Starters

 

soups Avocado soup with sorrel preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: approx. 30 minutes makes: 4 Ingredients: 1 onion finely chopped, 1 courgette in small cubes, 25 grammes of butter, a handfull of sorrel leaves, 3 avocado's, 1 dcl. (quart) of cream, 1/4 litre (1/2 pint) of milk, 1/2 litre (1 pint) of chicken stock. Garnish: 1/2 red pepper cut in small stripes, 4 sorrel leaves, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Melt the butter and cook the onion and courgette together with the sorrel leaves. Add the chicken stock, and cook untill courgette and onion are tender. Purée together with the avocado, cream and milk in a liquidiser. Heat the soup again, but don't let the soup boil as the advocado gets bitter. Add the red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in bowls with small strips of sorrel leaves. Roll up the leaves and cut with a pair of scissors or a sharp knife into thin stripes. Carrot-orange soup preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: approx. 30 minutes makes: 4 Ingredients: 1 onion, sliced, 25 gr. (1 oz) of butter, 450 gr. (1 pound) of carrots, sliced, 1/4 litre (1/2 pint) of orange juice, (not to sweet, eventually add a lemon), 1 litre (2 pints) of vegetable stock, salt and freshly ground black pepper, a few drips of tabasco, yoghurt and fresh chives. Melt the butter, cook the onion and carrots for ten minutes in a covered saucepan, add the orange juice and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes untill the carrots are tender. Cool a little and purée the soup in a liquidiser. Taste and add salt and pepper. Heat the soup again and pour in bowls. Garnish with a spoon of yoghurt, finely cut chives and 1 or 2 drips of tabasco. Cocido Andaluz preparation time: 20 minutes cooking time: approx. 4 hour makes: 6 Ingredients: 400 gr chicken peas soaked overnight, 250 gram meat for stew, 1 hock of beaf, 1 piece of fresh bacon, 1 onion sliced in big chunks, a bay leaf, 2 fresh and peeled tomatoes, 1 courgette, quarter of a small pumpkin, 2 potatoes, 1 carrot, some peas, green beans, Several garlic cloves, A sausage, chorizo or black pudding, Fresh herbs like sage, thyme and parsley; red pepper powder. Simmer the meat, bacon, onion and chicken peas with the bay leaf together in about 1 litre (2 pints) of water. Use a pressure cooker, to gain time. When the meat is tender add the vegetables, all cubed in pieces of about 2 centimetres and the sausages. Simmer for another 2 hours, unti everything is very tender. Add the fresh herbs in the last half an hour. Taste and add more salt and pepper. This cocido is supposed to be eaten in deep soupbowls, it's not a liquid soup. Serve with fresh bread. Herbaceous soup preparation time: 20 minutes cooking time: 1 hour 45 minutes makes: 6 Ingredients: 2 medium onions, roughly chopped, 3 garlic cloves in slices, 1 leek, coarsley sliced, 1 stick, leaves of celery chopped, 2 carrots, roughly chopped, 2 potatoes in cubes, 1 courgette in cubes, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, 1 centimetre slice of ginger, chopped. Fresh herbs: like rosemary, thyme and sage leaves, flat-leaf parsley, fennel, chives, chervel, all finely cut. salt and pepper, 1,5 litres (3 pints) of cold water to cover. Make the vegetable stock: Pour some olive oil in a saucepan or stockpot. Place the onions and garlic and fry untill glazy. Add all the other ingredients, except the fresh herbs. Add the water. Cover and bring slowly to the boil. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer with the lid ajar for about an hour. Stir a few times. Make the soup: Take out the bay leaf and purée the soup in a liquidiser. Until smooth, pour into a clean saucepan.Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper or eventually a vegetable stock cube. Bring to a boil again for 4 to 5 minutes and add all the fresh herbs you could get. Serve in cups or plates with a Marigold or Borage flower in the middle, surrounded by some Fennelhairs. Cold garlic soup preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: none serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 or 3 pieces of old white bread, 3 garlic cloves, chopped, an onion, finely sliced, an avocado and a cucumber in chunks, a glass of white wine, juice of 1 lemon, 2 glasses of milk and half a glass of cream, salt and pepper. Fresh herbs like: coriander, parsley or chives, finely chopped. 1/2 litre (1 pint) of water. Soak the bread in water for half an hour. Add the other ingredients (except the fresh herbs) and purée them in a liquidiser. Taste for seasoning. Chill a few hours in the refrigerator. Serve on a warm day with some freshly cut chives as a topping. Gazpacho preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: none serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 or 3 pieces of old white bread, 2 garlic cloves, chopped, an onion, finely sliced, a glass of white wine, 4 to 5 very ripe tomatoes, a glass of tomato juice, Salt and pepper, chives and parsley, 1/2 litre (1 pint) of water, juice of 1 lemon, some mint leaves for decoration. Soak the bread in water for half an hour. Add the other ingredients (also the fresh herbs) and purée them in a liquidiser. Taste for seasoning. Chill a few hours in the refrigerator. Serve on a warm day with a fresh mintleaf on to. As a side dish: freshly vegetables small cut such as cucumber, green and red peppers, grated carrots; ovenfresh bread. Soupnettles preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: 10 minutes serves: 4 Ingredients: Two hands of young nettle heads harvested before the 21st. of June. (thereafter they get a bitter taste) 1 litre (2 pints) of your favourite stock. Rinse the nettles under the tap, chop them and add to the stock, bring to a boil and leave them softly boiling for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.

salads Spring salad preparation time: 15 minutes cooking time: none serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 carrots and a bunch of radishes thinley sliced. Cut some leaves of all the edible plants in your garden for example: Kale, chicorei, lettuce, nettles (blanche them in boiling water), rucola, the (swiss) chard, beetroot, young Hollyhock leaves, Nasturtium leaves, Chrysantho leaves, sage, coriander, fennel, chervil, parsley, sorrel, chives, Borage or daisy flowers in spring. Rose petals, Marigold or Nasturtium flowers in summer. Dressing: 1 tblsp. of lemon juice 2 tblsp. of fine olive oil, salt and pepper. 1/2 clove of garlic from the press. Wash and dry the leaves carefully, in case there are cats and dogs around. Tear the big leaves in smaller pieces. Mix the leaves loosely in a bowl, pour the dressing over the salad: Decorate with the flowers. Carrot-beetroot-rettich salad preparation time: 20 minutes cooking time: none serves: 4 Ingredients: nr 1. 1 big radish, the one with the black skin. 8 Borage flowers. nr 2. 3 clean carrots. finely chopped parsley. nr 3. 2 medium sized beetroots and 1 grannysmith apple. Marigold petals For the basic dressing: juice of 1 or 1,5 lemon, extra virgen olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Additions for the 3 different dressings: nr 1. 2 tbs of yoghurt, chopped fresh coriander leaves. nr 2. 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 teasp. brown sugar, 2 sprigs of parsley. nr 3. 2 tbs of soft mustard, 1 tbsp. sesame oil. Divide the basic dressing into three bowls: Add to dressing nr 1. for the radish: the yoghurt and the coriander leaves. Add to nr 2. for the carrots: pressed garlic and brown sugar. Add to nr 3. for the beetroot-apple: the mustard and sesame oil. 4 marigold flowers. First grate the white radish, second the carrots and third grate the beetroot together with the apple. Keep the white, orange and dark-red colours separate. Put the different vegetables in 3 bowls. Make the basic dressing. Taste before going on with the preparation. The dressing, should not be too acid. Mix the different dressings through the different vegetables. Place the dressed radish on a rectangular plate on one site, decorate with the borage flowers. Place the dressed carrots next to the radish and decorate with the chopped parsley. Place the dressed beetroot-apple next to the carrots. Decorate with the petals of the marigold. Luke warm salad of grilled artichockes and asparagus preparation time: 20 minutes cooking time: 15 minutes makes: 4 Ingredients: a tin of artichokes, a jar of green asparagus, a handful of nuts, almonds or walnuts, 10 -12 unpeeled garlic cloves, a handful of stoneless olives, some dried tomatoes cut in little pieces. The dressing: 4 tbsp. extra virgen olive oil, 2 tbsp. balsamico vinegar, salt and pepper, freshly cut thyme, chives and parsley leaves. Leak out the artichokes and asparagus. Put the asparagus and the artichokes on a piece of aluminum foil under the grill until golden brown. Fry the garlic in their skins in some oil for 5 minutes until almost tender, add the nuts and fry a little longer. Make the dressing. Mix all ingredients careful through one and another, arrange on 4 small plates. Sprinkle the vinaigrette over the salad. Serve luke warm. Sprouts Sprouts of lentils, alfalfa, chicken-peas, soy-beans, aduki-beans are easy to make yourself. Fill a big glass jar with a 2 cm. layer of seeds. Soak in luke warm water for some hours; Alfalfa about 4 hours, the bigger beans 6-8 hours. Cover with a rag of plastic netting and fix with a rubber band. Put the jar under an angle upside down on a smaller bowl. Rinse the seeds twice a day with luke warm water. Let them leak out in the bowl. This leakage water is full of nutrients and very healthy to drink. After 2 to 5 days the seeds begin to sprout. Don't let them grow any longer than a centimetre, they will loose nutrients. Fried Sprouts preparation time: 5 minutes cooking time: 10 -15 minutes serves: 4 Ingredients: olive oil, 15 unpeeled garlic cloves, a handful of almonds or pinetree nuts, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, and / or cumin seeds, Sprouts of lentils, alfalfa, chickpeas, Fry the (unpeeled) garlic cloves in oil. Don't worry, they get very tasty, the skin prevents them from burning. Add after approxx. 5 minutes the almonds or pinetree nuts. Stir and fry a little longer. Add the sesame, cumin and coriander seeds and a handfull of the sprouts. Fry and stir some minutes more. Serve as an appetizer on toast with a drink or use as a garnish on a salad. Fried sage leaves A nice decoration for many dishes preparation time: 15 minutes cooking time: 5 minutes serves: 4 Ingredients: 20 undamaged sage leaves, 5 for each person a tbsp of melted butter, 1 dcl. of lukewarm water, 2 tbsp of sieved flour, a pinch of salt, 1 eggwhite, olive oil. Beat the ingredients to a smooth batter. Leave to rest some time. Pre-heat the oven to 135 C. Beat the eggwhite into peaks and fold through the batter. Heat a 3 cm. layer of oil in a wide frying pan. Dip the leaves in the batter and fry on both sides golden brown and crisp. Keep warm in the oven on a dish covered with kitchenpaper. Serve with soup or on top of a salad. Nasturtium salad preparation time: 10 minutes cooking time: none serves: 4 Ingredients: 2 small or 1 big cucumber, grated. 3 hands of Nasturtium leaves and flowers, lightly rinsed under the tab, dried and crudely chopped. Dressing: 1 tbsp. of fine balsamico vinegar, 2 tbsp. of extra virgen olive oil salt and pepper. Mix the cucumber with the leaves and the dressing. Decorate with 4 Nasturtium flowers.