No waste post: Japanese style pickled radishes - and eat the leaves too! Plus a beautiful Japanese Vegan meal

I picked some lovely radishes from the vegetable garden, did you know that you can eat the leaves too? They are full of nutrients, as well as delicious!

Wash the radishes well, then cut in halves (or quarters if big), keeping attached some of the centre leaves. Set the outer leaves aside to use later.

These are the radishes (with the tender centre leaves) ready to pickle.

Add some salt, I used Japanese unrefined salt because I had it, but ordinary kitchen salt is fine.

Put another bowl over the radishes and then a weight on top (a rock, or anything heavy that you may have in the kitchen). Leave for a day and night, move the radishes from time to time if you like, to get them pressed. They will put out lots of water and create a brine.

This is what they will look like the day after.

Put into a jar with their brine and keep in the fridge (they will last a couple of weeks... maybe more but I don't know, we eat them quite quickly!

And now for the remaining leaves: since I had the above raw I decided to cook the rest for a few minutes in boiling water. 

Then I drained them and when cool I dressed them with soy sauce (gluten free readers can use tamari) and lemon juice. The portion looks small, but they are a perfect addition to a Japanese meal...

 like this one!

Vegan Japanese lunch with produce from my veggie garden

Clockwise from top left: rice with vegetable furikake, nimono of radish leaves, silken tofu with chrysanthemum leaves, rice with spinach, gari (pickled ginger). In the centre pickled radishes. Radishes, ginger, spinach and chrysanthemum all came from my garden

Yes chrysanthemum leaves are also edible (I was given a variety that only seems to make leaves, I like to eat them young). and if you want to know how to grow ginger and make your own gari click here.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vitamin smoothie

So yummy: Kiwi, baby spinach leaves and frozen mixed berries, plus some coconut water.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Kale, spinach, banana, mango, and coconut water smoothie

Nothing beats a green green green smoothie! Kale, spinach, banana, frozen mango, and coconut water as a base. Yum!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Baby spinach, kiwi, coconut water smoothie

I am addicted to my new Nutribullet, made many smoothies so I'll post a few of my favourites in the next few days, starting with: 

Baby spinach, kiwi, coconut water

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Asparagus, spinach and onion weed soup

This soup is vegan and gluten free, and makes use of those onion weeds that grow everywhere in Auckland in spring. Forage the onion weeds from a safe and clean place and wash well. The bulbs are fat and delicious just like spring onions (plus they are free!) and you can also eat the stems, leaves and flowers. 

Chop the bulbs, stalks and leaves of a bunch of onion weed and one bunch of asparagus, sauté with a drop of olive oil until fragrant, then add 1 l of vegetable stock and one big potato, peeled and finely sliced. Simmer until the potato is mushy and then add one cup of baby spinach leaves. Blend with an immersion blender and bring back to the boil for one minute. Adjust with salt and pepper and serve, decorated with onion weed flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Brussels sprouts and pastina vegetable soup

One of the easiest way to cook these notorius vegetables is in a soup, a bit like a minestrone, so that all the flavors from the other vegetables, plus the starch of pasta, 'improve' the distinctive taste of Brussels sprouts.

Chop one onion, half a carrot and one celery stalk with leaves, sauté with a tbsp of olive oil and then add 1.5 l of vegetable stock. Simmer until the carrots are soft and then add the Brussel sprouts, a cube of frozen spinach and a handful of pastina (small pasta like stelline). Simmer until the pasta and Brussels sprouts are cooked, add a little more extra virgin olive oil and black pepper to taste. Easy and yum!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Konnyaku and vegetables with Japanese dressing

The other day I had a crazy craving for gomadofu, the 'tofu' made with sesame seeds. But I couldn't find it anywhere in Auckland! If anyone can help (or tell me how to make it at home!) please do! Meanwhile here is a fantastic recipe with Konnyaku

Spinach, banana, blueberry and apple smoothie

Yes we should all eat more raw fruit and vegetables! This smoothie is super easy, for 4 glasses use 2 bananas, two cups of baby spinach leaves, one cup of blueberries and 2 cups of natural apple juice (from Oratia).

Do you like fresh juices and smoothies?

 Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Super quick vegetable risotto

Quick Risotto di verdura

Ingredients

1 small onion

1 small carrot

1 celery stalk with leaves

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp chopped parsley

400 g carnaroli rice

1 glass white wine

1.5 vegetables stock

1 portion of frozen spinach

4 tbsp frozen peas

Chop the onion, carrot and celery, then sauté with olive oil. Add the parsley and rice, then a glass of white wine. Add the vegetable stock ladle by ladle, stirring constantly. Halfway through cooking add the spinach, and 5 minutes before finishing add the peas. Serve hot.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Two Vegan and Gluten Free recipes with onion weed: Yudofu, and Chickpea Fritters

I have been telling friends about onion weed these days, everybody seems surprised (and happy) that you can eat it, especially those who gave up growing spring onions because they seem to take so long for what you get. And onion weed is free and plentiful! I kept telling everyone to use it as a spring onion without realizing that most people here use spring onions just chopped in salad, and that'a about all! 

On the top left my nabe (pot) with simmering Yudofu, one of my favourite tofu meals for chilly evenings:

In a capable pot I put water with some dried kombu (about a large sheet broken into 3-4 pieces), and a few dried shitake mushrooms to simmer, and after 20 minutes I added some soft tofu cut into squares, salt (I have a nice Japanese unrefined salt for it) carrot sliced to look like flowers, and onion weed (bulbs, stalks and leaves cut into 'longish' pieces). I added the flower just before serving. To tell the true the tofu should be then taken out of the broth and eaten with a sauce and relishes, but as a family meal we eat the lot in bowl, broth and veggies too, except for the kombu seaweed, which I discard.

The other three photos are of chickpea flour fritters: I chopped the onion weed (the whole plant, but kept a few flowers for decoration) plus I added some finely chopped spinach, chickpea flour, salt, water and a drizzle of olive oil. When the batter was ready I remember that I have lots of pitted black olives to use, so I chopped up a few and added those too. I fried the lot and the fritters were incredibly tasty! I will make them again, in the next few days, they are incredibly easy and the kids loved them.

These meals are vegan and gluten free.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan Pizzoccheri

Pizzoccheri is a traditional pasta from Valtellina, in the North of Italy, made with a percentage of buckwheat flour. The taste is similar to the Japanese buckwheat noodles (soba).

The traditional recipe for pizzoccheri, born in the village of Teglio, is to boil them together with pieces of potatoes and green cabbage (put the potatoes in the biling water first, then the cabbage and the pizzoccheri (which take about 15 minutes to cook). Pick up everything with a slotted spoon and mix with casera cheese and butter melted with garlic. Very filling! A vegan could stop at the cheese and butter steps, adding a little tamari sauce instead, and the stock from the pizzoccheri can also be recycled in real Zen style as it is full of proteins. But I didn’t feel like going for Asian flavours.

So I made mine with onion, potatoes, spinach and walnuts.

Ingredients

500 g pizzoccheri

1 small white onion

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 big boiled potato, peeled

1 bunch spinach leaves, washed

1 handful freshly shelled walnut kernels

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pizzoccheri in plenty of salted boiling water according to packet instructions. Finely chop a white onion and sauté with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add the boiled potato, cubed, and after a few minutes the spinach leaves and the walnut kernels. Add a couple of ladles of the water from the pizzoccheri and cook until the potato pieces start to mush. Add salt and pepper to taste. By this time your pizzoccheri should also be ready, drain them (keep the water if you like for later use as a stock), and place in the pot with the potatoes. Add two more tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, stir and serve.

Serve 4 as a complete meal, very filling!!!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©