breakfast with quince

there is excitement in the air when bringing a new produce home for the first time. a slight nervousness, too.

when the lady at saturday's market offered me, the late and last customer, this season's last batch of organic quinces for the price of 9 instead of 12.95 €, i couldn't help but take them.

no idea if that was a bargain. and frankly speaking, the fruit is not the prettiest. but these fragrant 3,65 kg something felt heavy and precious on the way home.

what's to make out of it? bread? jam? compote? chutney? i love quince jelly (btw Antje! still owe you a weck glass with some content in return :) ) but had never eaten the fruit before.

after preparing half the batch for a jam there were exactly 6 quinces left for rachel's mouthwatering compote recipe. (i reduced the sugar amount in order to use the compote for savory dishes, too).

so today there will be two breakfasts: millet porridge with quince compote AND sweet yeast bread with quince jam.

one word to millet: it's a superhealthy beauty product that cooks quickly.

bring it to a boil with milk, a pinch of salt and little agave.

as soon as it boils turn the heat off and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

eat it with fruits /a dollop of cream / cocoa / cinnamon.

or savory with nuts / red pepper / chili /...

crisp lunch @ kopps, mitte

i visited a brand new restaurant in linienstr and my dear friend selin was willing to accompany me and sit as a model :). thank you!

it is owned by björn moschinski, the former chef of la mano verde, the so far only gourmet vegan restaurant in berlin.

ideally located at koppenplatz with full view of the streets and the fancy mitte folks, the launch seems to be promising.

not that this area lacks good eateries: actually the galleries' district between torstr and auguststr as of 2011 is the food mile of the city - there are plenty of either upscale or cozy addresses with all kind of cuisines and nowhere it's easier to get quality snacks in stylish ambiance.

to start with what i disliked at kopps - the waiter was way too stiff and hectic. but maybe i was to blame, too. as i had never been to a vegan institution before, i had the preconception that those people would be per se casual, wearing dreadlocks and eco-clothes. so i addressed the waiter with "du..." / "ihr..." and he certainly was not amused and said "sie!..." well i see, it is rather a chic place.

anyway as to the food... it was superb! we ordered a beetroot ravioli with sprout salad and fig confit. it came together with solid ciabatta, dark bread and a bread spread that reminded a little of an egg salad. everything was crisp, artistically arranged, not really filling (the serving was tiny) but with a maximum in taste and refined flavors.

and the coffee was the best i had in a long long long while. (being not a fan of these overrated coffee shops...)

don't miss this lighthearted documentary that features björn among other personalities and get inspired in terms of sustainable indulgences.

kopps bar & restaurant,
linienstr. 94, mitte.
opens every day from 8:30 am.

vegetable aroma puree

i know i know that nothing compares to a freshly made vegetable broth and no question that say for a risotto or a soup it's the way to go.

but there are situations when you only need a bit of it for a more laborious dish and can't be bothered, right?

i made good experiences with this vegetable puree that can be used like instant broth: just mix one or two tsp of puree with hot water.

the recipe (i halved the original amount suggested) is from a great new cookbook. in fact i bought this book almost entirely because of this recipe which seemed revolutionary to me (i bet, as so often this idea has been known to man since ever but just not known to me :)).

in a food processor coarsely puree:

100 g carrots (my tip: weigh the ingredients before shredding:)

50 g celery roots (celeriac)

50 g celery stalks

50 g leeks

50 g root parsley (found it in the stores only later - i used parsnip)

50 g kohlrabi (german parsnip)

1 stalk of celery leaves

1 stalk of flat parsley

1 stalk of lovage (couldn't find it anywhere - i used dried lovage)

50 g sea salt.

fill the mixture in sterilized glasses (should make up two glasses).
because of the high salt content it lasts in the fridge for up to one year!

next time i will preserve the other variations suggested (asian and mediterranean) as well as some pretty pickles of vegetable spaghetti.

wraps with quinoa, lentils and beetroot

after having devoured

1) half a pound of good old dr. oetker's marble cake during the weekend (do you think of excuses when making a huge buttery chocolatey plain white flour cake? i sometimes do. in this case that was "after this new-fashioned-pastries-wave it's high time to make a classic marble cake. it's been years since you had the last one. otherwise you will even forget that taste.... ahh, horrible imagination! :) )

2) together with a bulk of my favorite biscotti (the only store-bought sweets that are currently admitted to my household)

i had to make up some fresh compensatory meals asap.

lovely beetroots are in season now and pretty as always. the easiest way is to eat them raw. if you have a good vegetable peeler, a mandolin slicer (yes, in this case kitchen gadgets are a real blessing), a pair of thin rubber gloves and if you deal with the beetroots carefully you can quickly produce vegetable sticks without causing a "stain accident".

i made a simplified version of these wraps (a page that has never failed me when in need of healthy inspirations): lettuce, beetroot sticks, red onions, fennel and cinnamon scented quinoa with raisins, lemon scented beluga lentils, flat parsley and goat cheese crumbles wrapped up in a big tortilla.

if you've stocked up on cooked lentils in the freezer, this wraps come together in no time. btw, it's essential that lentils and quinoa are cooked in gentle heat, i.e. simmering water.

combine the stuffing as a salad and it will make up a wonderfully filling glutenfree meal (hi basti, you hear me? :)

definitely worth trying, even without a cake feast prior to that!

attila's tofu bolognese

i normally do not collect cookbooks but this autumn so many great publications flood the book market that it will seriously challenge my budget.

my latest acquisition is the "flavour thesaurus" by niki segnit - a personal encyclopedia about the pairwise combination of ingredients. it is written with much wit and profound knowledge on regional cuisines (including korean cuisine), food history as well as food culture today and it contains recipes, too. so this book replaces several :)

besides, i wanted to have a book with vegan only recipes and was pleased to find a familiar face in the bookstore shelf... two years ago, i met a guy at a party who told me about his friend running a successful cooking channel on youtube (it was late night and obviously we still must have chatted within the context of food :) ). i glimpsed over it later but as i wasn't interested into vegan diet in those days (i thought of vegans as a mystic sect...), forgot about it soon.

now that internet cook has his book published: "vegan for fun".turned out to be a good one.

i liked the pictures that were taken in berlin, in shops that were familiar to me and after all, that the author was a real berliner :).

the recipes sounded delicious and feasible. though i guess they will primarily appeal to men as lots of them cover substitute dishes for meat dishes and almost every recipe requires tofu. but i consider these shortcomings forgivable.

what i appreciated most was to read about the author's food philosophy - joyful, modern and inspiring to do the little steps towards a more eco-friendly nutrition.

my first dish from the book was a tofu bolognese. being of asian origin it still feels weird to cook with tofu for western dishes.

however the result was so delicious (think of a very mellow sugo with a sweet hint), that i am glad to have overcome my inhibitions :)

granola bars - power food for the harsh times :)

this post is for my friend veit who lately caused some consternation among our buddies when admitting that sometimes he doesn't have the time to grab food during work.

i hope not to ever face such harsh times but if that should happen - i would stock up on these granola bars in the freezer. good for the brain! also great when being on the road! or for any time you've jumped out of the house without breakfast :)

the steps are as easy as always: first you make a yeast dough (i used whole wheat flower, water, little agave sirup, honey and a pinch of salt) in order to bind the other ingredients.

after one hour rising time add any healthy ingredient at will: rolled oats or multi-grain flakes, seeds, nuts, dried fruits. form the bars and bake them.

i will distribute an exemplary soon :)

zucchini spaghetti

because of lack of space and because of my aversion to plastic gadgets it took me almost a year to decide to have a vegetable spiralizer. henceforward it took only hours until i hold an amazon packet in my hands and believe it or not, only seconds to make a dish inspired by green kitchen stories:

zucchini and turnip strings together with slices of mango, a little chili, ginger, thyme and fleur de sel. that's all it needs for a little superdelicious vegetable feast.

it is totally possible to make zucchini spaghetti with a papaya julienne slicer from the asian groceries (see picture).

but in order to produce bigger amounts quickly with little remaining parts this is a helpful device. the result is pretty, too :)