Oven baked root vegetables with spice

This is another great and easy recipe from Hanne Holm

INGREDIENTS
3 medium large beetroots (ca 300 g) peeled and cut into small boats
5-6 potatoes (ca 400 g) peeled and cut into small boats
3 carrots (ca 300 g) peeled and cut into sticks
2 parsnips (ca 200 g) peeled and cut into sticks
1 leek in slices
4-5 shallots in boats
4 bay leaves

DRESSING
6 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp dry oregano
3 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

GARNISH
parsley, chopped

COOKING
Prepare all the vegetables and have all ingredients ready.
Mix olive oil with lemon juice, cumin and oregano and add salt to taste. Put a little of the dressing in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Mix the vegetables and the bayleaves onto the dish, pour the rest of the dressing over and turn the veggies carefully so that all are covered in dressing.

Bake in the oven for app. 1 hour on 180°C, or until the vegetables are tender - turn them occationally. Garnish with parsley before serving.

I love to serve a tahini dressing to this as I really think that the rich bitter taste goes well with the sweetness of the baked veggies.
It is also good to sprinkle sesame seeds on the vegetables before putting into the oven.

Birke says "We shouldn't eat sparkly cereal"

Red cabbage with pearl barley and apple

Red cabbage is in season right now. It is cheap and healthy - but sometimes I almost find it overwhelmingly big, thinking that I will not be able to eat a whole cabbage head before it goes bad.
That is why I have decided to try and find good recipes for inspiration.

Here is one recipe that I got from Sæson for god smag a website that has a lot of beautiful and interesting recipes, the only downside being that they are in Danish.



For 4 persons you need:

1 dl pearl barley
2 apples, for example Ingrid Marie or Cox Orange
1/2 l finely chopped red cabbage
1 finely chopped red onion
1 dl dried fruit (e.g. raisins, abricots, cranberries)

Dressing
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper

Boil the barley according to package, drain and cool.
Remove the seeds from the apples and cut into boats.
Mix barley, apples, onion and the dried fruit.
Mix the dressing and taste it with salt and pepper before pouring over the salad.

This is a very nice and filling salad.
The recipe is quite large so you can consider halving it if you are not expecting company.

Hannes carrot soup

My friend Hanne Holm has made this delicious and simple carrot soup recipe.
It is tasty, healthy, fast and simple - and it is student economy friendly!

You need:
600 g carrots - cut into smaller pieces
1 large onion - chopped
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp ginger - chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 l vegetable broth
3 tbsp lime or lemon juice (I often skip, or put a little apple cider vinegar instead)
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

to make it extra lovely you can garnish with
sour cream
fresh coriander
peel from organic untreated lime or lemon


Method:
sauté garlic and onion
add carrots, cummin and bayleaves and fry a little longer
pour broth over, add lime, lemon or vinegar to taste and boil till carrots are tender
remove the bayleaves and blend the soup
put the leaves back and heat the soup back up.
Garnish and serve.

This warms you to the bone on cold winter evenings.

Impress your friends with a Local, Seasonal Climate Friendly 3 course Meal!

Climate Friendly Recipes:

Entree: (Red Beet Soup)

Ingredients:

5 yellow onions

10 garlic cloves

about 300g parsnip

oil

1/2 dL sugar

2.5kg beetroots

Fresh ginger

5 teaspoon thyme

3 L water

5 carrots

5 potatoes

1 dL fresh parsley

1dL basil

salt

2 dL oat cream

Method:

Chop onions and beetroots. Fry onion, garlic, ginger and sugar in oil. Add root vegetables, water and thyme (the water should just cover the root vegetables) Cook until the vegetables are soft – approximately one hour

Mix soup and ad the spices. Add the oat cream depending on the colour of the soup you want. If you add it now the colour will be more pink. If you want a redder colour, add it in a swirl on top of the soup upon serving.

Main Course: Bean Patties, Skåne Potatoes with Coleslaw

Bean Patties

Ingredients:

1.5 L cooked beans

3 carrots

3 parsnips

6 yellow onions

About 5 tablespoon oil

3 tablespoons parsley

3 teaspoons paprika powder

1 ½ teaspoons pepper

5 tablespoons mustard

salt

2.5 dL plain flour

oil for frying

Method:

Blend beans with a stick blender or in a food processor. Chop onions and fry with paprika and pepper. Mix together all ingredients and bean mixture with wet hands. Fry on both sides

Skåne Potatoes:

Ingredients:

5 – 6 kg potatoes

5 -6 yellow onions

oil

1.5 L oat cream

rosemary, salt and white pepper

Method:

Peel and chop potatoes into cubes, Cut onions & fry potatoes in oil and then add cream. Cook for about 15 minutes until soft. Add spices

Coleslaw:

Ingredients:

White Cabbage

Carrots

Dill

Salt

Method:

Cut/grate coleslaw and add salt. Leave in refrigerator for about 1 hr until it gets juicy. Add carrot and finely chopped dill. Add mayonnaise (see recipe below) and blend thoroughly

Linmajonnäs:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon crushed linseed

½ teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon warm water

2 dL extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard

2 – 3 teaspoons apple vinegar

Approximately 50 mL water

Method:

Grind the linseed as much as you can using a pestle and mortar. Mix it together with warm water, salt, mustard and vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. Add oil a little at a time whilst you mix with a spoon. Add vinegar and a little water. Serve with coleslaw (recipe above)

Dessert: Spiced Apple Hot Cake (well something cake like anyway!)

Ingredients:

1.5 dL oil

1.5 dL semolina

Approximately 10 apples

About 4 dL of sugar

4.5 dL oat milk

1.5 L water

6 teaspoons cardamom powder

3 grams saffron (remove if you want to be super climate friendly!)

1 ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Method:

Fry semolina in oil. Move it around the fry pan until it becomes a cooked colour and starts to smell good. Chop apples in small pieces and stew with sugar and spices. Cook up with water and oat milk and then lower heat. Cook until semolina is soft. Should be served cold with cardamom powder on top. Vanilla cream would go well with this!

Recipes from Hållbart Universitet/Lund Students for Sustainability - http://www.hallbartuni.tk/

Absolutely Awesome Apple Pie

(Source: applepierecipe.org)

(Makes enough for one double crust or two single 23cm pies)

For flakiest crust, make sure all ingredients including the flour are cold

Ingredients:

• 6 dL. all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2.4 dL. unsalted butter/margarine
• 0.6 dL. iced water (or clean snow!!)

Combine flour and salt, and add butter/margarine. Add iced water slowly. Test it - if it is too crumbly add more water - one tablespoon at a time

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. Divide in half and place each on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pie Filling:

• 1.8 dL. sugar
• 0.6 dL. all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 cups apples (approximately 6 apples)
• 2 tablespoons butter/margarine

Preheat oven to 205 degrees Celsius. Mix dry ingredients, add apples

Put into pastry lined dish. Dot with butter. Cover with crust. Add slits in flower shape on top of the pie. Add foil around the edges of the pie during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Cook for approximately 40-50 minutes. Enjoy!!

Beet Dip

Ingredients:

5 Red beets

3 dL. yoghurt

2 cloves garlic

0.6 dL. lemon juice

cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika (one pinch of each)

pepper (to taste)

Method:

Cook beets for 40-60 minutes until tender

When cooked rub off skins

Process in blender (food processor)

Add yoghurt, garlic, lemon juice and spices

Goes well with crackers, bread or knäckerbröd!

(picture taken from artfarmla.com)

A Voyage of Culinary Discovery.

The Ominvores Dilemma: Michael Pollan (2007)

The Omnivores Dilemma is that we humans (as omnivores) can eat practically anything, which makes chosing the food which is best for us, our animals and our natural environment, a particularly tricky conundrum. In his book Michael Pollan addresses our relationship with food and attempts to answer that ubiquitous question of "what should we have for dinner?".

The first section takes a look at the omnipresent industrial food production of 21st Century society (trust me you'll never want to eat processed food again). He explains the close relationship between humans and corn (terrifying!), explores mass meat production (disturbing!) and global food production (worrying!). I've definitely taken on the maxim of not buying anything from the store that includes more than 5 ingredients and woe me if I don't try to avoid corn like the plague.

The second section explores the "pastoral" farm of Joe Salatin which sounds like an amazing venture, even if it appears to be extremely hard work! The farm isnt organic but uses natural methods to ensure the production of food is as close to nature as it can be. I think this is the kind of food we think we are eating when we buy food at the COOP or Wholefoods or any other organic equivelant (not true). It has inspired me to hunt out farmers market, to look at the people who grow and make my food and to try and understand the processes of how it gets to my plate.

The final section - which for me was the best part - was Michael's own journey in becoming connected with food. He hunted, grew and foraged the components of a fairly elaborate dinner during which process he bonded with the people in his community, his natural surroundings and undertook some real existential contemplations. It was sustainability food porn and I loved every minute of it.

"perhaps the perfect meal is one that's been fully paid for, that leaves no debt outstanding... as a kind of ritual, a meal that is eaten in full consciousness of what it took to make it is worth preparing every now and then, if only to remind us of the true costs of the things wetake for granted... stock doesnt come from a can; it comes from the bones of an animal"

Amen.

The Omnivores Dilemma could have come over as preachy, overly factual and pretentious. It didnt. Michael (I like to think of him as my new friend) is a delightful writer who connects with the reader bringing us on his own personal voyage of enlightenment about the food he eats. It has changed the way I think about food and for that I am truely thankful.

Need some warming up?

Soups and stews are the perfect warmers for the cold days we are experiencing at the moment. Here is a seasonal winter recipe from British chef Nigel Slater that combines the best of both! Enjoy steaming hot, with candles, watching the snow fall outside. Ahhhh.....


LENTIL AND PUMPKIN SOUP-STEW

Serves 4-6

medium-sized onion 1
rapeseed or olive oil (or a thick slice of butter) 2 tbsp
large carrot 1
cloves of garlic 2
rosemary a bushy sprig
small green lentils, such as Le Puy 250g
vegetable stock 1.25 litres
bay leaves 2
pumpkin or butternut 1.5kg (weight before peeling)
red-wine vinegar 2 tbsp
roughly chopped parsley a handful

To finish: crème fraîche or 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Peel the onion, cut it in half from root to tip then into thick slices. Warm the oil or butter in a large casserole then add the onion and cook over a low to moderate heat for 15 minutes or so, until soft and pale gold. Meanwhile scrub and dice the carrot and stir into the onion.

Peel the garlic and slice thinly. Pull the leaves from the rosemary stems and roughly chop, then add to the softening onions with sliced garlic. When all is soft, sweet and lightly coloured, tip in the lentils and a litre of the stock. Drop in the bay leaves. Bring the mixture to the boil, then lower the heat so that the lentils simmer gently for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and seed the pumpkin and cut the flesh into large, meaty chunks. I make these large enough that you will have to cut them to put them in your mouth. Any smaller and you may find they dissolve into the soup.

Add the pumpkin to the lentils and leave to simmer until the squash is thoroughly tender – about 15 minutes. This is also the point to add seasoning. It will need salt and black pepper, and the red-wine vinegar. Stir in the parsley.

Remove two large ladles of the stew and blitz to a purée in a blender or food processor with the remaining 250ml of stock. (You can beat it to a pulp with a potato masher if you prefer.) Return the puréed mixture to the pan and stir gently.

To serve, pile into wide bowls or deep plates. Drop a heaped tbsp of crème fraîche or labne on to each portion of stew, then pour a little extra-virgin olive oil over the top.

The dish will keep for a day or two in the fridge. Reheat gently, adding a little more stock if necessary.

More of Nigels's glorious recipes at: http://www.nigelslater.com/

Book Review: 'Fair miles: Recharting the Food Miles Map'

‘Fair miles: Recharting the Food Miles Map’

A short pocketbook published by iisd (The Institute for Sustainable Development) and Oxfam.

This book introduces the idea of ‘fair miles’ as a bigger-picture-alternative to the well-loved sustainability indicator of ‘food miles’. For those of you who might not know, food miles is a concept that relates to the distance that food travels from farm to plate – for example a packet of green beans from Kenya to Sweden. The longer the food miles, the higher the carbon dioxide emissions and the greater the negative effects on the environment.

Fair-miles on the other hand is a slightly looser concept, coined by the authors. It relates to the idea that food production has effects on social, political and economic systems as well as the environment. When food is produced and traded under fair-trade conditions, these socio-political-economic effects can reap great benefits for agricultural producers. So yes, buying Kenyan beans might be bad for the environment, but it might also be very, very good for the small-holding farmer who grew them on his or her land.

The booklet considers the parallel food systems of Africa (a large produce exporter) and the UK (a large produce importer) in terms of fair miles and food miles. The authors reach some interesting findings. For example, a tomato grown in a fossil-fuelled greenhouse and consumed in the UK is not necessarily any more environmentally friendly than a tomato grown naturally in Spain and trucked to the UK. They also find that transportation of food from farm to shop does not necessarily produce more emissions than its production, trade or household use, complicating the food-miles debate further.

The most useful part of the booklet is perhaps the final section, where the authors outline some ways to ‘Eat, Think and Change towards Ethical Food Choices’.

Their recommendations for eating more sustainably are:

1. Buy from developing countries –if the product is fair trade!

2. Drive to the supermarket less

3. Waste less food

4. Cut down on Meat and Dairy – even just one day a week, every little helps!

Food miles are complex. For better or worse, reading this book ensures that the seemingly simple argument that local is always best becomes increasingly challenged. It asks an important question about our food choices - who are they best for? Essentially, the food miles vs. fair miles debate boils down to weighing up the trade-offs between environmental benefits and developmental benefits. This is the tricky part!

At the end of the day, only you can choose whether to buy the fairly-trade beans or the locally produced beetroot, valuing healthy local ecosystems or rural livelihoods abroad. ‘Fair Miles: recharting the food miles map’ gives us a timely reminder that our diets should be both ethically and nutritionally balanced. So perhaps Skane beets and (fairly traded) Kenyan beans make the perfect meal afterall!

It can be downloaded for free online at: http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/15516IIED.pdf