Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

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I love beetroot, carrot, potato, parsnip, butternut squash, kale but I’m getting a little tired of these winter vegetables that has been feeding us for the last 6 months. I want spring vegetables now… sorrel and spinach are available at the markets – I already eat them – but I’m longing for the spring (and summer!) vegetables and fruits to start appearing. Like asparagus, peas, strawberries, raspberries… Oh how I miss them!

I don’t even know how the agriculture can accomodate to this extremist weather. This winter has just been too long. But there are signs that our hope is not superfluous.  The amount of daylight is getting longer, the temperature is rising and we can see the sun shining through the big, fluffy, white clouds.

  “The most beautiful springs are those that come after the most horrible winters!”

– Mehmet Murat Ildan

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This broccoli pesto pasta dish can be a very easy to make weeknight meal. Although broccoli is not very seasonal I wanted to use another vegetable to make a delicious meal that reminds me of summer.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

– 350 g broccoli, peel stalk, then stalk and florets chopped
– 50 g walnut
– 40 g grated parmesan
– 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
– 3 cloves garlic, peeled
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– salt, pepper
– 350-400 g pasta

Method

In a dry non-stick pan toast walnuts for 4-5 minutes and set aside.

In a medium sized pan bring water to a boil. Add salt into the boiling water and blanch the broccoli stalks and florets for 2 minutes. With the help of a drain spoon, take out the broccoli and set aside. Use the same water to cook the pasta al dente. Drain (in the meantime save about 100-150 ml cooking water) and set aside.

Add 200 g blanched broccoli (save a few florets), toasted walnuts, grated parmesan, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice to your food processor and pulse until it gets smooth. Pour this creamy pesto mixture over the cooked pasta, add a bit of cooking water and toss until combined. Add the leftover broccoli florets and serve immediately with a handful of grated parmesan and a drizzle of lemon juice over the top.

Penne With Beetroot Cream And Toasted Poppy Seeds

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Look at this beautiful red colour! We should be grateful to Mother Nature for giving us beetroot that has an amazing colour like this!

My body has a lack of iron (just a little bit) these days so I try to eat as many meals as I can that are rich in iron. Iron rich foods can fortify your blood, in a properly balanced diet. Iron, the metal, is an element that is also a nutrient mineral that humans need to consume as a part of our everyday diet. Iron, in some form, is essential for good health. It is also important to eat foods rich in vitamin C because this vitamin enhances the absorption of iron into our body. If we are not getting enough iron, the best way to increase our iron intake is by effecting a slight change in our eating habits.

If you are a vegetarian like me it’s good to know that foods such as beans, whole grains, spinach and dried fruits have a significant amount of iron.

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Penne With Beetroot Cream and Toasted Poppy Seeds
(Recipe inspiration: Bev Cooks)

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 200 g penne pasta
– 3 medium beetroot, peeled and diced
– 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
– 2 sprigs thyme
– 4 tabelspoons olive oil
– 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
– 1/2 cup vegetable stock
– 1/4 cup cream or oat cream
– 1/2 cup grated parmesan
– 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
– salt, pepper

Method

In a bowl mix together the diced beetroot with 2 tablespoons olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Place it on a baking sheet and roast at 180C (356F) until tender (about 30-40 minutes). In the last 10 minutes baking, sprinkle the beets with the garlic and bake them together.

Transfer garlicy beets to a food processor and add balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 cup grated parmesan and pulse until it gets smooth. Transfer the mixture to a pan and add vegetable stock, cream and the leftover parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and simmer on low temperature while you prepare the rest of the dish.

In a medium sized pan bring water to a boil. Add salt into the boiling water and cook the penne al dente. Drain and set aside. In a dry non-stick pan toast the poppy seeds in 2-3 minutes.

Pour the beetroot sauce over the penne and serve immediately. Sprinkle with fresh thyme, the toasted poppy seed and some parmesan.

Enjoy!

Green Asparagus And Pea Ricotta Pesto Spagetthi

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I love summer because the markets (and of course nature) is colourful, bright and fragrant. Every Saturday I get up early to go to Budapest’s biggest organic farmers market. The vegetables and fruits are grown with care by the farmers I got to know in the last few years.

Since we have owned a small parcel in a community garden I appreciate the farmers hard work even more that’s why I like supporting them. As much as possible I always use fresh stuff, so the food I prepare is full of healthy ingredients that are straight from the plant or that are made with as little processing and as few added flavorings as possible, keeping nutrients and original flavors intact.

This is how this simply pasta dish was born. Green vegetables and herbs (bought at the market) lightened with creamy, white ricotta and a touch of lemon juice.

Enjoy!

Green Asparagus and Pea Ricotta Pesto Spagetthi

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 200 g spagetthi
– 150 g ricotta
– 140 g fresh green shelled peas
– 180 g green asparagus, discard the wooden parts
– 1 clove garlic
– 125 ml extra virgin olive oil
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– 6 pieces of basil leaves
– 3 pieces of mint leaves
– sea salt and black pepper

Method

In a medium sized pan bring water to a boil. Put the peas and asparagus into the water and blanch them for 1 minute, then drain and pass them under cold water for a few seconds to keep the nice bright green colour.

Add salt into the boiling water and cook the spagetthi al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a food processor blend peas, chopped asparagus with all the remaining ingredients (ricotta, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, basil and mint leaves). Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the creamy pesto sauce over the cooked spagetthi and stir well. Serve the creamy spagetthi onto plates, top with fresh peas and black pepper.

Vegan Pumpkin Chickpeas Curry

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The other day I felt I would love to eat something Indian flavored meal that has a nice aroma, also it is delicous and easy to make. I only cooked curry once before so I needed a recipe to follow because I wasn’t confident with the usage of Indian spices.I found a great recipe on BBC Good Food that stands alone as a vegan main course or as a complex side dish for an Indian feast. You can substitute the pumpkin with eggplant or zucchini anything you would like. I served the curry with simple boiled rice but I would love to make Prerna’s naan breads next time.

Vegan Pumpkin Chickpeas Curry

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

– 1 kg pumpkin, peeled, cut into small cubes
– 400 g (1 can) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
– 400 ml coconut milk
– 250 ml vegetable stock
– 3 tablespoons yellow curry paste
– 2 onions, finely chopped
– 1 tablespoon black mustard seed
– 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
– 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
– juice of 1 lime
– mint
– naan bread or boiled rice to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a pan, then gently fry the curry paste with the onions, cardamom and mustard seed for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add the cubed pumpkin and coat in the paste. Pour in the vegetable stock and coconut milk. Bring everything to a boil, add the chickpeas, then cook for on lower heat about 10 minutes until the squash is tender. Stir in the juice of the lime. Turn off the heat, sprinkle the curry with mint leaves.

Serve with naan breads of boiled rice.

Moroccan Mushroom with Couscous

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I always smile when I think about our Moroccan trip. It has made our journey very exciting from the very  start: two backpacks, two flight tickets, a Lonely Planet guide book and some money – that was all we took. And – of course – the road plan in our head about what we would like to see.

No accommodation bookings, no pre-paid train tickets, nothing.

We had so many adventures during those 12 days. Climbing the Jebel Toubkal (1,5 km vertical distance in 7 hours and 11 km long hiking trip until the refugee house and 11 km back to the village Imlil, the next day) is an experience that will remain with us forever. This was my very first hiking trip and a very difficult one. I brought home two small pebbles from the Atlas mountains, which are still sitting on my computer desk at home and they constantly remind me that if I endured the climbing and hiking I’m able to accomplish everything in life.

I’ve brought you a Moroccan recipe for today that I found on BBC’s GoodFood Healthy Recipes for the iPhone (a very useful app for a food blogger :)).

Moroccan Mushroom with Couscous

Ingredients (serves 4)

– 300 g button mushroom, quartered
– 400 g (1 can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
– 400 g (1 can) chopped tomatoes, drained but keep the tomato juice
– 1 red onion, chopped
– 1 teaspoon cumin
– 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon honey
– 180 g couscous
– 50 g soft dried apricots, diced
– small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
– salt, pepper
– olive oil

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and fry the onin for a couple of minutes until softened. Add cinnamon and cumin and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the mushrooms, cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes, half of the juice of the can tomatoes, chickpeas and honey. Season with salt and pepper, simmer for 7-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a pan mix the couscous with the dried apricots, some salt and pepper. Pour over 250 ml boiling water, then cover. Leave to stand for 8-10 minutes or until softened. To serve, fluff up with a fork, stir in the parsley and top with the mushroom mixture. We can pour over the dish with the remaining tomato juice.

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