Beautiful Brown Lentil Salad with Edible Flowers

 

Ingredients

500 g brown lentils
1 leaf bay
water and salt for boiling
extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
salt to taste
Cucumber, half
Rocket salad
Edible flowers 

A fresh lentil salad for summer! Soak the lentil overnight, then rinse well, add plenty of water, a bay leaf and a pinch of salt. Cook until 'al dente', or as soft as you like (but not mushy). Drain and briefly rinse under cold water. Place in a mixing bowl, add extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt to taste, and half a cucumber chopped into small pieces. Mix well. Line a serving plate or large shallow bowl with rocket salad leaves, spoon the lentils on top, then sprinkle with petals and small edible flowers (I used borage, verbena, dianthus, calendula and cornflowers).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Soft tofu and avocado sashimi served on homemade disposable bamboo dishers made with bamboo leaf sheath

There is no much to this dish really, just soft tofu with grated ginger and avocado (add wasabi and say sauce) plus some pickles, mostly bought except for the cucumber (recipe here).

The exciting thing for me here are the bamboo platters! I have some bamboo in the garden and it is shedding leaf sheaths. I love those fancy bamboo disposable dishes that you can buy in home stores, so I though of making my own. To clean the sheaths I just placed them in the dishwasher! Some rolled up a bit, but after a couple of days they were flat again! The dishwasher took away the dirt but some black stains remained, which makes me wonder how ecologically they treat the commercial plates, since they are so pale and spotless! But now I can make my own and doesn't matter if they are a little stained, they are natural and lovely to look at!

Photo and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini ©

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 ©

Celery, cucumber and coriander juice

Green, cleansing and refreshing! 

Celery stalks and leaves, cucumber, and a few sprigs and leaves of coriander (to taste, it can be really strong).

Happy detoxing!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Green Juice for kids

With summer here it is easy to make juices and to eat more raw food.

Green juices are the best, of course, above celery, cucumber and green apple, light and refreshing.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

A basket of veggies from the garden to make salad

Freshly picked: tomatoes, basil, cucumber, radish, lettuce and mizuna.

Make a salad. I just add olive oil, salt and lemon juice so the dressing is not that expensive.

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Detox! Celery, rhubarb, cucumber and apple juice

This juice tastes good and feels good! For four glasses I used seven stalks of celery (no leaves this time) half a telegraph cucumber, two stalks of rhubarb from the garden (yes, raw!) and then topped up to taste with natural apple juice (no sugar added). The apple juice is optional, of course, but I like it ;-).

For a change in my weekly bouquet from the garden I picked some parsley flowers. They look quite pretty actually, and there is no parsley smell around (I was a bit worried about that!).

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Super green juice, and it tastes lovely

Don't mind the basil in the background, it just happened to be there but it is not an ingredient (although, maybe next time I'll put some in, it should taste good!). 

This green juice is 100% vegetable, and yet it is not bitter, and it looks 'greener' that it tastes, if you understand what I mean (I am talking to those of you that scream and run away when they see green juices! hahaha!). Use 60% celery, 35% cucumber and 5% silver beet (or another green leafy vegetable). Celery and cucumber have a mild taste and lots of water so they are perfect for juicing with 'stronger' vegetables (like silver beet, kale or spinach). Try it, you will feel so good drinking it, and after! 

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Quinoa with flowers

Quinoa with flowers

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 small carrot

1 small cucumber

1 bunch onion weed (or spring onions)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

juice from half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

edible flowers

Cook one cup of quinoa with two cups of water for 20 minutes. In the meantime chop very finely a small carrot, a small cucumber and a bunch of onion weeds (or spring onions). Put the still hot quinoa into a serving bowl, add two tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, the chopped vegetables, the juice of half a lemon and salt and pepper to taste. This dish can be served warm or cold (yes, even if it has cucumber it can be served warm!). Just before serving add edible flowers: I used onion weed flowers, marigold, violets and bok choy flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Light and quick Japanese pickles

These were the side vegetable dishes of my Vegan Japanese dinner. For those of you who missed some 'episodes', the antipasto was raw avocado sashimi, and the main Fried tofu puffs simmered in vegetable broth. I wanted to have a cooked and warm side vegetable dish, and a raw one. Of course variety, colour and difference in texture were as important as taste. For the warm vegetables I used broccoli and cauliflowers with a very easy miso sauce (click here for the recipe) and some easy pickles.

Quick Japanese Cucumber and Radish Pickles

1 cucumber (possibly the short Japanese type)

A few young radishes, with leaves

Salt (best to use unrefined salt)

Wash the cucumber and cut the into slices, and then into quarters. Clean the radishes well and then cut them into halves or quarters (depending on size). Leave the young leaves whole but trim excess stalk.

Place the radishes, leaves and cucumber pieces into a bowl and add 1 tsp of salt. Cover with with something heavy to press the vegetables down (for example fit another bowl on top and then put a heavy rock on top). Leave for a few hours (preferably overnight). Before serving rinse off all the salted water, squeeze lightly and drain well. Arrange the pickles on a small side plate. 

I like to grow radishes in pots, easy to pick as I need them...

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

5 Vegan school lunch boxes, mostly raw, eat your colours and 5+ a Day

Carrot and cucumber sticks, grapes, blueberries and Cape gooseberries, Olive focaccia (homemade)

When I was living in Japan I learned to present lunch boxes including a spectrum of at least 5 colours.

I try to do this with the kids' lunch boxes now, and these days the 5 + a Day is also promoting 'colours', which is a good way to make food more interesting. Of course here in NZ lunch boxes are stuffed down the school bag and tossed around, so I could never make them like real Japanese super pretty bentos, (I also wouldn't have the time in the morning or late at night!).

My problem has been trying to have 5 different colours all year round, especially for the blue! Fresh blueberries are easy, but when out of season I have to use frozen, good for smoothies and cereals and desserts, but not school lunches.

Avocado sushi, cherry tomato, banana, kiwi gold, feijoa, mandarin, grapes,  gluten free lunch box

If I don't have blueberries I try to put a few red/black grapes, is a pity that they are all imported, but so are the bananas. For the rest I always try to be seasonable and use fruit and veggies that grow in NZ, the tomato here was from my garden. Sushi only happens if there is some left over after dinner the night before: I could never get up at 5am to make it fresh!

Baguette with green salad and hummus with Dukka, banana, mandarins, kiwi gold, dried prunes

When I don't use grapes I try to add something close to purple/blue, like dried plums. Hummus is also another favourite filling, if they could my kids would have a hummus rolls every day, and they don't seem to be fussed if it smells of garlic.

Baguette with rocket salad, hummus and broad beans, orange, grapes and Cape gooseberries

Hummus again, this was just over a week ago, believe it of not I had broad beans in the garden, not enough for a meal, but enough for a couple of rolls. The Cape gooseberries too are from my garden.

Dolmas (rice wrapped in vine leaves), carrot sticks, cucumber and cherry tomatoes, banana, grapes and mandarin, gluten free lunch box

In Winter the lunch boxes are a bit repetitive: mandarins, banana, carrot sticks and grapes seem to dominate, and I occasionally buy cherry tomatoes even if they are grown in hothouses (but so are most cucumbers, I guess). The dolmas came from a can, a very occasional purchase, but it does add variety and, yes, the kids love those too!

But strawberries and blueberries and plums and colorful capsicums are coming in and the next lunch boxes will be easier to make!!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Year of the Rabbit, Sushi Rabbits

Happy New Year

I would like to wish each and everyone of you a Happy New Year. Buon Anno!

To make the sushi rice you can follow the recipe here. I have a Sushi rabbit stamp from Japan, but you can also use a cookie cutter, if you have one (maybe among your Easter's stuff?).

I have to say that the sushi rabbits looked really nice and stylish even plain! I would have them plain for a more 'formal' dinner :-). But today we have little faces: I used borage flowers, cucumber, chives, takuan, (Japanese pickled daikon), Ume (Japanese pickled plum), and black sesame seeds.

And then it was my daughter's turn, and she also used some tiny basil leaves. We had so much fun making these, and I hope that you like the idea!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Summer Salad with Flowers

Summer salad from my garden: rocket, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, orange and yellow calendula petals and borage flowers. Dressed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and a drop of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©