Zucchini noodle avocado sauce mush

Yes yes, I know. This dish has become such a cliché in food blogs, but since I don't give a damn about such things (plus I want to jot it down before it gets lost in the sea of recipes I have bookmarked), here goes.

I love love love zucchini spaghetti and finally decided to "splurge" and get a gadget for making the said delicacy. I had a julienne peeler before but was never really satisfied with the quality of the strips it produced, they were too thin for my liking. This new baby which cost all of 12 euros if I remember correctly delivers! No, it's not a spiralizer, but it takes much less space in my teeny tiny kitchen and the price was a definite bonus.

And it produces the cutest cones ever! Awww...

I found the recipe in Paleo Cupboard and the result was just absolutely amazingly scrumptious. The avocado sauce had exactly the right amount of flavour, although I think I used a little less garlic than the recipe, since I'm still getting used to it again after omitting it from my diet for quite a while due to sensitivities. But feel free to use all 3 cloves if you want yours more garlicky. You can either serve the noodles raw or cook them. I love them both ways but this time I cooked them and the result was really really good. So, anyway you go, you can't go wrong.

The pics also don't really do this dish justice. I wringed my poor zucchinis to within an inch of their lives while  trying to get the excess liquid out and didn't believe the recipe when it called for 6 large zucchinis, so the result is more a mush under a mush than noodles with a sauce. But hey, I'm always of the opinion that there can never be too much sauce and am known to drown all sorts of innocent cakes in something liquid and sweet, so I had no complaints. If you want a more photogenic dish, do as I say, not as I do. Yes? :) But now: Let me present: Miss Avocado meets Mr Zucchini, falls in love and decides it never wants to be separated from him ever again, aka Mush. Enjoy!

Zucchini noodles with avocado cream sauce

6 large zucchinis (yes it seems like a lot but they lose a lot of volume when squeezed)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp oil

Sauce 

2 large avocados, peeled and pitted

1/4 cup packed basil leaves

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 cloves of garlic, minced (or less, I think I had 2 small ones)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

Julienne or spiral slice your zucchini and place in a strainer over a larger bowl or in the sink. Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of salt over the zucchini and toss to coat. Allow the zucchini to sit for 15-20 minutes to allow excess liquid to drain. After the zucchini has drained, wrap it in a few paper towels and squeeze gently (don't wring it to death) to remove any remaining moisture. Wrap again in fresh paper towels and leave on the counter until ready to cook.

To make the sauce, place all of the sauce ingredients in a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if desired. 

Note: If serving raw, stop here and serve the sauce on top of the noodles.

To cook the noodles, pour oil in a large skillet and warm over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sauce and toss with the noodles to coat. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until heated through, then serve.

Sweet potato boats with delicious cargo

So, I have a confession to make: sometimes I cheat on coconut with the other love of my life, sweet potato. Give me fries, wedges, brownies, mash - anything goes, as long as it's orange. This dish is a true ode to that wonderful root vegetable. It is again from Outi Rinne's wonderful book Mieliruoka and cooked to (almost) perfection in my mom's kitchen. The boats carry a truly nutrious cargo of quinoa, black beans, tomatoes in two forms and a wonderful array of spices. Absolutely delicious!

I roasted way too much of the sweet potatoes, so the rest of them I mushed and smuggled into a batch of cookies I promise to share with you later. Watch this space! :) And really, there's no such a thing as too much sweet potato. You can put it anywhere: bake into bread rolls, make brownies or cookies, just eat it as is, make veggie patties, paint the walls with it, marry it... The choices are endless. Or if in doubt, just ship it over to me and I'll make short work of it ;)

I also put a little too much of the sundried tomatoes in, since I thought the "6" that's called for in the recipe means 6 whole tomatoes, and my sundrieds were halves. But I think 6 halves would have been more than enough since they do lend a very "dark" and pungent-y sour taste to the filling.  

These babies are really yummy by themselves, but once again, like in the lentil watermelon salad, the mint vinaigrette makes a real change. Sooo fresh and yummy! Also a nice salad would be great as a side dish, if you want to have more greens with your orange. 

Sweet potato boats

2 small plump or 4 skinnier sweet potatoes

coconut or sesame oil

Filling

1 dl quinoa

1 tin (285 g) black beans

6 sundried tomatoes

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1/2 onion, grated

1 clove of garlic

grated zest and juice of 1/2 organic lemon/lime

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp coriander powder

black pepper to taste

1/2-1 tsp salt

3 tbsp cacao nibs (I didn't have these so left them out)

1 tsp smoked bell pepper powder (mom can't deal with bell peppers so left this out)

2 dl soft innards of sweet potatoes 

For garnishing: fresh coriander

Mint vinaigrette

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Scrub the sweet potatoes clean under flowing tap water. Split in four wedges lengthwise (or in 2 wedges if the sweet potatoes are very skinny). Give the wedges a nice oil massage and roast in the oven for about 30 min or until they are soft and done.

Meawhile: prepare the filling. Cook quinoa according to the directions in the package. Grate lemon/lime zest, garlic and onion in a large bowl. Grate also the fresh tomatoes (best to halve the tomatoes and grate with the cut surface facing the grater). Pat the excess oil out of the sundried tomatoes with kitchen roll and chop the tomatoes, add into the bowl. When the quinoa has cooked, drain it well and add 2 dl in the bowl. If there's something left over, save it for other use. Add the remaining filling ingredients in the bowl (not the lemon juice or the sweet potato meat, since it's still in the  oven (d'oh!)). Mix.

Take the soft and lovely sweet potatoes out of the oven. Scrape the innards out of the boats carefully, so that there will be a hole where you can put the filling. I didn't manage to do this very well and we ended up having just filling on sweet potato skins, mainly :P. Equally delicious but not as pretty. Add the scraped out sweet potato innards/meat/flesh or whatever it's called (2 dl or more of it) into the bowl. Check the flavour and add lemon/lime juice if needed. Spoon the filling into the awaiting boats and finish with fresh coriander.

Serve with mint vinaigrette. Devour.

Sweet potatoes meet avocado pea mash, feta and eggs

After going gluten free I've rarely had anything toasted. This recipe from Tuulia was originally called "sweet potato toast", which made me quite excited. A toast with lots of super yummy toppings, in this case, feta cheese, a light and fresh puree out of avocados and peas plus runny, gooey eggs sounded like heaven to me. So I got to work. And wonderful it was, indeed! The toast aspect didn't really come across, though, but I still almost licked the plate. So no harm done. Just out of principle, though, I'm not going to call these "toast". Like I refuse to call stuff piled on a salad "a hamburger". Anyhow, these babies are delish as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or a snack. Probably not as dessert. Or maybe, with some caramel sauce?

As I am queen of "more toppings and sauce than the actual main ingredient, please", you can't really see the poor sweet potato slices, hiding under the pile of yumminess. But rest assured, it is there. And it is delicious!

The original recipe didn't add salt on the sweet potatoes while roasting them, but if I were to do this recipe a second time (which I probably will, as it was really really yum) I'd add salt. And maybe some mint to the puree/mash. Just as a tip!

Sweet potato slices, avocado pea mash, feta and eggs

serves 4

1-2 sweet potatoes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
a few handfuls of baby spinach (or other leafy greens)
Avocado Pea Mash, for serving
sheep feta cheese, crumbled
4 organic eggs
salt & black pepper
fresh herbs or sprouts

Avocado pea mash

1 big ripe avocado
1 1/2 cups / 200g fresh or thawed peas
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 tbsp olive oil
salt & black pepper
a bit of water, if needed
(optional: some mint leaves)


Preheat the oven to 200 C°. Wash the sweet potato thoroughly, peel if you're so inclined and cut it into about 2 cm slices lengthwise. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and place the sweet potatoes on the baking tray. Sprinkle with olive oil (and salt). Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft. Prepare the avocado pea mash and the eggs in the meantime.

Add all the avocado pea mash ingredients to a blender (or use a hand mixer) and pulse/mix until relatively smooth with some bits left. Add a bit of water, if needed. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Boil the eggs for about 4 to 5 minutes, so that the yolk remains runny. 

When the sweet potatoes potatoes are ready, remove them from the oven. Place the slices on plates and top with spinach, avocado pea mash, crumbled feta cheese and the eggs. Sprinkle some fresh herbs on top too. Serve straight away and enjoy!

Pistachio crusted salmon with fresh take on coleslaw

And there's more! The crowd goes wild! A whole onslaught of posts is coming your way, as you may or may not have noticed. And they're all amazing. The food, I mean. And the posts are pretty nice too ;)

 Here's another main dish, fresh from mom's kitchen (made by yours truly, of course). If there's something I've been craving protein-wise while I was travelling, it is definitely fish. The fish in Finland is so good and plentiful, that we've been having it for almost every meal since my return. The fresh water fishes are super yummy, but salmon is still my all-time favourite. The traditional way of preparing it (at least in our kitchen) has to do with smothering the poor thing in sour cream and/or cheese, which makes the dish rather heavy. So, when I saw this take on a traditional fish dish on Syötävän hyvä, I jumped at the chance. Pistachios and salmon! Oh boy, that cannot be bad. And it wasn't, let me tell you. Especially with the super fresh side of kohlrabi, apple and carrot.

A plateful of awesomeness that doesn't leave you sluggish or bloated afterwards. What more can a girl ask for?

(Well, some sweet treats. But there will be a post very soon on that front. Stay tuned!)

So, drumroll, please: Mr. Salmon meets Miss Slaw. A match made in heaven!

 

Pistachio salmon meets kohlrabi apple slaw

(original recipe here, in Finnish)

Part 1: Mr. Salmon

300–400 g salmon fillet

ca. 1 dl pistachio nuts (ca. 250 g salted and roasted pistachios in the shell) 

1–2 tbsp Dijon mustard

chives

parsley

salt + pepper

Peel and chop nuts. If you're using ready-shelled nuts, check if they're already salted. If not, roast on a pan and salt. Crush nuts. Mix with mustard and a generous helping of chopped chives and parsley. 

Cut the salmon into portion sized pieces. Line baking sheet with baking paper, place salmon pieces skin-down on the paper. Sprinkle salt (can be quite a lot) and pepper (a little less) on the fish. Cover with the pistachio-mustard-mush. 

Bake in 200 degrees for about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish bits. Don't overbake! Nobody likes dry fish...

Part 2: Miss Slaw

1 part kohlrabi

1 part green apple

0,5 part carrot (just for the colour splash, you know)

a little mayonnaise

a little olive oil

small squeeze of lemon

salt + pepper to taste

Grate kohlrabi, apple and carrot. Mix with the rest of the ingredients. Introduce to Mr. Salmon.

Sweet potato falafels and quinoa tabbouleh

 Dinner is served! I've been almost deliriously happy to be puttering away in my mom's lovely kitchen after my travels. The first week has seen a couple of main dishes, lots of healthy sweet treats and breakfast aweomeness. After the ashram diet I've put on a few kilos already, but boy has it been worth it :D

The Finnish summer decided to play its trump card and drop the temperatures below 10 degrees and accompany the freeze with rain and wind. Thanks! But I don't really mind, Finland is still Finland: the air is clear and clean which makes a change after the dusty Kathmandu and everything is super green and lush after the rains and the wonderful spell of warm summer weather that just conveniently ended before my arrival. Any my mom's excited that she doesn't have to do the cooking, for once!

So, let's get to it, shall we? This time I have a main dish for you. Or actually two, combined into one delicious meal. These recipe is from one of my favourite blogs, Feelgood Kitchen. And even though the blog is in Finnish, fear not, English speakers! I have translated them for you, so that you can enjoy recreating the yumminess, if you so choose.

Without further ado: sweet potato falafels and a fresh, lovely gluten free alternative for the middle eastern staple, tabbouleh. The falafels were a bit on the dry side for my liking, so next time I'd add some more moisture to the mix. The baking time was also a little longish for my oven, so I recommend keeping an eye on the things while they're baking away, so that they don't get even drier or burn. The original recipes for both the falafels and tabbouleh are doubled, and my ratio of sweet potato / chickpea might have also been a bit off, but the falafels were good anyway, especially with the light and fresh tabbouleh.

The tahini sauce might have worked better with a lighter tahini; mine was an organic and quite flavourful. I also can't take quite as much raw garlic as was called for in the recipe and only used one clove. The sauce turned quite pungent, so I took the liberty of softening it a bit with maple syrup. I also served yoghurt as a second sauce, and I think it was a very welcome addition.

Sweet potato falafels

(original recipe here, in Finnish)

makes ca. 20 small falafels

smallish sweet potato (ca. 300-400 g)

1 can chickpeas / 3 dl soaked and cooked ones

1,5 tbsp tahini

2 cloves of garlic

1 onion

0,5 dl chickpea flour

couple of handfuls of fresh coriander

1,5 tsp cumin

0,5 tsp chili powder

a fair amount of salt

black pepper

on the surface: olive olil & sesame seeds

Prepare the sweet potato in the microwave oven: wash it, stab it a couple of times with a fork and wrap in slightly damp kitchen roll. Stick in the microwave on a microwave proof plate, nuke for 3 min. Flip the sweet potato around, nuke another 3 min until soft. If you don't have a microwave, chop the sweetie , drizzle with olive oil and roast in 200 degrees until soft. Let the sweet potato cool down a bit.

Add all inredients (not the chickpea flour!) in a food processor and blend into a doughy paste (it doesn't have to be smooth). You can also use a stand mixer. Check the flavour and add spices, if needed. Mix the chickpea flour to the dough in the end.

Heat the oven till 225 degrees. Roll the dough into small balls with moist hands, set on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if you'd like. Bake for 35 minutes (too much in my oven) or until the falafels are a nice golden colour.

Lemon tahini sauce

1 dl tahini

0,75 dl water

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove of garlic, crushed

a sprinkle of salt and black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients. Add water until the consistency is to your liking. The sauce will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Quinoa tabbouleh

(original recipe here, in Finnish)

2 dl cooked quinoa 

1/2 small cucumber

2 tomatoes

1/2 bell pepper

a small handful of fresh parsley

a small handful of fresh mint and coriander

0,5 tsp salt

0,25 tsp cinnamon (I added more as I'm a cinnamon junkie)

1,5 tbsp olive oil

1,5 tbsp lemon juice

Dice the veggies and chop the herbs. Let the tomatoes sit on a couple of sheets of kitchen roll for a bit so that they don't make the tabbouleh soggy. Mix quinoa with spices, olive oil and lemon juice. (Pro tip! I like to cook my quinoa with lemon juice and soy sauce/tamari. If you follow my lead, then you can reduce the amount of lemon juice in the recipe. Try what suits your taste buds the best!) Add diced veggies and chopped herbs. Mix and enjoy!

The tabbouleh was even more delicious the next day, as the cinnamon popped up way more then. Super omnom!