Homemade smoked burrata, porcini and wild garlic ravioli

 

It’s a public holiday, Ascension Day, in Denmark today so I’m starting the day slowly writing a blog post and making breakfast. We will go to the local covered market again, probably eat lunch there and then stroll back home. We won’t leave quite yet, as a thunderstorm is approaching from Sweden and it already started raining here. I hope it clears for the afternoon.

I have been manufacturing some homemade pasta again. This time I made large ravioli with a smoked burrata, porcini mushroom and wild garlic filling. The ravioli were very tasty. I served them with brown butter and a radish salad. You can see some stages of the making here.

Your VegHog

 

Asparagus and wild garlic risotto

 

Today we are heading to a farmers’ market and I hope to find a lot of fresh veggies and other local foods there. The weather is now good after it has rained early in the morning. What are you up to this Sunday?

Before I go, I want to share this dish with you. Asparagus and wild garlic belong to spring as much as new tiny pale green leaves on trees and blossoming spring flowers after a long winter. In this risotto I have combined both asparagus and wild garlic. I steamed the green asparagus and mixed it later into the risotto. I added some wild garlic pesto and fresh wild garlic leaves on top. Otherwise it was a basic risotto with arborio rice, onion, garlic, vegan butter, dash of white wine and a nice vegetable stock. It was such a tasty meal! At the same time my new ceramic bowls are getting a lot of use.

Radishes are another spring favourite of mine. You can make plenty of fresh salads with the colourful new season radishes. What are your spring favourites?

Your VegHog

In my kitchen in May

And then it was May… The weather is still very interchangeable here, but they are forecasting some warmth for next week. I just hope that the spring doesn’t go over to summer too fast. But first, let’s have a peek to my spring kitchen.

I have a pair of new ceramic bowls and I love them. I got them at the local market and I’m looking forward to buying other colours and sizes as well. And what’s better to be eaten from a bowl than a quality artisanal and organic spaghettone with homemade wild garlic pesto!

We had some small first of May celebrations at home, as it’s usually quite a big celebration in Finland. I made vegan potato salad, vegan wieners and a roasted red pepper, chipotle and cheese roulade. We washed the whole thing down with pink prosecco.

This is steamed white asparagus with sous-vide carrots (nice new product from the shop, as I don’t have a water bath), Emmental-white wine sauce, roast potatoes and vegan nuggets.

There is a nice new climate-friendly vegan range, Frankful. They have different products from sauces to tortilla wraps and veggie mince, just to name a few. I tried their veggie mince and made loaded nachos with it. It was really nice. Their tortilla wraps are also excellent.

Here is pasta with amazing huge spinach arancini from an Italian shop.

I’ve also been making my own pasta a few times lately. It’s so rewarding and relaxing to make. This is a pappardelle dish with olives and roasted tomatoes.

I love this tomato soup from the market. It can be a life-saver for working from home lunches.

These chipotle and jalapeno tins are so practical for all kinds of spicy cooking. They are cheap, qualitative and last for a long time.

As always, I’m sharing this post with Sherry from the Sherry’s Pickings blog, who is the host of the In My Kitchen event.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

 

Creamy white asparagus soup

 

Happy May Day everyone! The Labour Day starts sunny here in Copenhagen and we will be enjoying a nice spring day off. The trees are blossoming and people seem happier now that it’s getting warmer. As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve been enjoying the wonderful spring veggies and today’s recipe is one of the dishes I made.

This is a German style creamy white asparagus soup with a little twist, as this soup is vegan. I made it with the very thick and nice Aito oat cream and the nicest white asparagus from the market. I haven’t eaten an asparagus soup for a long time, but it was so nice that I have to make it again while the veg is in season. Here is my recipe that makes a small starter soup for two or a larger bowl of soup for one person.

Creamy white asparagus soup

Ingredients

2-3 white asparagus

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp vegan butter

100 ml oat cream

200 ml water

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp herb salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

50 ml white wine

Method

Peel and chop the asparagus to pieces. Chop the onion and garlic finely.

Start sweating the onion in the vegan butter until it’s soft and then also add the garlic followed by the asparagus.

Pour the oat cream, water and seasoning in and let simmer. Add more water if needed.

Purée the soup and let simmer a bit further after that with the white wine addition.

Enjoy once you are happy with the flavours. Add more seasoning to taste.

Have a lovely weekend!

Your VegHog

Wild garlic and potato pizza

 

Oh how I love this wild garlic season! I haven’t been out harvesting it myself this year, but I’ve bought a few bunches from the vegetable market. I’m so inspired by all the spring produce right now, so there will be further recipes to come.

This was a wild garlic and potato pizza with slow-cooked cherry tomatoes, smoked burrata, garlic, mozzarella and wild garlic pesto. I made quite a thin crust pizza and it was very nice.

Have you been eating a lot of nice spring vegetables?

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

 

Homemade tortellini with smoked burrata, garlic and potato filling

 

How have you all been? Are societies opening up where you are in the world? Here in Denmark we will have a bit more openings next week when bars and restaurants are allowed to open again. For sitting inside you will need a fresh negative COVID-19 test or will have to have the vaccination, but you can go without those things for outdoor serving. I’m not sure yet whether I will be rushing over as soon as. I think maybe we’ll visit some outdoor food markets first to get used to eating out again. We’ve had our “beergarden visits” through the whole winter regardless the weather. On many Saturdays we have bought take out draft beer from a nearby bar and have had some vegan nuggets and fries from a veggie friendly burger place with it. Then we’ve just stood around in a park in Copenhagen enjoying the food and drinks. It was quite nice, sometimes even minus grades, so that the beer got cooler if you didn’t drink fast enough. Good times, even though I would thoroughly enjoy a piece of normality again.

Making pasta is therapeutic and calming, especially if you manage to make a successful batch. For the first time ever I tried making an eggless pasta dough. It was so smooth and good and I don’t think I will ever be going back to the egg variant. I used burratina affumicata in the filling with mashed potatoes, thyme and garlic. As a sauce I made a brown butter with soy sauce and served the tortellini with a blood orange salad and steamed asparagus. It was a lovely meal and I have further pasta making plans for this weekend. Here is this recipe first though.

 

Homemade tortellini with smoked burrata, garlic and potato filling

Pasta dough

2 ½ cups 00 pasta flour

1 tsp salt

½ cup water (add more if needed)

1 tsp oil

Filling

100g smoked burrata

8 small potatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp breadcrumbs

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Method

Knead the pasta dough ingredients to a firm ball. Add more water, if needed. Let the dough rest for at least one hour in the fridge.

Make the filling. Boil the potatoes until soft and also sautée the garlic lightly in oil. Mix the ingredients together to a smooth paste.

Roll the pasta dough out thinly with a pasta machine and cut circles from it with a cookie cutter.

Fill the pasta circles with the potato mix, brush the edges with water and shape tortellini from it.

Once the pasta has been shaped, bring water to boil and cook the tortellini for about 2 minutes.

Roll them in the sauce of your choice and serve.

Your VegHog

 

Easter food

 

I had a wonderful Easter break last weekend. It was very relaxing with whole five days off work. It also snowed, which was quite interesting. The spring isn’t quite here yet. There was of course a lot of food so I wanted to share some of it with you. There was a roast dinner with a vegan loaf, but otherwise I tried to keep it a bit lighter with plenty of salads, like these bruschetta with olive and pepper tapenade and insalata caprese on the top.

Vegan loaf, onion gravy, marinated carrots and peppers, blood orange salad

Pasta salad with garlic olives and pine nuts

Plantbased potatoes dauphinoise with oat cream

Asparagus in a puff pastry, olive tapenade and Emmental wrap

 

Globe grapes

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog