Balcony garden update

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’ve started balcony gardening again after a few years’ break. We moved to a new place in March and now have two balconies for growing vegetables and fruit.

Quite quickly after the move it became apparent that our big balcony is very windy. It’s between big houses and winds from the harbour can reach it. This of course makes the plants more vulnerable, especially when they are in the early growing stages. Therefore we decided to buy two mini greenhouses for the balcony. They had to be connected to each other, as they were also moving in the wind. We haven’t filled the boxes with soil, the plants are in there in their pots.

The greenhouses are currently full of tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, chilli etc. I can’t wait to harvest some of the produce later in the summer. I will keep you updated. Here are some photos from my little balcony garden.

Here the young plants were ready to move to the balcony.

Long train of growing space.

Onion squash ready to take over the balcony.

Red currant bush

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Your VegHog

Tacos

It’s a beautiful morning here in Copenhagen. I’ve already done some balcony gardening and we will go to the market later, where I will maybe find some more plants. We are also waiting for a delivery of new balcony furniture. The delivery is very much delayed, but I hope that they’ll turn up soon. It would now be the weather for sitting outside.

I made these tacos with dried and rehydrated soya bits and sweetcorn in a spicy tomato sauce. As taco shells I used artisanal corn tortillas that are really good quality. I’ve used them a few times and they lift any dish. I also have this really spicy (in my opinion) chipotle mayo that I served with them. The tacos were quite a hit.

Veggie tacos are always so good for the weekend. What are your plans for this weekend food- and otherwise?

Your VegHog

Sweet or savoury?

We had sweet and savoury waffles for breakfast this morning, or actually it was more like a late Sunday brunch. Now I’m kind of bursting and will need some rest. The weather is very changeable today, so I’m not sure yet what to do with the rest of the day. I would have some cleaning and wardrobe organising to do, if deciding to stay indoors.

The savoury waffles were topped with smoked Cheddar, salad, tomatoes, fresh peas (first Danish peas of the season for me), green olives and vegan butter.

The sweet waffles were topped with blueberry compote, fresh blueberries and vegan butter.

Sweet or savoury, that is the question. What type are you? 

 

Have a nice Sunday!

Your VegHog

Pølsehorn – Danish sausage rolls vegetarian style

The Danish society is opening up more and more. Bars and restaurants opened on Monday and it looks like people are keen to visit them again. Yesterday we went to a shopping centre and apart from hand sanitiser bottles being everywhere and floors marked with stickers, it felt pretty much like business as usual. I already worked three days in the office this week and from next week everyone is encouraged to return. It feels weird after over two months of lockdown and working from home, but I guess we’ll have to listen to the officials’ recommendations. As I moved home during lockdown, I now also have a new train commute to work, which is slightly shorter than the old one.

Now don’t mistake these baked goods for croissants, or you might have quite a surprise when you taste them. These are Pølsehorn (lit. sausage horn) which are popular sausage rolls in Denmark. The sausages are wrapped in a fluffy dough and then baked.

I of course made a vegetarian version of Pølsehorn by using these new vegan chorizos made from peas that are also gluten and soya free. These spicy sausages worked really well in this combo. In order to make it a really easy breakfast, brunch or snack item, I just used a ready made pastry from the shop. That way they were really quick and easy to make. The pastry wasn’t vegan, so I can only call these vegetarian.

I also made a cheese variant with smoked Cheddar. They were also very tasty. I managed to find my old favourite smoked cheese, Applewood from Somerset, in our local supermarket. Next time I might make a sausage and cheese combination in one, or what about some added veg? I know that I’m now distancing myself from the Danish classic.

These quick to make sausage rolls would be perfect for serving to surprise guests (of course that doesn’t happen anymore in the modern world, but you know what I mean). 

 

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

Tomato and coconut pilau rice

 

Pilau of pilaf rice is something that I don’t make often enough. It’s nice every time, but somehow it’s not one of my standard dishes. Now I made this slightly different tomato and coconut pilau using Meera Sodha’s Summer pilau with tomato, coconut and cashews recipe as inspiration. I changed some details, but the dish was very similar. I liked the combination of tomatoes and coconut very much. I also added some coriander oil drizzle on top for some additional colour and flavour. Follow the excellent recipe to make this tasty dish yourself.

Your VegHog

Chickpea and pea frikadeller

I’m curious to know, whether you’ve been eating healthily lately or rather resorted to comfort food? I have been eating a bit of both, but have to confess that it has been largely comfort food.

This dish is a bit of a hybrid, as it contains a lot of fresh veg like kohlrabi, tomatoes and lettuce, but there are also fried goods and carbs like rice, the grilled cheese and homemade chickpea and pea frikadeller. This dish just came about as a mix of what I could find in the cupboard. As a filling agent I decided to make simple chickpea and pea frikadeller with garlic and coriander. It ended up being a lovely dinner.

It’s a long weekend here, as it’s a public holiday today and a bridge day tomorrow. I hope to get a lot of cooking and blogging done. Today at least the weather was wonderful, so we went for a little stroll in town.

Your VegHog

Spicy polenta pizza

I made this dish at our old place before moving, so it has been waiting for a while to be published. Even though it was made a couple of months ago, I think it’s still worth sharing. The dish is a polenta based pizza with vegan chicken style bits marinated in soy sauce, smoked paprika and tomato purée. The other toppings were roasted tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. It was a tasty combo with different textures. You could easily also skip or substitute the mozzarella and make a vegan version.

I pre-cooked all toppings and the base before combining. That way you can be sure that everything is nicely cooked. I marinated the vegan chicken and then fried it and I roasted the tomatoes in the oven.

It’s easy to make the polenta pizza base. Just cook the polenta in vegetable stock with a few added herbs like for example thyme, basil or wild garlic. Spread the cooked polenta on baking paper. If you use two baking papers on each side, you can roll it with a rolling pin as thin as you would like. Let the base cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. First pre-bake the base without any toppings for a little while, then add the toppings and bake until done. It’s a nice different style of pizza.

Your VegHog