bread…) and 2) tolerates a few adaptions to your resources and preferences without losing its unique flavour.
Here’s the original recipe:
150ml peanut oil
50ml white wine vinegar
85g tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (vegan version without this ingredient)
a dash of Tabasco sauce
100g shallots, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chervil, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chives, finely chopped
20g tarragon
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Mix everything in a bowl. It lasts up to 3 days in the fridge.
Instead of chervil and tarragon we prefer to use whatever herbs are in season in our garden. We also add green or red bell pepper for more substance.
Rose Jam
Inspiration and recipe by CHLOE’ SS 2013 and Marmellata di rose. The fact that the pictures of the Chloe dress and the marmellata di rose were so beautiful, the recipe so simple and my own roses in full bloom made me wish to loose not a second to try it (picturing the beautiful images my camera would take in front of my inner eye). First thing in the morning I went out to pick a bowl full of the petals of my mozart rose.
Then I mixed 200g rose petals with the juice of half a lemon and 200g sugar for a minute with my hands.
In the meantime I heated the water with the other 300g sugar and poured in the mixture of roses. After I brought it to a boil, I reduced the heat and let the mixture simmer for another 40 minutes.
Then I took the jam from the heat and stirred it gently with a wooden spoon for 10 minutes as I had learned from my grandma. So you can always be sure that the jam thickens without using gelatine or additional pectine.
I recommend to try it with ciabatta and fresh goat cheese, as suggested in the original recipe.