Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Herby French Bean Noodle Salad

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On a rainy, grey autumn day this salad made me cheer up. It has so much flavour and beautiful green colours. It is a bit chewy because of the noodles and crunchy of the raw vegetables and herbs. I think it is a great combination.

You can substitute the French beans with aubergine or cauliflower. The Thai dressing is zingy and fresh. This salad packs loads of flavour in one simple dish!

Recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Veg Every Day.

Herby French Bean Noodle Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the noodle salad
– 200 g soba noodles (you can use udon or rice noodles)
– 150 g French beans, ends trimmed
– 1/2 long cucumber, thinly sliced
– 4 spring onions, sliced
– 6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
– a small bunch of coriander, chopped
– salt

For the dressing
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
– 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes or a small red chilli, finely chopped
– 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
– 1 teaspoon cane sugar
– 1 teaspoon soy sauce
– 1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Method

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and set aside. In a small bowl mix together all the dressing’s ingredients and toss it with the cooked noodles until well coated. Set aside.

In a pan cook the beans of lightly salted boiling water until just tender and a bit crunchy (4-6 minutes). Drain well. Toss the noodles with the spring onions, cucumber, beans and herbs.

Serve and 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.

Kale And Mushroom Lasagne

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The recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s vegetarian cookbook Veg Every Day!. Hugh spent one summer to get to know the vegetables more. He’s come up with an abundance of veg-tastic recipes. I could cook and bake all the recipes from the book. With over 200 recipes and vibrant photography, River Cottage Veg Every Day is a timely eulogy to the glorious green stuff. You can watch the series on  YouTube-on.

This lasagna was a winner. Everyone in my family loved it.

Kale and Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

For the lasagna
– 300 g kale, tough stalks removed, leaves cut into bite size pieces
– 500 g button mushroom, sliced
– 3 cloves garlic, chopped
– 180-190 g lasagne sheets
– 30 g butter (unsalted)
– 20 g Parmesan, grated
– 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
– olive oil
– sea salt, pepper

For the béchamel sauce
– 750 ml non-dairy milk (oat, rice, soy, you can substitute with milk)
– 1 onion, chopped
– 1 small root of celery, chopped
– 50 g butter (unsalted)
– 50 g plain flour
– 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
– 1 bay leaf
– a frew black peppercorns
– sea salt

In a pan heat the milk with bay leaf, onion, celery and peppercorns until just below simmering. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Put the kale leaves into a pan and cover with cold water. Add salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

In a large pan heat 30 g butter, add mushroom, some salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the liquid released by the mushroom has evaporated. Stir in garlic and thyme, cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Reheat the infused milk slowly, then strain. In a large saucepan heat 50 g butter for the béchamel sauce. Stir in the flour and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add about a quarter of the hot milk and beat vigorously until smooth. Repeat with the remaining milk until you have a smooth sauce. Return to the heat and cook for a few minutes – stirring -, allowing it to bubble until thickened. Stir in the mustard, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stir about half of the béchamel sauce into the kale, put to one side.

Spread half the remaining sauce over the bottom of a 29*20 cm (11,4 * 7,8 inch) ovenproof dish. Put one layer of lasagna sheets in the dish, then spoon the kale over the top. Add another layer of lasagna, then the mushrooms. Finish with a final layer of pasta and the remaining of béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan and olive oil and bake at 180C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.