Mexican rice

 

We have a local street food festival this weekend! I’m excited to see what kind of food is on offer and hope that there are many veggie and vegan options. I’m definitely ready to eat. It’s a bit cloudy today, but it may not rain and it’s still quite warm. Yesterday it rained all day long.

Mexican rice is one of my go-to dishes. It’s nutritious, delicious and cheap and easy to make. I made this one with black eyed peas, sweetcorn, chilli, tomato purée and basmati rice. It was served with own tomatoes from the greenhouses and fresh coriander.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Shallot focaccia

 

I’ve had a nice holiday week so far. It has been very relaxing, just as I intended. I started today with a swim in the harbour, which is so refreshing and really wakes you up. We’ve visited some museums and local marketplaces, had a few beers in beer gardens and just read books. I’ve also done some watercolour painting. I’m not a good painter, but I like it.

Here is yet another focaccia bread that I’ve made. It’s a simple focaccia with pink shallots. It goes well with those autumnal soups or even on its own.

 Have a nice rest of the week!

Your VegHog

 

Leek and potato soup

 

Soups are so good, don’t you think. I have made a few soups lately and this plant based leek, potato and lentil soup is one of them. It was so nice and easy to make so here is my basic recipe.

 

Leek and potato soup

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 leeks

6 potatoes

1tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup yellow lentils

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Fresh chives

 

Method

Chop the onion, garlic and leeks. Peel the potatoes and also cut them to cubes.

Sautée the onion and garlic in oil. Then add the leeks to the pan and soften them.

Add the potatoes, lentils and seasoning.

Cover with water and let simmer under lid until all components have cooked.

Blend the soup until smooth and enjoy! I added a drizzle of wild garlic oil on the top for serving.

 

Your VegHog

Roasted pumpkin risotto

 

Is anyone else excited for the pumpkin season? I just adore it, both for cooking and decorating. I do realise that Halloween is kind of cancelled this year, but we can still spend nice time in our homes.

So here comes another comforting autumn dish from the VegHog’s kitchen. Have a look at the easy, but tasty recipe for a roasted pumpkin risotto below.

This was an excellent risotto with roasted pumpkin, crispy sage butter and a hint of chilli. You can easily veganise this recipe by using vegan butter. I haven’t tried the sage butter with vegan butter yet, as I’m not sure if it will brown as nicely as dairy butter. Please let me know how it is, if you’ve tried.

 

Roasted pumpkin risotto

Ingredients

¼ - ½ of a medium pumpkin

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

½ small chilli

1 tbsp butter

1 cup arborio rice

1 cup white wine

1 l vegetable stock

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Fresh sage leaves + 2tbsp butter

 

Method

Peel and cut the pumpkin to cubes. Brush them with vegetable oil and roast in the oven. You can save the pumpkin seeds and roast them. They are really healthy and tasty.

Heat the vegetable stock in a pan. In a separate pan start sauteeing the chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Once they are softened, add one tablespoon of butter and the rice. After a few moments, add the wine and let it absorb to the rice.

Add some vegetable stock to the rice, let it simmer under the lid and gradually keep adding more stock until the rice has cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Once the pumpkin cubes are roasted, take about one half of them, mash them and add to the rice. Add the rest of the pumpkin on top just before serving.

While the rice is cooking, make the crispy browned sage butter in a separate pan. When you are ready to serve, pour it over the risotto.

Enjoy!

 Your VegHog

Cheese-onion-potato pie

 

I haven’t been a very productive blogger in September. I have been cooking plenty of nice dishes though, and I hope that I will have the energy to post them here soon. We have a new vegetable market close by, so I can get even more incredible local produce, which is motivating for cooking nice dishes.

I will be on holiday next week, but it will be another staycation. The Covid-19 situation got worse again in Denmark and we have more restrictions in place. We had to postpone our trip to Norway to next spring. Hopefully by then things will have calmed down. So now I’m just looking forward to a week filled with quiet walks in the surrounding areas, reading, cooking and possibly some home decorating.

Now to today’s dish. Cheese, onion and potato, what a match. They go so well together that I sometimes think that I don’t need to eat anything else. I made this shortcrust pie with softened onions and garlic, mashed local organic potatoes, thyme and Cheddar cheese. It was so good and comforting, just perfect for the autumn.

 What are your plans for the weekend? Have a nice one in any case!

Your VegHog

Curry with grilled tofu

 

I’ve had a wonderful weekend so far. Yesterday we went to a small outdoor beer festival and cooked a cosy dinner at home. Today there is a farmers market with loads of nice local produce. We will take the harbour bus to get there and that is a nice ride on water through Copenhagen city centre. The weather is due to get warmer again from today and throughout next week, so that’s quite nice to have some late summer feeling in September.

I’ll post this curry quickly before we head to town. I made just a basic potato and lentil curry with a grilled tofu topping. The scorched tofu was really tasty and added something special to the dish. I think I will be making more curries now towards the autumn. What is your favourite curry?

Your VegHog

 

In my kitchen in September

It is again time to have a look at what’s been happening in my kitchen. Yes, it’s already September, but I’m actually quite excited for the autumn. I do like it a lot as a season.

I got this interesting Maskmel, spent grain, which is flour made from stuff leftover from beer brewing. This variant is from pilsner brewing, so I made these excellent pilsner rolls from it. They were very tasty and next time I might add some actual pilsner to the mix, as beer is quite nice in homemade bread.

As already seen in the photo above, I have a new cute wooden storage box. I’m not quite sure what I should store there. First I thought it would be good for keeping oil and vinegar bottles in order, but would it get stained from them?

These cans contain alcoholic flavoured water. I had a pear and orange blossom and a redcurrant and ginger one. They were quite light and refreshing drinks. I would buy them again as a beverage for a hot weather.

Here are some of my recent dishes. I made an insalata caprese with own tomatoes and basil. It’s always nice as a side or even as a lunch main.

This is oven feta pasta, where the tomatoes and feta are first roasted in the oven and then mixed with spaghetti. There is also a hint of chilli in the recipe to add some warmth.

I managed to find a yellow watermelon, so I made a salad from it.

Here is an chickless burger with chips and salad.

This is some veggie ravioli with lovely burrata.

And finally a nacho casserole inspired by the In My Kitchen host Sherry from Sherry’sPickings. I already posted one of my versions previously and I’ve made the dish a few times since. It’s so comforting and tasty!

 

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Your VegHog