Cooking for one

I'm so sorry that I have been awfully quiet here on the blog, but I've had a lot on my plate. And that's only figuratively speaking, as I wanted to share some of my underwhelming recent dishes with you. Okay, they are not all bad, just what I've been wanting to eat, but perhaps not so blog worthy.

One of the biggest challenges after my move has been cooking for only one person. My partner will join me in a few weeks, and until then I'm just cooking for myself. I had to change the food amounts quite immensely, as I get a good lunch at work as well, so don't have to cook for two + two lunches for the next day.

Unfortunately this has made me fairly lazy and I'm mainly cooking boring pasta dishes or even ready meal pizzas. I've made quite a few salads, as they are perfect for the summer and it's easier to assemble one plateful. However with salads I have to be careful not to buy too much fresh stuff that I don't manage to eat. There are so many tempting vegetable markets, where everything looks so tasty. So it hasn't been easy not to hoard everything straight away.

Of course the bright side is now that I can cook all the dishes that my partner dislikes, such as creamy pasta sauces. In Nordic countries there are special creams available that are meant for savoury cooking, and they are very nice in sauces. I've been utilising these a lot lately.

Here are some of the dishes that I've recently eaten.

Pasta with creamy tomato sauce

Cheesy rolls with tomatoes and fresh season onions

Savoury oatmeal porridge for breakfast, naturally with coffee

The summer classic: Insalata Caprese

Ready meal pizza with additional cheese and a cider on the side as lazy weekend food

Exciting beetroot tagliatelle with another creamy tomato sauce, but just look at that colourful pasta

Yes okay, it's pasta... with cheese and creamy mushroom sauce

A ready meal pizza that I tried to boost with some fresh mushrooms and additional cheese

Better cooking coming soon on this blog! Also remember that I will be hosting Eat Your Greens again in July after a longer break. Please do take part!

Enjoy your weekend!

Your VegHog

New potatoes and cauliflower cheese

Ah the summer is truly here and it's time to enjoy some of the wonderful seasonal produce. I hope it's not too hot where you are! Here in Copenhagen a fresh wind has already started, so we are coping well.

New potatoes have always been my favourites, already as a child. In the Nordic countries they are served in the summer as soon as they have grown a bit, but some of them are actually still quite tiny. They are boiled and served with just butter and dill, or sometimes in a milky sauce. They are eaten with the skins on, as the skin is at this point of growth very thin.

The new potatoes of the north have a special sweet and nutty taste to them, something that I can't quite describe. They just melt in your mouth. Some say it comes from the growing under the midnight sun. There might be some truth to it, as at least in the UK and Germany the new potatoes don't taste the same.

In this dish I combined some of the finest Danish new potatoes with a cauliflower cheese. It really was a fine feast.

Summer's favourite dish

Today was a gorgeous summer's day. It was sunny and pleasant at about 22 C, so not too hot either. I spent most of the day lying around in the park, so relaxing! Then I ate a salad and am now watching a little bit of TV. I don't feeling like going out tonight.

What you see here is at the moment my favourite dish this summer: a plate full of fresh seasonal and local goodies. This time I had radishes, kohlrabi, fresh peas, tomatoes and hummus, served with a glass of refreshing juice.

I have been exploring my local vegetable markets and am thrilled to see that the offering is wide and of good quality. Especially now in the summer such good local produce is available, which is great.

I've been trying to eat a bit lighter, and therefore such plates of veggies are a perfect dinner after work. We have a very good lunch buffet at work, where I typically eat a lot of vegetables, salad, rye bread etc. and don't need to cook that much in the evenings anymore.

What is currently on your summer plates?

Courgette, mushroom and pea pasta sauce

I finally have an internet connection at home! And this is of course the first thing I'll have to do, to write a post, as I've been too quiet in June. Of course it has been an extremely busy month, and too many things to sort out, but I really am enjoying life and exploring my new surroundings. I hope to post more soon, as it will now be easier to do from home.

Here is the first dish that I cooked in my new Danish kitchen a couple of weeks ago when I moved in, just a nice basic veggie pasta. It may be a basic dish, but it was very exciting to cook it in my new kitchen. I enjoyed the dish very much though, especially as I managed to cook it all on a gas stove. Here are more details about my new kitchen in case you're interested.

Ingredients

1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
1 courgette
100 g closed cup mushrooms
1 cup fresh peas
2 tbsp olive oil
200 ml oat cream
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp lemon pepper
Handful of fresh parsley
Pasta

Method

Chop the shallot and garlic finely and start frying them in olive oil. Once they are softened, also add the sliced mushrooms.

When the mushrooms have lost the excess liquid, add the courgette slices soon followed by the oat cream.

At some point also add the fresh peas. I personally like to leave them quite hardish, so only added them towards the very end.

Let simmer until everything is nicely cooked. Season and serve with pasta.

I want to share this recipe with Shaheen who is bravely hosting Eat Your Greens for the second month in a row, as I was busy with my moving. I hope to be all ready for hosting in July, but in the meanwhile, please share your recipes with Shaheen.

Your VegHog

In My New Kitchen in June

So I went and moved countries. It wasn't by far the first time for me, so I wasn't too nervous about it, but of  course it's always stressful to start in a new job and at the same to try and sort out many things. I still have loads to do, but after a few nights at an Airbnb flat I've finally been able to move in to our new flat! I'm excited although I'm on my own and my partner can only join me at the end of next month.

Anyway, I wanted to show you our new kitchen and some of my first food shopping in Denmark. I'm finding quite a lot of organic produce in the shops and many wonderful vegetable markets close by, so this will be great once I'm fully organised.

My new kitchen is small, but it has nice large windows, and for the first time ever, I actually have a proper dining corner. Through the kitchen windows is a view to a slightly green backyard with a seating area and of course bicycle storage.

I've never cooked with gas, until I tried my new hob here. I was so afraid of touching the thing, so I first read the manufacturer's manual before proceeding. I know, right! But actually it was fine after a couple of clicks and turns and I was all fired up. I of course still need to get used to the settings, but I'm sure it will be fine. I will soon post the dish here that I cooked first in my new kitchen.

Otherwise I've been trying to explore the food markets and supermarkets quite a bit. From certain places I would simply like to buy everything, but I guess that's not possible, so a lot of patience is needed.

Here is my first shop for this home from our local small Irma market. I might have left a couple of really boring items out of the picture, but this was pretty much it. There are some organic veggies, pasta, cheese, spices, juice and oat flakes. I was most exited about the quinoa and beluga lentils in plastic containers. Somehow these were more appealing than the plastic bag ones. They have possibly more waste on them, but the containers could also be recycled.

I was also thrilled to see a spice mix, which is also a Finnish favourite, lemon pepper. It's pretty much just ground pepper and lemon zest, but how convenient to have that in a pre-made mix, don't you think? Icelandic sea salt also seems very nice.

This little corner shop actually has a very decent selection. They have sushi nori, organic coconut cream and a nice selection of fresh veggies. I'm very happy with this, and there are of course many other shops and most importantly vegetable markets around.

My brand new Moomin mugs have also found their home here. They were in my hand luggage with other precious things with which I wanted to make myself feel more like home.

And of course I want to share this post with Sherry who is hosting the In My Kitchen blogging event. Have a look at her post with links to other people's kitchens.

So soon I'll try to post something I've cooked in this new kitchen. Stay tuned for my Copenhagen adventures!

Your VegHog