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Sunday, June 26, 2016

Vitamin smoothie: Kiwi, spinach and berries - and a few of my favourite things right now


So yummy: Kiwi, baby spinach leaves and frozen mixed berries, plus some coconut water.

And now some photos of favourite things right now:

Eating gelato at Giapo


Eating dinner in the Japanese room, with feet under the warm Kotatsu (Japanese heated table)


Collecting small things


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Borlenghi


One of my favourite dishes from my village in Italy, borlenghi or berleghi. A bit like a savoury crepe, made with a simple batter, just flour, a pinch of salt and enough water to thin it down to a glue consistency (in fact the batter is called colla, i.e. glue!). Then it is cooked between two very hot and greased flat iron plates called cotte and turned several times until cooked (still flexible and soft but a little crispy on the borders). For the dressing traditionally lard is used, but since I don't eat meat I use salted butter mixed with finely chopped fresh rosemary and garlic. Then add parmigiano reggiano and fold. Eat immediately, and patiently wait for another one! 






Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Kiwi smoothie


Time for vitamin C! This smoothie is just kiwi, banana and coconut water, a real meal in a glass!

And look what I found in the garden! Full of rain poor pumpkin, very heavy and now drying on the windowsill.



Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Sun-dried Tomato Bacon, Vegan - step by step instructions


This vegan bacon recipe can be life-changing for those former bacon lovers and for new vegans. This is the best recipe so far, considering also that it looks like the real thing in quite a spooky way (with those white stripes and all), and requires just a few easy to find ingredients.



The first 'secret' ingredient (and this is my first very own input) is sun-dried (or semi dried) tomatoes, which I soaked in a little hot water for 5 minutes. Then I added a tsp of smoked paprika, 1 tbsp of Japanese soy sauce, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, half tsp of salt and a little aquafaba (water from a can of chickpeas). I blended everything into a paste (using the nutribullet). The resulting paste should have the consistency of a spread, so add more aquafaba if it is too thick. Don't make it runny.



Now for the second main ingredient (and here I got the idea from my friend Lucia who has a vegan bacon recipe here): rice paper. I found this to be such a cool idea, plus it is an alternative to gluten meat or tofu. I had a quick look at all the other rice paper bacon (also called vacon) recipes around the internet and I tried a few ways to combine the rice paper with the paste to assemble the 'bacon' slices, but somehow I didn't quite like the idea of cutting the rice paper into strips, nor soaking them with the flavoring paste: they didn't fry well and the result was more like a burned crispy slice, rather than a juicy rasher with fatty white stripes. So I came up with a easy and less messy system, which produced the best results.



Soak the rice paper disks in hot water, just enough to soften them, and then place them on a clean gauze or kitchen towel. Brush the centre with the sun-dried tomato paste and then fold like shown in the photos.



Keep working making more slices until you run out of paste (or rice paper), well at this stage it looks a bit spooky, like real pieces of flesh... not quite something I would like to think about it, but for those who go for the realist look... here you are! 



Now for the most challenging part: frying the vegan bacon: I used extra virgin olive oil and a skillet, wait for the oil to be hot and then add a few slices at the time, fold facing up first. You have to lift the slices delicately with two hands and lower them in the hot oil, so be careful. 


The secret is not to overcook the slices: first they will bubble up a bit, and you want that, get some air in to keep them soft. As soon as you see the edges drying turn over the slices and fry the other side for even less time, otherwise the sun-dried tomato paste will burn. If the oil becomes too contaminated with burned paste you will need to change it.


Place the slices on a serving plate and eat immediately, since bacon is very fat I didn't bother patting the slices with kitchen paper, after all they are delicious also because they are greasy! For a variation you can use coconut oil instead of olive oil, and I want to try liquid smoke too, as soon as I get my hands on some.



The verdict: well, we all liked it! I thought that the best test was to have a bacon sandwich with some good bread and lettuce; my husband found it very realistic and the kids, who never tasted bacon so they could not compare, thought that it was simply really yum! It is also very filling so we had lots left over, I put them in the fridge and then quickly heated up a few slices in the skillet the day after for more sandwiches, and I did the same in the evening with the last slices chopped into small pieces, to make pasta carbonara (the second test). It worked really really well.


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Vegan Monte Bianco


This is my home recipe for a Vegan Monte Bianco so easy, (plus no cooking required) and one of my favourite desserts. Chestnuts are in my DNA, as they were the staple food of my ancestors, and mine to when I was little (we still have a chestnut wood in Italy). They are naturally sweet, low in fat and high in protein, but they are so difficult to find in NZ (please write to me if you have some!!). The original recipe calls for cream, but it seems that coconut cream goes really well with chestnuts too! Here are the ingredients:


1x 400ml can coconut cream, refrigerated for at least one day
1 drop vanilla
1 tbsp sugar
1 x439g Clement Faugier chestnut puree
1x 250g Clement Faugier Sweet chestnut spread
Dark chocolate to grate (I used dark vegan Mexican chocolate)

You can add a few drops of rum or Frangelico if you like.

Scoop the coconut cream out of the tin (leave the water at the bottom) and beat until soft and foamy. Add sugar and vanilla. Set aside. Beat the two chestnut purees together (I added the coconut water to make them softer). Add some grated chocolate (about 2-3 tbsp, or to taste) and if you like a little alcohol. Spoon the chestnut mixture over a plate and shape like a peak. Then cover with the coconut cream.


Grate some more chocolate on top and refrigerate until serving. 
Well, your Vegan and non-vegan friends  alike will be surely impressed: this is sooooo good, full of proteins, and gluten free too!




Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©