English breakfast

Do I miss England after over four months in Denmark? The answer is not really. To be honest I don't think about it much, but of course I miss my friends, some of the local people in my area, nice restaurants and pubs, certain products in shops and so forth. However all in all life is better for me here. I'm glad that I have no regrets regarding the move, and it has been good to settle in here.

A vegetarian version of the English breakfast might be something that I miss slightly. It's not something that I would have very often, but now I made a spontaneous vegetarian fry up breakfast, as it has been quite a while. I was also watching some cooking videos by the Avant-garde Vegan, Gaz Oakley from Wales. He made aubergine bacon for his vegan breakfast, and that was something that I wanted to try. I slightly changed the marinade based on the things I had available, but I very much liked the end product as an addition to a veggie fry up. But definitely do check Gaz' YouTube channel, if you haven't done so yet, there's some really fine vegan cooking over there.

I also made different kind of baked beans by using butter beans and tinned tomatoes to make the mix. I added a splash of cider vinegar, salt and sugar to the beans and let it reduce for a while. I served some ready made soysages from the shop, potato rostis, wholemeal roll and a fried tomato with this breakfast.

Here is how I made the “facon”.

Facon

1 aubergine cut into thin strips

For the marinade:

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp white miso

1 tsp oak smoked salt

¼ tsp garlic granules

1 tsp smoked paprika

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Cut the aubergine into very thin strips.

Make the marinade by mixing the ingredients together.

Roll the aubergine slices in the marinade so that both sides get coated and place them on baking paper.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until crispy and serve with the breakfast.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Artichoke heart pasta

I wanted to try some new stuff for a change, and as soon as I found these baby artichokes in the vegetable market, I started planning a dish with them. Before now, I have never cook with artichokes, and even eaten them very rarely. I was curious though, and started reading and watching YouTube videos about how to prepare and cook them. That was very useful, and I decided to keep the dish simple trying to get the artichokes to play the main part.

It was a really lovely pasta, and I will certainly cook with artichokes again. After the prep everything was very quick. And I didn't mind the excess petals either, as I could discard them into my new food recycling bin.

On the same day I also detected some wood sorrel in the market, and had to buy it. I used it here as a little garnish. It can be a bit bitter, so I didn't want to add too much of it. Back in the day I always ate wood sorrel in the forest with my granddad when it started coming to season and I would recognise the plant in my sleep. Are you familiar with this quaint plant? 

Artichoke heart pasta

Ingredients

8 baby artichokes

2 fresh shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 lemon´s juice

25 g butter

1 tsp sea salt

Penne pasta

Wood sorrel as garnish (optional)

Method

Prepare the artichokes by removing the hard outer petals and by peeling the stalk so that there's only the soft heart left.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and start frying them in the butter.

Start cooking the pasta.

Soon also add the artichoke hearts and the lemon juice.

Fry the artichokes so that they brown a bit, then add some of the pasta cooking water to the artichokes and let them simmer under the lid for a few minutes until tender.

Add the pasta to the pan and season the mix with salt.

Serve and enjoy!

I want to share this recipe with Shaheen, who is hosting Eat Your Greens this month, mainly because I used for me a unique green combined with the very familiar one as garnish.

Enjoy your weekend!

Your VegHog

Porcini spelt risotto

I just love this mushroom season that's still very much going on over here. We are getting the most beautiful local fresh porcini mushrooms from our vegetable market. They are only quite pricey at the moment, so I have to plan the dishes carefully. But of course it's totally worth it. Porcini mushrooms are called Karl Johan svampe here and are quite popular in cooking. Last weekend we were served a lovely dish cooked with them when we went out.

As I bought a small batch of these lovely mushrooms, I decided to make this well-liked classic in our household, spelt risotto, with them. Most of the time I add dried porcini mushrooms to my risottos, but the fresh ones were so good. I also love their quirky looks with long stems and different shapes, and they tasted absolutely gorgeous. The dish turned out really great and I'll have to make this again while the mushrooms are still available. Have a look at my recipe below.

Porcini spelt risotto

Ingredients

150 g fresh porcini

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil for frying

1 tbsp butter

2 cups pearled spelt

1/2 cup dry white wine

500 ml vegetable stock

Generous amount of fresh parsley

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Clean the mushrooms first. Don't wash them, just brush any dirt off with a moist cloth or a brush. Then slice them.

Also chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in oil. Once they are translucent, add the sliced mushrooms and fry them a little.

The add the butter, followed by the pearled spelt. Pour the white wine in the pan and let it absorb. Finally start making warm vegetable stock additions and let the spelt risotto simmer.

Cook until the pearled spelt is soft and season to taste with the fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Enjoy as a warming and cosy autumn dish!

Your VegHog

In My Kitchen in October

Amazing October is here! It will be a month of pumpkins, squashes, scary ghosts and a lot of hygge cosying on the sofa under a blanket drinking hot chocolate. I also have quite a lot of stuff to share with you that's new in my kitchen, so let's get to it.

I couldn't resist getting an artichoke as a vase flower, as our local flower market had loads of them. It looks so cute in its vase and has been going strong for a week now. I hope that it opens up a bit soon. This is just my kind of flower! That pine cone picture in the background is also fairly new, a part of our apartment interior decor.

This sort of seasonal produce like cauliflower and heritage carrots have been in and out my kitchen recently. I love the different colours of the cauliflower and also the heritage carrots. I should be buying more of the colourful beets, but I'm quite bad at cooking with them. I'll need to think of some good beet recipes, as those root vegetables are all so tempting at the moment. 

 

Few weeks ago this eco recycling bin for food waste and biodegradable stuff was delivered to our home by the city council. It contained biodegradeable bags as well, which you can re-order free of charge later when you run out. The bin itself is small in size and fits to our kitchen very well. I was so excited to finally be able to recycle my food waste. For me it's not so much for left-overs, but all the several vegetable stalks and peels etc. as we cook so much with fresh vegetables. The best part is that we fuel a local bus line with this waste, so cool!

Then I have loads of stuff from Finland to show you. I went to visit my family in Finland the other week, and had to buy some of my favourite foods, and also some new products, to take with me to Copenhagen. So here they are (almost all of them, there's more...).

Oltermanni cheese and a very sharp new cheese slicer – Oltermanni is my favourite cheese, so it was only logical to take some of it with

Pulled oats with tomato flavour – a Finnish protein product that I've also written about in the blog previously

Härkis – a broad bean protein product in tex mex and original flavours

Dried protein products – broad bean and pea crunches

Different rye breads and oat crackers

Copenhagen chocolate by Fazer – Finnish white chocolate with raspberry and liquorice to represent the taste of Copenhagen

I'm sharing this post with Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. She is hosting the In My Kitchen event.

Have a good week!

Your VegHog

Chickpea and carrot patties

Yesterday I posted Yellow cauliflower with nuts, and here comes the very side that I had with it: chickpea and carrot patties. I also seasoned these patties with sage, which is the combining flavour of both dishes.

I very much enjoyed this seasonal comfort food. I love pottering around in the kitchen when the nights are getting darker. Unfortunately once again, it will be bad for the food photography... I hope that you liked this series of two posts anyway.

Chickpea and carrot patties

Ingredients

3 purple and yellow heritage carrots

1 can chickpeas

2 fresh onions with stalks

1 garlic clove

Handful of fresh sage leaves

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

2-4 tbsp spelt flour

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Peel and chop the carrots coarsely and boil them in water until done. Then mash them.

Also mash the chickpeas and add finely chopped onion, garlic and sage to the mix, followed by the seasoning. Also mix in some flour to bind the mix better.

Shape small patties from the mix and fry them in a pan on both sides until golden brown.

Serve as a side with any dish you fancy, or even with my cauliflower and nuts.

Have a nice day!

Your VegHog

Yellow cauliflower and nuts

I've been fascinated by the different cauliflower colours recently, and was even planning a rainbow cauliflower dish. Maybe it will still come at one point. Now I just picked up a yellow one, which may not differ so much from the regular colour, but added a different touch nevertheless. This is a dish of cauliflower and nuts, roasted with brown crispy sage butter.

This is how I made the dish. I roasted the cauliflower first in florets. When it was nearly ready, I added some finely chopped fresh onion and garlic pieces and let it roast some more. I prepared separately a brown crispy sage butter in a pan. I then added some coarsely chopped nuts (hazelnuts, pine nuts and cashews) to the butter and poured the whole thing over the cauliflower. I left it in the oven to finish and finally served it in a combination that I will reveal to you soon, hopefully tomorrow. You can easily veganise this dish by using a butter substitute.

There is not much to this dish, so I didn't make any measurements of the ingredients. You can just go here with your own taste and be a bit generous with the estimations. This is supposed to be a rustic autumn dish anyway and it's better as a side. So as mentioned, I will post the full dish soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Eat Your Greens September Round Up

Here we go with the September Eat Your Greens Round Up. September seemed to be a quiet month for green cooking, but here are a couple of entries. I still keep seeing wonderful greens in the vegetable market, so I'm sure that this autumn will be quite green.

Now to the recipes.

Shaheen, my Eat Your Greens co-host from Allotment 2 Kitchen blog, shared a Lemon Marrow Conserve Jam Jelly. This is a very creative jelly, and a great use for some excess marrows, especially if you grow them yourself. The conserve contains plenty of lemon, which is a wonderful flavour combination with the marrow. I would be very curious to taste this jam, as it's such a great seasonal idea.

My own contribution was a pea and courgette rice, which also contained many other veggies like corn and carrots. In this dish I still mainly used the summer vegetables, but in a more comforting bowl. Now my favourites the fresh peas are slowly disappearing, so I have reverted to more autumnal vegetables and mushrooms in my other cooking.

Shaheen will be hosting Eat Your Greens again next month, so head over to her blog to take part! Have a nice October!

Your VegHog