Eating Red beetroot raw and cooked

I love making fresh juice with red beetroots, it tastes great and the colour always cheers me up. Then the other day my friend Alan from Dream of Italy gave me an Italian beetroot from his garden, I think that it must be this one. Well, when I cut it I though that it looked so pretty that I didn't want to juice it! So I just cooked it al dente, and then cooled it under cold water and added extra virgin olive oil, lemon and salt. Unfortunately the cooking took the colour away, but it still looked really pretty (scroll down for the photo). Next time I'll get another beet from Alan I'll try it raw, cut into very thin slices.

And then I used a 'normal' red beetroot for my juice!
1 large red beetroot, 6 large carrots, 4 stalks of celery, half a cucumber and 6 pears.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan mayonnaise, 4 ingredients and 2 minutes

Well, after making pavlova, meringues and pasta with aquafaba (brine from a can of chickpeas) I am convinced that it really works like eggs, so why not try mayonnaise too? This is my own recipe, it tastes great and it is easy to make!

2 tbsp aquafaba (brine from a can of chickpeas)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 pinch salt

about half a cup vegetable oil

Place the first three ingredients in a tall thin container or glass and start blending with an immersion blender, add the oil slowly and see your mayonnaise form! It takes two minutes for half a cup of fresh lemon mayo!

For variation: add a little mustard or wasabi or capers, or garlic (my favourite!) or anything. Store in the fridge.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Plum jam with brown sugar

In New Zealand it is still plum season in the Oratia orchards! But is it so hot that plums don't last long after picking, so I had about 1 kg that was far too ripe and soft for eating. I washed and then put the plums in a pot with a little water and boiled them, then I strain them to discard stones and leftover skin and tasted the paste. I usually add 50-60% of sugar (I don't like the 1kg fruit for 1kg sugar ratio they do in NZ), but this paste was already sweet! So I added just 2 tbsp of brown sugar and a pinch of citric acid (as a preservative) and, fearing that the jam wouldn't set, 1/3 tsp of agar agar. If I were to keep this jam longer maybe I would have added more sugar, but I only made 5 small jars and two are gone already!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©