Minted Coconut and Pea Soup

How come I made a pea soup, you’d ask. I don't even like peas that much. Well, I don’t know. Maybe I have read some kind of recipe somewhere that inspired me in a way? A salad recipe with peas and mint? Somewhere within the realms of the infinite WWW. Episodic memory and holy frontal lobe please help me!
But, whoever brought the ideaof a minted pea soup to my mind, it must have been a messanger of good taste.
Coconut, mint and the sweetness of the peas makes a tasty dish, I can tell ya!
And oh, this soup comes together in like, ten seconds?! Ok, maybe not 10 seconds, but 10 minutes. Not too bad, heh? That’s the convenience when using frozen peas.
Perfect for a quick summer lunch on the porch.
If you do not feel like hot soup is what you want on a hot summer day, don't hesitate to eat it chilled. It is tasty. Kind of like a pea cazpacho. But creamy and coconutty. Don't say no before you've tried it!

Minted Coconut and Pea Soup

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

1 shallot, minced
1 tsp coconut oil
4 cup frozen sweet peas
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) vegetable broth
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
1 small handful mint leaves
Pepper and salt to taste

In a small pot heat coconut oil. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add frozen peas, vegetable broth, coconut milk and mint leaves. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.  Using a hand mixer or blender purée until smooth.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ps.: I served the soup with my Pineapple Spelt Salad.

Pineapple Spelt Salad

Today it is time for some pineapple love, don’t you think? I mean, it is getting summer after all, and for a European like me there is nothing that ssys SUMMER more than the word and taste of PINEAPPLES!
Juicy, sweet, delicious pineapples get into my belly. Now!
I have been buying super sweet pineapples from Costa Rica (they are the best!) lately and it really helped me to get away from mealy apples and dry oranges and still get a propper Vitamin C fix in the mornings.
Breakfast is getting exctiting again, guys.
As does lunch because pineapple is a multitalent and great in all kinds of savory dishes, too.
Take Toast Hawaii, for example. Oh yeah. Thanks's Mum for bringing that into my life ;).
Although grilled pineapple is still my favorite way to eat this gorgeous fruit, this salad is now a close second.

You can either adapt the recipe as it is or add more mint and basil to taste. Just wait until the salad has chilled for at least an hour because the mint flavor will intensify as it sits.

I served the salad alongside a fresh Coconut Pea Soup (recipe in my next post!) and it made a great summery meal.



Pineapple Spelt Salad

Ingredients:
(Serves 4 as a side)

1 cup spelt groats

240g (1 1/3 cups) cooked chickpeas
1 ½ cups pineapple, chopped
5 handfuls spinach, chopped
1 Tbsp safflower oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
8 mint leaves, minced
a small handful of basil leaves, minced
Salt and pepper, chilli sauce to taste

Cook spelt groats after packaging directions and drain in a colander. Put into a salad bowl immediately and mix with chopped spinach. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
As always this salad tastes best after a few hours of chilling time.

Conchiglie with Goat Cream Cheese and Spinach

Most days I come home from a long day at University totally famished.
Although, I alsways pack a ton of food to eat during the day, including nuts and fruits to nibble on when the hunger strikes me, I always end up craving a warm and satisfying meal by the time I walk through my door.
Besides being delicious and somewhat healthy, my dinners also have to be ready in less than 30 minutes flat. That’s the maximum amount of time I am willing/able to spend before I’d collapse (Being melodramatic here)!
Sice this dish fulfills both needs, it is one of my go-to dinners when I crave pasta with a light but creamy sauce.
To make it a little more filling, I always bulk it up with vegetables - spinach, kale or chard being my favorites.
Since the meal is so freaking simple I am almost hesitant to call it a recipe, but it is delicious and therefore worth sharing with you:
All you have to do is boil the pasta in plenty of salt water, chop up two challots and cook them in some oil together with the greens. Then you throw in the cooked pasta with a dollop of cream cheese, add a generous dash of  salt, pepper and Percorino, et viola! There you have a simple but tasty dinner steaming in front of you!

If you are cooking for only one person, don’t hesitate to make the whole batch, since the dish tastes great cold and makes a nice salad for lunch the next day.

Do you know what’s also great with this dish? I am almost ashamed to tell you but I drizzle Hot Chili Sauce over my noodles to add more spice. I am also the kind of person who eats ketchup with her pizza. I know, I know. I am very sorry.
But anyways. Try it with Hot Sauce!

Conchiglie with Goat Cream Cheese and Spinach
(Serves 2 hungry people)

250g Conchiglie pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil
500g fresh spinach, chopped
2 shallots, minced
100g goat’s cream cheese
¼ cup reserved noodle water
Salt, pepper

Pecorino cheese for serving

Cocktail tomatoes, olive oil

Cook pasta in salt water according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander but reserve about 1/4 cup of the cooking water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large pot and sweat shallots until translucent. Add spinach leaves and cook covered on medium heat until spinach has wilted. Stir frequently. Drain spinach in a colander to remove excess water. Put back into the pot and season with salt and pepper. Add cream cheese and stir well to melt the cheese. Fold in the pasta and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

To make the tomatoes, place them on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake at 175°C (350°F) for about 20 minutes or until the peel cracks open.

Serve with shaved Pecorino.

Cheesecake Dessert with Rhubarb Compote

This weekend  it was time for a dessert because I just couldn’t stand walking past all this beautiful rhubarb anymore. I am weak guys, I am weak.
But whatever, there are worse things than rhubarb on this planet so I don’t give a damn.
Aaaand, I think it has been at least 1 year since the last time I enjoyed a piece of this tart wird looking fruit ( I think it actually is a vegetable?).

Today the sun was shining and the temperatures reached 24°C! Yikes! That called  for an indulgent, yet refreshing and somewhat healthy dessert to celebrate, don’t you think?
But since I really wanted to spend my time outside rather than in the kitchen I could not imagine myself baking a buttery cake . So please welcome the no-bake Cheesecake Dessert!
It is a very quick and simple recipe that comes together in 10 minutes flat, when you prepare the compote in advance as I did. That’s not too shabby for a dessert, I think.

I really love the flavor combinations of rhubarb, honey and vanilla, so I could not help myself and make a recipe out of it. For the cheesecake base I chose to use vanilla quark that is only slightly sweetend. The base is very sweet and brings together the tartness of the rhubarb and the slightly sour taste of the quark perfectly.
If you do not have quark were you live, just replace it with Greek yoghurt. It should work nicely.

Although desserts in glasses might be very old fashioned I like the idea of digging deep into the rhubarb compote and creamy vanilla yoghurt to reach the sweet, nutty crust layer. That is so exciting and such fun to eat. I don’t mind if it’s nothing cool kids do. At least I have delicious food. And a chair in the sun. Enough for a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Chessecake Dessert with Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Compote:
(Makes a lot)

750g (9 stalk) rhubarb, ends cut off, peeled and chopped (it should then be about 560g)
approx. ¼ cup (65ml ) honey
approx.. ¼ cup apple syrup
¼ cup water
½- ¾  tsp ground vanilla
Little lemon juice

Cut peeld rhubarb into slices and add all ingredients except the vanilla in a pot. Bring to a simmer and cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb is soft and has fallen apart. Stir in the  vanilla and  let cool. Store in the fridge.

Crunch-layer:
(serves 2-3)

¼ cup (30g) rolled oats
¼ cup (35g) almonds
4 pitted dates
1 Tbsp apple syrup
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp coconut oil

Ina food processor combine all ingredients and pulse until a crumbly dough forms.

Vanilla-Quark:
(serves 2-3)

250g nonfat Quark or Greek yoghurt
150g creamy plain yoghurt (3,5% fat)
1 Tbsp apple syrup
½ tsp ground vanilla or more to taste

Into a bowl add all ingredients and stir until a smooth cream forms.

To assamble the cheesecake, add 1/3 or ¼ (depending on the size of the glasses) into a glass and smooth out. Cover with the desired amount of vanilla quark. Top with rhubarb compote. Enjoy with a long spoon to dig deep and eat the layers together.