Simple Roast Salmon Salad with Tahini Dressing

Last week I was lucky to buy a huge piece of wonderful farmer salmon, so fresh and flavorful and... healthy pink - I just couldn't resist it!

And now I would love to share with you what I call "the ideal dinner". Greens, proteins and a lovely dressing. Perfect!

Simple Roast Salmon Salad with Tahini Dressing

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 x 200 g salmon pieces (try to buy farmer salmon, the difference is just huge!)

2 big handfuls of your favourite greens (I took arugula and leeks)

paprika

good quality olive oil and sea salt

For tahini dressing:

3 teaspoons tahini paste

3 teaspoons water

1 garlic clove

a lemon for squeezing

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Brush your salmon with a little olive oil and rub it with paprika and sea salt. Place the pieces on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, it should be enough.

For the dressing finely chop a clove of garlic, take 3 teaspoons tahini paste, 3 teaspoons water, squeeze a little bit of lemon juice, add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well. Taste it and adjust the quantity of lemon juice and salt if necessary. Play with the taste until you get what you like. For me usually work even quantities of tahini paste, water and lemon juice and about half of teaspoon salt but it's all to personal taste.

Serve your salmon over a light green salad, add segments of lemon and top with this wonderful tahini dressing. This is a perfect evening meal!

Bon Appétit!

Healthier Macaroni and Cheese

Several years ago I made my choice in foods and life style to stick as much as possible to all kinds of health and beauty stuff. I believe everyone shall inderstand one day that it just doesn't work in another way: you want to stay young and attractive as long as you can - you have to know what you do and what you eat. Non-starchy vegetables, proteins and a right quantity of unsaturated fats are your best friends, it's like an ABC for building your dietary intake. Simple, not hard to stick to, no need of staying hungry. Seems like perfect!

Still there are those magic products we are all crazy about - comfort foods which our moms cooked us in the childhood and keep cooking when the family gather together. Foods that bring nice emotions inside, foods we rely on like a sedative when we are not feeling okay. Crispy baked potatoes? A big burger? A bag of chocolates? Macaroni and cheese? I love these things too, I just don't want to agree that this should be totally useless food comforting your soul and meanwhile destructing your beautiful body.

I understand you can't give it 100% of health but you definitely can not make it 100% useless. Add fresh light pesto to baked potatoes. Take a whole wheat bun for your burger. Substitute a part of your cheese with mashed vegetables in mac and cheese. At least balance your meal with a good portion of green salad! It's still your favourite comfort food, just made with a little hint of health, try it and you will see it's worth it!

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 1/2 cups dry pasta

2 cups frozen green beans

200 g light cheddar cheese

4 tablespoons milk

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

good quality olive oil

sea salt

Directions:

Cook your pasta according to the instructions until al dente.

To make the sauce pulse your frozen beans in a food processor. Finely chop your garlic, heat a little of olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan, add garlic and thyme leaves and stir for a moment for the oil to incorporate the flavor. Add your beans and continue stirring for a couple of minutes, then add grated cheese and about 4 tablespoons milk. Continue stirring until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.

Mix the sauce into your pasta and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Mama's Matzo Balls Soup

I tasted matzo balls soup for the first time when I visited my friend in Israel. His mom cooked a delicious soup with lightest matzo balls ever. Fluffy and mild they made me fall in love with them immediately. What a weird surprise it was to find out they were made of an "instant matzo balls mix" certainly full of stuff that would better be in a chemistry lesson summary than on a foodstuff label.

I still couldn't leave it like that and promised myself to make these gorgeous matzo balls 100% natural. And here is the result - a perfect recipe for the lightest and fluffiest matzo balls. Perfect for a friday night meal with your family. Filling, comforting and so peaceful.

Matzo Balls

Ingredients (makes 30 balls):

100 g matzo meal (3/4 cup)

2 eggs, devided

1 1/2 tablespoons good quality olive oil

1 garlic clove

1/2 yellow onion

1 tablespoon dried parsley

about 7 tablespoons water

a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Finely chop garlic and onion. In a bowl lightly beat egg yolks and add matzo meal, olive oil, garlic, onion, dried parsley and a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well and add about 7 tablespoons water to help the ingredients to combine.

In another bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form and mix them gently into the matzo paste. Place the bowl in the fridge for half an hour, the paste will become rather firm. With your hands form little balls taking aboul 1 heaped teaspoon of paste at a time.

Put the balls into boiling water and cook for 15-20 min on a medium heat. These matzo balls go perfectly with classic light chicken soup.

Light chicken soup

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken (organic or free range is always prefferable)

3 litres cold water

3 garlic cloves, washed but unpeeled

3 celery stalks

1 yellow onion

2 medium carrots

1/2 teaspoon curcuma

5-6 whole black peppercorns

a small bunch of fresh thyme and sea salt

Directions:

Remove the skin from your chicken, we don't want excess fat in our soup. Place the chicken into your pan, add smashed garlic, roughly chopped vegetables, thyme, spices and sea salt. Add cold water, bring to the boil, turn the heat down, cover with a lid and let simmer for 2.5-3 hours. Remember to skim from time to time.

When ready, pour the stock into plates, add a couple pieces of vegetables, matzo balls and serve. You will love it!

Bon Appétit!

FOR HIM. FOR HER. SANDWICHES

The idea of combining 2 actual meals into one blog post certainly came from recently celebrated Valentine's day.

I know that mostly people tend to cook cute cupcakes or chocolate pizzas - but if I wanted to celebrate the day with my beloved I would love to have something I can't live without (besides my beloved, of course :)). First thing to come to my mind - sandwiches. Perfect meal to adjust and make a "his" and "her" version.



"For Him" Sandwich

Unbelievably filling while absolutely meatless this sandwich is like a vegetarian version of Sloppy Joes. Inspired by A Couple Cooks' wonderful recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):

3 cups cooked beans (I used soya and kidney beans)
1 cup canned tomatoes, roughly chopped, reserve the juice
1 yellow onion
1 celery stalk
3 tablespoons tomato juice (reserved from canned tomatoes)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Chop your onion and celery, heat olive oil over medium heat and add the vegetables to the pan. Cook them just until tender for 5 min, add beans, sauces and spices, mix well and simmer for 15 min. Serve on pieces of whole wheat bread.

"For Her" Sandwich

Thinking of "her" version I remembered my constant search for a light sandwich. Without meat or cheese but still filling and certainly healthy. I love egg and tuna sandwiches but mayo is what one should hardly ever eat. Home-made mayo can be fine but store-bought... no, that's really not healthy. I had been looking for a proper mayo substitute for a while and I found a number of options, surprisingly they all appeared to be the simpliest things you can ever cook - here I will make "mayo" of just plain greek yogurt, salt and white wine vinegar.

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 hardboiled eggs
1 ripe avocado
1 small red onion
3-4 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
a splash of white wine vinegar
a pinch of sea salt

Directions:

Finely chop the eggs, avocado and onion. In a cup mix well greek yogurt, white wine vinegar and a pinch of sea salt. Taste it and if necessary adjust the quantities of ingredients. For me 3 tablespoons yogurt, 1 tablespoon vinegar and a pinch of salt work perfectly. Dress the salad with this "mayo" and serve with toasted or simply fresh whole wheat bread.

Bon Appétit!

DETOX MUNG BEAN SALAD

After 2 months of forced hiatus I am so happy to be back to the blog with a whole lot of great healthy recipes.

I am going to start with another detox salad. Surprisingly the sun has been shining here for already a week though it's still 3 days till oficially spring comes, so now it's a common natural wish to go detox.

Ingredients (serves 2):

For the salad:

3/4 cup dried mung beans
water and baking soda for soaking
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1/2 kohlrabi
1 celery stalk
1 red onion
a few roasted pumpkin cubes

For the dressing:

ginger root
grapefruit
chilli pepper flakes
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Wash your mung beans and place them into a bowl, cover with water and add a teaspoon baking soda. Soak overnight. After that wash the beans, cover with water, bring to the boil and cook 15-20 min over medium heat until ready. You can cook dried beans from the beginning but soaking reduces cooking time and we know that the less you process your food the more "life" remains in it which is particularly essential in detox menu.

For the salad combine thinly sliced cabbage, kohlrabi, celery and red onion, mix them and place onto your plates. Put the mung beans over the vegetables and add just a few roasted pumpkin cubes (if you have no leftover roasted pumpkin, you can cook it while slicing your veggies and boiling the beans - 20 min in the oven over 200 C will do the trick).

To make the dressing grind a 1/2 cm thick piece of ginger root, squeeze some grapefruit juice, add extra virgin olive oil (3 times as much as the juice), then add some sea salt, mix well and taste. Adjust the quantities of juice, oil and salt if you need. If the dressing is good for your taste then add a pinch of chilli flakes and dress your salad.

What you get here is proteins from your mung beans, diet fiber and vitamins from the vegetables while grapefruit, ginger and chilli will speed up your metabolism and help you to burn calories!

Bon Appétit!

WINTER SQUASH BAKED FALAFEL

Falafel is a second (after hummus) favourite of Mediterranean cuisine. Also mainly made of chickpeas it still leaves some space for enlightening the whole dish. What I love to do is simply substitute half of the chickpeas with some seasonal vegetables like zucchini or squash. The main trick here is that you will not even taste this substitution - you will taste classic falafel. While your body will receive half of its "classic" calories and twice as much as its "classic" fiber.



Ingredients (serves 2-3):

1 cup dried chickpeas
water and baking soda for soaking the chickpeas
1 small red onion
1 cup winter squash, shredded
a small bunch of cilantro and parsley
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Wash your chickpeas and place them into a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 cups of water and soak overnight. The next day your chickpeas will double in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 C.



Wash and rinse the chickpeas and place them into the bowl of your food processor. Add chopped onion, garlic, cilantro and parsley, shredded squash, cumin, sea salt and freshly ground black and a couple of tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Process until the mixture is smooth.

Spray or brush your baking tray with a little olive oil. With your hands form little patties of falafel taking 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture at a time. You will make about 25 patties (~4 cm in diameter, 1 cm thick).

Transfer them into your baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Then put the tray out of the oven, flip the falafel and bake for another 15 minutes.



Serve your falafel on a simple green salad with a classic dressing (1 part mustard/vinegar/lemon juice : 3 parts olive oil plus salt and pepper). A perfectly balanced dinner!

Bon Appétit!



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SWEET AND SOUR BRAISED CABBAGE

Light, flavourful, full of dietary fiber, low-calorie - the dish is a perfect side for any meat. Makes a great detox meal itself after holidays. A must-try for everyone!



Ingredients (serves 5):

1 red cabbage
2 sweet apples
1 yellow onion
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
150 ml apple sider vinegar
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Thinly slice your onion, cut apples into small cubes and cabbage - the way you like it. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, add onion and fennel seeds and cook until golden for a couple of minutes. After that add apples and cabbage and pour in the vinegar, mix well, cover your pan with a lid and turn the heat down. Cook your cabbage for an hour over low heat frequently stirring.

The cabbage will be soft and tender and will absorb the sweetness of apples and the sourness of the vinegar. A great yet simple winter dish!

Bon Appétit!



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