Sunday morning power bowl

The Hedgehog Awareness Week may officially be over, but hedgehogs that sadly are in decline, should always be on our minds. For today's breakfast I used my hedgehog shaped cookie cutter once again to make a quirky presentation for a very healthy bowl.

I used these ingredients for my breakfast bowl:

Pineapple

Red currants

Wild blueberry powder

Sea buckthornberry powder

Greek Yogurt

My week has been very busy so I felt like I wanted to start the relaxing Sunday with a healthy breakfast. I haven't had time for posting much this week, but I will try to write later about what I was up to yesterday.

Have a lovely Sunday! Sun is out at least here!

Your VegHog

Mango and pineapple smoothie

It's summer, warm (especially after a quick-paced morning walk in the park) and I have a huge appetite just for fresh fruits. That simply is how this smoothie idea came along, and the contents of my fridge had also a little bit to do with it.

I find that a smoothie easily replaces breakfast or lunch in the summer, especially when there are some nuts, cereal or flaxseed added (although I didn't add any of those this time). This is my simple combination for this morning.

2 mangoes

1 small pineapple

200 ml grapefruit juice

Peel the mangoes and the pineapple and remove the cores. Chop them into generous cubes.

Then just blend these together with the grapefruit juice and your power smoothie is ready to be enjoyed.

What is your favourite summer smoothie?

Your VegHog

Pineapple curry

The idea of making a pineapple curry has been haunting me for a while now, and guess what, now I've finally made it. I like pineapple in sweet dishes, in juices and smoothies, but also in savoury ones, and above all on a pizza. I have tasted a few pineapple curries, and have been quite impressed with them.

I was very happy with this dish that came together after looking into several South Indian pineapple curry recipes, and then combining the seasoning and ingredients after my own taste. This curry has a gentle spiciness combined with the sweetness of pineapple.

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp chilli flakes

8 curry leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

160 ml coconut cream

1 small pineapple

4 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 cup rice

Grind the mustard and cumin seeds into powder.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely.

Peel the pineapple and remove the core, then chop it into cubes.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and cook the shallots and garlic until soft.

Add the ground mustard and cumin seeds and stir for a couple of minutes.

Then add the pineapple cubes, turmeric, chilli flakes and curry leaves into the pan.

Pour in the coconut cream and salt and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste that you are happy with the seasoning, or add anything you think is lacking. Adding a little water at this stage can adjust the thickness of the sauce to your taste. You can start boiling the rice now as well.

Serve the curry with the rice and be astonished how easy it was!

Your VegHog

Pineapple and halloumi salad stacks

Today I'm making a light summer salad or a side dish. If you are a regular reader of my blog you might already have noticed my passion with halloumi cheese and char-grilling. In these salad stacks I'm combining both of those with my favourite fruit: pineapple. So in some senses this is a very typical VegHog salad.

This is all you'll need:

1 fresh pineapple

1 halloumi cheese

Pea shoots

Raspberry vinaigrette

Vegetable oil for grilling

This amount of ingredients makes lovely small salads for two people but feel free to double the amount up for more people or larger stacks.

Slice the halloumi, peel it and slice one fresh pineapple. Grill the slices on a griddle pan or on a barbecue until grilling marks appear.

Place fresh pea shoots on a plate and then stack the pineapple and halloumi on top of each other in order to build a stack. Pile it high as you'd like.

Sprinkle some raspberry vinaigrette on the salad and enjoy. This is just how easy a summer dish can be!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Pineapple, coconut and gin cocktail

Fancy a refreshing cocktail? On a hot day make a pitcher of this drink, which basically is a fruity gin & tonic. It's quite exciting to use a fresh coconut as well for a change. Good luck with opening it!

A few ingredients are needed:

Pineapple juice

Juice of one coconut

1 lime

Tonic water

Gin

Ice cubes

Put ice cubes and approximately equal amounts of gin, pineapple juice and tonic water to a pitcher. 

You can make the cocktail stronger or milder on gin after your own taste.

Add coconut juice and press lime to the drink. Use a few lime slices as decoration. 

Mix all well together and prepare to be refreshed.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Pineapple upside-down cake

I love pineapple but have never made this classic cake before, or any upside-down cake whatsoever. I made mini versions and a large one and they turned out quite nice. This is a fairly easy cake to make and it looks adorable.

Traditionally a cherry is placed into the center of the pineapple slices but I decided to replace it with a grape as I'm not the best friend of cherries. It turned out that the baking made the grapes taste like rhubarb, which was quite a funny twist.

As a guideline I used this recipe.

Topping:

50g butter

50g sugar

Pineapple slices in syrup

A few grapes

Cake:

100g butter

100g sugar

100g flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

4tbsp pineapple syrup

For the topping whisk soft butter with sugar and brush it to the cake tin. Place the pineapples on it and grapes to the center of the pineapple rings.

Use only one pineapple per tin if you make the mini versions.

Whisk the cake base ingredients together and put it on the pineapples.

Bake for about 35 minutes at 180C and enjoy with coffee.

Your VegHog

Olive, pineapple and mushroom pizza

I love pizza! If you do too, please take a moment and read about my take on a good homemade pizza. This time I'm making pizza with one of my favourite topping combinations: olive, pineapple and mushroom. For me pineapple is a really important pizza topping but not so commonly used everywhere.

I'm very sorry that I can't reveal the proportions to my secret pizza dough. No, it's just that I have to make it with fingertip feel to get it right and I think it's something that everybody should learn. The secret is also partly in wheat rye flower mix for the dough. By the way I prefer a thin crust pizza with double cheese any day. I normally make a large batch of dough and then directly make several pizzas while I'm at it.

You'll need for the dough:

Wheat flour

Rye flour

Dry yeast

Salt

Olive oil

Water

You'll need for the topping:

Tomatoes

Onions

Garlic

Basil

Black olives

Closed cup mushrooms

Pineapple slices

Cheese

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Make it so:

First make the dough, which can then rise when you're doing other preparations. Mix the dry ingrerients, then add some warm water at room temperature, that'll start the yeast working, and knead until the dough is nice and even. Then add a little olive oil and knead some more. Add more flour or water if your dough doesn't have the right texture. Now the dough shouldn't stick to the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm room for about an hour.

Then make the tomato sauce. Bring water to boil, make x-cuts on the tomatoes and dip them into boiling water for about 30 seconds. They should now easily peel. Chop the onion and garlic cloves and start frying them in olive oil. When they are translucent add the peeled tomatoes and crush them. Let it simmer under cover for about 20 minutes while occasionally stirring. Towards the end add fresh basil leaves to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Puree the sauce with a hand mixed and set to side.

Chop the mushrooms for the topping. I leave the olives whole and use pineapple slices from the tin and slice them into smaller pieces. When your dough is done, roll it out on a baking tray. If you prefer a fluffier crust you can let it rise again under a tea towel. Then spoon the sauce on the dough and put the toppings and cheese on it and bake at 220C for about 15 minutes.

If you're not used to making your own pizza, I really recommend you to try it. It's surprisingly easy and you can make it exactly to your own liking. I will be posting many other pizza recipes as I'm an pizza addict.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Char-grilled pineapple and balsamic glazed tofu salad

I'm so enthusiastic about my new Le Creuset griddle pan and now pretty much everything I eat is char-grilled, all vegetables are marked! What a lovely smoky taste it gives to vegetables and also a great stripy look. It's certain that this won't be the last grilled dish in this blog.

Today I'm making a salad with char-grilled pineapple slices and balsamic glazed tofu bits and playing with the juxtaposition of warm and cold and savoury and fresh.

Ingredients

Tofu

Pineapple slices

Wild rocket

Pine nuts

Chili flakes

Balsamic vinegar

Soy sauce

Garlic

Oil

Preparations

First marinate the tofu and pineapple slices. Press the excess fluid out of the tofu, then slice it and put the slices into a sealable container. Make the marinade by mixing balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and chopped garlic and pour the marinade to the tofu. Seal the container and shake it a little bit to make sure that the marinade gets everywhere around the tofu. Let it marinate for at least one hour in the fridge, but the longer the better. You could marinate the tofu overnight if you're planning this salad ahead. Take another container where to place the pineapples. Pour soy sauce in and let them marinate in the fridge as well.

When tofu and pineapple have marinated long enough heat a griddle pan. When the pan is hot brush groundnut or vegetable oil on it with a heat resistant silicone brush. Grill the tofu first as it needs longer time to grill and quite a patient grill user. You would want it to be tough on the outside and soft in the inside. While turning the tofu pieces over you can brush more marinade on them. Once the tofu pieces are almost done add the pineapple slices to the pan. If they don't fit onto the pan at the same time put the tofu into the oven to keep warm. Pineapple is a more rewarding grilling fruit as it should get the stripes quite quickly.

While grilling you can prepare the rest of the salad: Wash the wild rocket and place it on a plate. Sprinkle chili flakes and pine nuts onto the plate. When tofu and pineapple are done, place them on the top when they're still warm and garnish the salad with balsamic vinegar.

Done!

The VegHog

Fruity milkshakes

Hello Hoggers!

It's time to take a break from all this savoury food and refresh ourselves with some fruity milkshakes and boost our vitamin levels! There might be snow in many parts of the UK, let alone the world, but any time is good for a self-made milkshake.

Well, you don't need me to tell you how to make milkshakes as it is very easy, but I can remind you of their existence and encourage you to experiment. Just grab your favourite fruits and mix them with vanilla ice-cream. Sugar and/or milk can be added if need be and you can also use other ice-cream flavours.

Mix your chosen ingredients with a hand mixer. You can adjust the thickness of the shake through ice-cream and fruit or milk additions. What I've made in recent days are blueberry and pineapple milkshakes. The pineapple shakes were made with tinned fruit, but the blueberries I used were fresh.

 Blueberry milkshake

Pineapple milkshakes

Just think of all those mandarins, raspberries and mangos – awww bliss. Get wild with mixing flavours and tell me about your creations!

Your VegHog