Carrot and semolina "schnitzel" with pan-fried peas and green beans and salad

I haven't being posting for a while and let's be honest, the broken wrist hasn't helped ...

but yesterday I managed to cook these schnitzels single handedly (really - I only used my right hand!) and they turned out pretty well, so I have decided to post the recipe ...

First of all, cut about 4 carrots à la julienne (thin stripes) and cook them in some veggie milk for about 20 minutes ... I used almond milk, but any veggie mil would do

Then add some semolina and mix well, cooking for another couple of minutes, until it starts thickening ... I had spelt semolina at home, but next time I will try with corn semolina, basically polenta, as I like the taste ... add some salt and pepper and leave it until it cools down ...

If you see that the mixture is too soft, simply add some more semolina or flour and mix well ... then it's simply a question of preparing your "schnitzels", coating them in breadcrumbs (the mix is wet enough, you don't need any egg or egg-replacement, the breadcrumbs stick pretty well) and frying them in some veggie oil for about 4-5 minutes each side ... and they are ready!! it doesn't get any easier than that!!

As peas work well with carrots, I pan fried some frozen peas and added some frozen green beans - just a little olive oil and some soy sauce, nothing more ... I also served a tangy salad (dressed with lemon-olive oil and white balsamic vinegar) with some pan fried smoked tofu, just to add some proteins to the plate ...

It was definitely a winner, quick, easy (even with only one hand) and an alternative way to "pimp" the otherwise pretty plain carrots ... :)

Tofu chichpea celeriac and corn omelette

Now, that was a nice surprise ... as we had practically nothing left in the fridge, Ernst started looking in the cupboards and came out with this lovely recipe ...

You will need to cut some celeriac in very small cubes and pan fried them until almost cooked, then add some onion and garlic (both thinly chopped), salt, pepper and vegetable broth and let the whole thing cook a little longer, adding some plain tofu, also in small cubes, at the very end.

In the meantime, mix chickpea flour and corn flour in a bowl with water and spices (salt, pepper, some madras or curry powder) and, when the content of the pan seems pretty much ready, just pour your flours in the pan and make sure that they are mixed well with the rest. Reduce the heat, put a lid on and let the bottom cook until hard enough to flip - et voilà, your eggless omelette is ready and delicious to eat ... we served it with a tangy rocket salad, which complemented the celeriac very well - an easy, quick and very light alternative to your usual "frittata"!

Okara sesam burgers with oven chips

I adore okara, which is basically a by-product of tofu production, therefore quite difficult to find, unless you know a small producer, which is my case (thank you again, Tomislav ...)  - of course, you can replace the okara with plain tofu for this recipe ...

We happened to have a craving for a veggie burger and for okara at the same time, so the recipe was a no-brainer: we mixed the okara with chickpea flour (for stickiness), pan fried garlic and onion (for taste), a little water (for moisture) and some spices: salt, pepper, curcuma, cumin. We set the whole in the fridge for a couple of minutes, then prepared the burgers and rolled them in sesame seeds - which was very easy, as they were pretty moist - and finally pan fried them in some olive oil until nice and brown ...

In the mean time, we peeled and cut our potatoes, washed them to take some of the starch off, dried them and mixed them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs - rosemary, thyme, oregano ... everything works, really ... and we cooked them in the oven for about half an hour at 180-200°C ... I also put a whole garlic bulb (unpeeled but head chopped off and rubbed with some salt and olive oil and enveloped in some aluminium foil) with the potatoes, as a little experiment...

When the potatoes are ready, you can serve them with the burgers - we also had some wholemeal buns, on which we spread some of the garlicky cream (this happens to the garlic after half an hour in the oven - you can literally squeeze every clove on your bread ...), some home made baba ganoush and some rocket salad ... the result was out of this world, so much so, that we didn't even stop to take a picture!!

Savoy cabbage rolls with curry tomato sauce

This was a nice surprise from Ernst, that I found waiting for me when coming back from work ... :)

The rolls are quite easy to prepare: you will need nice and big savoy cabbage leaves (the "trunk" will need to be chopped off as it is too woody), that you will steam over boiling water until soft enough to roll and practically cooked ... when they are cold enough to handle, you will just need to fill them with your pre-prepared filling - in our case: Ernst pan fried garlic, onion, smoked tofu, normal tofu, a red pepper and some left over zucchini in olive oil, adding salt, pepper and a tad of garam masala and chilli - and just spike them with a toothpick to preventing them from falling apart. The rolls can then be quickly pan fried in some olive oil, just to give them some colour.

In a separate pan, you will prepare a quite thick tomato sauce as usual - we just added some curry powder to give it an oriental flavour ...

You combine the two things in a plate and you have a delicious, easy, quick and extremely healthy dinner!

Pizza-potatoes - not so naughty fast food!

Another easy-peasy recipe from our friend Attila Hildmann, as tasty as comfort food can be but pretty healthy ... a bit like jacked potatoes but with a twist!

You will need pretty big potatoes, which you will boil for about 30 minutes in salty water, until almost cooked. Once they are done, let them cool down until you can handle them, then cut them in two length-wise and scoop the flesh out with a spoon, until you have some nice potato shells, which you will soon fill with some goodies ... Keep the potato "flesh", as this is the base for your filling!

In the meantime, cut an onion, some garlic and a red pepper and pan-fried them with the spices of your choice until nice and soft. Add some finely chopped sundried tomatoes and olives and take the lot away from the heat. (I guess you can go crazy and add loads of other ingredients, too ... or make different pizza toppings!)

At this point, you will need to mash your potato "flesh" and make it tasty with salt, pepper, oregano, some chilli if you like it ... add your pan-fried goodies and mix well ... if too firm, just add a little bit of oil or some veggie milk (almond, soy  what you have) ...

Oil the shells from the outside and add a little bit of salt, then fill them with your topping and line them up on an oven tray ... a little bit of almond mousse and nutritional yeast on the top (to mimic the cheese that we are NOT going to use ...) and 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven (200°C will do, some grill at the end if you like the crust) ... they are great to be eaten on the sofa watching TV ... or with some green salad, if you are more civilised than us!!

Beetroot & tofu towers with avocado-garlic creme

This is a very easy but very classy starter, looks pretty and tastes delicious ...

You need a tasty tofu (like one with herbs or spices), you cut it in slices and then in rings (a simple metal ring will do ... Ernst needed a small one, that we don't have, and used the metal ring from a pepper mill ... clever!) and you pan-fried it for a couple of minutes each side, adding salt and pepper as you wish and caramelising it at the end with the sugar you prefer (agave syrup, for example) ...

Then mix the avocado with a nuts mousse (cashew or almond) and some garlic, lemon juice, chilli and salt, until you get a nice and tasty crème

Finally, you cut the (boiled - or even pre-packed) beetroot in rings and you simply make a tower with the different layers ... some basil or watercress leaves on the top and you are done - looks gourmet and tastes heavenly!

The original recipe from Attila Hildmann can be found under this link:
http://www.vegan-for-fit.de/files/pdf/red-tower-mit-avocado-cashew-creme-und-karamellisiertem-tofu.pdf

Is this for real? Salted peanut butter and chocolate truffles ...

... only 5 ingredients but holy moly, they are delicious ...

you will find the whole recipe under the following link of the minimalist baker:

http://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-salted-caramel-peanut-butter-truffles/

the ingredients are extremely common (dates, peanut butter, salt, chocolate, coconut oil) and the making is also very easy, although it may take a couple of hours - but only because there are some "resting pauses" in the freezer for the pralines to harden up a bit ...

our truffles were maybe not as pretty as the originals, but they were decadent, luscious and borderline illegal nevertheless ... definitely one to try if you have a couple of hours off, it only requires a mixer ...

Spelt & Hemp pizza with whatever-you-have-in-the-fridge topping

You heard it right - a pizza made of spelt and hemp flour ... the proportion is about 80% - 20%, you only need some liquid to bind the two (we used not alcoholic beer and a little olive oil), salt and cumin - no yeast is required, therefore, you can prepare it very quickly ... and of course, you will need someone who is keen and able to knead the dough to death ;) ...

once the dough is nice and elastic, you just need to stretch it on to a parchment-lined baking tray (as thin as you can, if you like your pizza "crunchy") and choose your toppings - we started by spreading a little marmite/veggimite-like salty yeast and some concentrated tomatoes on the whole pizza-base, then, on one side: sliced garlic, sliced onion, chopped green olives, fresh cherry tomatoes; on the other side: sliced onions, romanesco and brussel sprouts (we had quickly steamed the romanesco and brussel sprouts as they were frozen)... oregano, salt, pepper and a little olive oil and off in the pre-heated oven (250°C) for about 10 minutes ... once done, we added a little bit of fresh rucola on the side with the fresh tomatoes and we were done ... quick, easy and delicious!!

the hemp flour adds a nice taste to the crust and it's also full of proteins - without the illegal high, of course ... ;)