Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, Baked zucchini, Lemon basmati and lentils, Instant hummus, Almond dukka

Brrrrr it is getting cold! Time to prepare some filling, comforting and easy dinners :-).

Greg gave us a long pumpkin from his garden, I love it as you just need to slice it and peel it and you have a nice pumpkin medallion!

Roasted pumpkin medallions with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Slice, peel and place onto an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika, garlic and crushed cumin seeds. Roast until tender. Toast a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds the oven and sprinkle on the pumpkin medallions before serving.

In addition I had the last zucchini in the garden, not quite a marrow but quite big, so I sliced it and baked it too:

Baked zucchini

Wash and slice lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake. That all!

To serve I added some basmati and lentils

Lemon basmati and lentils

Wash and cook the basmati with a small pinch of salt, open a can of lentils, drain from the water and pour the lentils on top of the rice during the last five minutes of cooking. Turn off the heat, add two tbsp of lemon juice and stir.

And to top some instant hummus with almond dukka:

Instant hummus

Open a can of chickpeas, drain and keep half of its water. Blend the chickpeas, water, two peeled garlic cloves and the juice of half a lemon until smooth. Add salt to taste and a little olive oil.

Almond dukka

Toast half a cup of almond, a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp of cumin seeds. Add a little rock salt, a pinch of paprika or the spice of your choice. Grind and use to top the Hummus.

Well, that was easy, the kids loved it and got eaten in no time!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Cavolo nero soup with chickpeas and pasta

A low fat, high protein vegan dish

1 bunch of cavolo nero

1 shallot

1.5 l vegetable stock

1 can chickpeas

plus the same amount of water

1 cup of small pasta 

salt and pepper to taste

extra virgin olive oil to drizzle

Wash the cavolo nero and remove the white stalks. Slice the shallot. Put everything in a pot with the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the content of the can of chick peas, plus a can of water. Simmer for other 30 minutes then blend with an immersion blend, but not too finely, leave some of the chickpeas whole. Bring back to the boil, add the pasta and simmer until the pasta is al dente. Taste for salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil before serving. It is actually better the day after!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan meringues with chickpea brine (Aquafaba)

After making Aquafaba Vegan Pavlova I tried to make meringues. I changed the recipe only a little, and used less sugar (still experimenting though!). Here is the recipe:

The Famous Aquafaba meringue makes a good Vegan 'Pavlova'

"Vegan baker Goose Wohlt coined the term aquafaba ("bean liquid") to describe the liquid, which French chef Joël Roessel discovered could be used in recipes much like egg whites."

Source; Wikipedia

 To get aquafaba basically all you need to do is to drain a can of chickpeas, keep the liquid and then beat it. Don't do it by hand though, unless you have strong arms, it takes longer that egg whites. But wow it peaks! And white and fluffy too! I got quite emotional seeing it, like a wonderful chemistry experiment.

After beating for 3-5minutes

After 7-8 minutes

After adding sugar and cornflour

Taaa-daaa!

But what to make first?  I was tempted to make an Italian meringue, but didn't want to add hot syrup to my new discovery, in case the magic stopped! No, I decided, I'll do that next time and stick to something easy.

Ingredients

Base
1 Can of chickpeas (just the brine - i.e. water, which already has salt)
250 g icing sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp white vinegar
a few drops of vanilla essence

Topping
1 can coconut cream
1 tsp golden syrup
a few drops of vanilla essence
Green and gold kiwi fruit and/or strawberries and edible flowers

Beat the chickpea brine first, then when it is nice and peaky add the sugar, one tbsp at the time, and the cornflour. Add the vinegar and vanilla at the end and beat some more.

Not confident enough to try a single Pavlova I made two disks, plus some little ones to see how they baked. I had the oven on first very hot, and the at about 75°C fan for about three hours, actually more, it seemed to take forever! In the meantime I also whipped some coconut cream (Vegan Pavlova, remember?), I find that the Family Choice coconut cream has the thickest cream of all, in fact so thick that you don't need to refrigerate the can first, and can use the liquid a the bottom of the can to thin it down. I added a tsp of golden syrup (Maple syrup is good too) and a few drops of vanilla, and then set the cream aside in the fridge.

Coconut cream

 

I didn't end up assembling the 'Pavlova' until the day after, but the meringue was still good and the cream nice and stiff. I only put fruit in between the two layers, and reserved the cream only for the top. Possibly the disks were too large and they cracked a little, the smaller meringues looked great and made me plan for macaroons.  

The taste

It tastes as good as it looks! BTW, the primrose flowers are edible. I eat a lot of flowers too!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Kashmiri Masala chickpeas and potatoes made with a left ore juice from peperonata

Manu invited me to a 'Swap' on her blog, and my swapping partner is Billie from Scotland. We had to send each other an ingredient and then make a recipe with it. I sent Billie the Fresh As raspberry powder, and I look forward to see what she will do with it! She sent me some Kasmiri Masala, but because I got it late (I forgot to tell Billie my address, silly me, but fortunately she copied it from the parcel I sent her!). The best thing about a Masala is that you don't have to sizzle all the spices at the beginning and work out the doses, in fact a masala should be added at the very end, to enjoy the fragrances of the aromatic spices (and the Kashmiri Masala is definitely very aromatic!!). So even if I was running around like mad I managed to throw together something starting with the leftover juice of a peperonata (stewed capsicums with celery, carrot, and garlic).

I had all that wonderful bell pepper's stock left from the night before (we ate all the capsicums and veggies), so I just peeled and cut 5 large potatoes, added the content of one can of chickpeas, and some cherry tomatoes from the garden (make an incision with a knife so that they don't 'explode' during cooking). I added a little salt and then simmered everything until the potatoes were soft. I adjusted for salt and added one tsp of Kashmiri Masala, put the lid on for 2 more minutes on low. The only problem is that I don't have a last photo! We ate too quickly before remembering to take one! :-) But I hope that you will like the recipe, and it is super simple! Serve with basmati rice and roti.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

eggplant and chickpea tajine with cous cous

No fuss eggplant and chickpea tajine

Slice 2 eggplants and sweat them with salt for 1 hour. Heat a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive in the tajine pan, and sizzle 2 cloves of garlic (cut into two lengthwise), a few coriander seeds, a few cumin seeds, chili flakes and rock salt. When the spices start to jump around the pan add a roughly chopped onion and when the onion is translucent (not brown) add the eggplant sliced (rinsed). Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring, and then add the content of a can of chickpeas (with their liquid) and a handful of coriander leaves (or parsley, if you don't have/like coriander). 

Now cover with the Tajine top and simmer on the lowest setting for a hour or so. At the end the eggplant will be a mush, and the chickpeas incredibly tasty. Add some smoked paprika if you like it hotter. Serve on couscous dressed with extra virgin olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Beans and flowers

This salad is really simple: I just chopped half red onion and marinated it for 30 minutes in white balsamic condiment of Modena (FYI, white balsamic vinegar of Modena doesn't exist, it can only be called 'condiment') and then I added one can of Italian butter beans and one can of Italian chickpeas (obviously drained and rinsed...), salt, extra virgin olive oil, and flowers from my garden: chive flowers, borage flowers and calendula petals. Easy but yummy!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Spicy Chickpea Snack

I am used to Italian cats eating almost anything, but New Zealand cats seem to be fussier, so I was very surprised when Marameo jumped on the bench to grab the cooked chickpeas that I was rinsing. I had to give her some, she could not wait, and ate them all. I gave them seconds and then she stopped bothering me. Strange cat! 

With my remaining chickpeas, I wanted to make a spicy snack: this one from the blog of Araba Felice.

Smoked Paprika Chickpea Snack

The original recipe calls for:

400 g can of chickpeas,

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp sweet paprika, or your favourite spice (in my variation I used smoked paprika instead)

1 tsp salt, about

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

I also added a few cumin seeds.

Rinse and pat dry the chickpeas, and mix with the other dried ingredients until the chickpeas are nicely coated. At this point I left the chickpeas in the bowl for about 30 minutes so that the flour and spices could really get 'caked' around each chickpea.

Pour the olive oil on a baking tray (no baking paper), add the chickpeas and roll them around so that they are not one on top of the other. Bake at 200°C, rolling them on the tray again from time to time to make sure that they get crispy all over. The original recipe says 30 minutes, but my canned chickpeas were quite small, I though, so 20 minutes were sufficient. Serve as a snack, warm or even cold (I think that they will go well with beer so I will make them again when my husband is back!)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Italian-NZ Vegan Casserole

Italian tomatoes and NZ Vegemite... Is it fusion? 

Well, the pot is French too... :-)! I chopped some vegetables (agria potatoes,

carrot, onion, celery -with leaves-) added one fresh yellow chili and some Italian parsley, then sauteed everything with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Then I added one can of Italian cherry tomatoes, one can of Italian chick peas, some water from rinsing both cans, and a little (very little) Vegemite. Simmer simmer simmer, until the potatoes start to mush and the carrots are soft. Then add salt to taste, and serve.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Pilaf rice with Chickpeas

I am still very ‘timid’ when it comes to Indian spices: I am always scared to burn them, or to use too much, or too little. In particular I am so used to have cloves and cinnamon in sweet dishes that I never know how much to use in savoury dishes.

For this pilaf I just filled up a tbsp of spices, as you can see there are plenty of cumin seeds, but just a little cinnamon and a few cloves, plus a few cardamom pods), still, just the right amount for me to flavour a pilaf for four.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp mixed whole spices (cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 generous pinch of salt

300 g basmati rice

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 Wash the rice and soak for 30 minutes.

2 Heat 1 tbsp of oil, sizzle the whole spices and garlic.

3 Add turmeric and salt.

4 Add rice, chickpeas and water (just enough water to cook the rice by absorption)

5 Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

A Super Easy Vegan Pasta (with Florence fennel and chickpeas)

Rushed for time these days, I am at home more, but working, so I can let a pot simmer, but don't have much time to look after it... or to shop, or to plan a menu. And at the end of the day I want a complete meal all in one plate!

This is so easy, and filling...

1 large Florence fennel

2 tbsp vegetable margarine

1 can of chickpeas

salt and pepper to taste

500 g pasta (any type)

salt for the water

serves 4

Wash and slice the fennel into big chunks. Melt the margarine in a large frying pan (which you can cover with a lid). Add the fennel and then simmer, very slowly, for about one hour, adding a little water from time to time. I use quite a bit of margarine for this, about 2 tbsp.

When the fennel is soft add the chickpeas. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. At this point every time I add a bit of water to the fennel I use the salted water from the pasta, which is full of starch and makes a nice sauce, and it is salted. At the end you may still want to adjust the sauce for salt, then drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Add freshly grated black pepper to finish.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©