Lately we have done some root searching (in our recipes that is). Roots are one of the few things that actually can stand our northern climate. Still, we have not been using them very much even in our green kitchen. Sure, we have oven roasted them every now and then or used them in a salad, soup or a juice, but that is about it. Not nearly good enough.

Roots are the trolls of the vegetable group — thick, wrinkly, ugly and hidden under the earth. But you know what? It is about time they got a better reputation. They are flavorful, versatile, nutrient, often sweet and one of the least expensive things you can cook with. And if you peel of their earthy skin all kind of beautiful colors appear. So come beetroot, sunroot, blackroot, yam, rutabaga and turnip. 2012 is the year you will turn into swans. At least in our kitchen. We intend to use you a lot more in our cooking. We’re thinking salad, risotto, root mash, lasagna and maybe some more juices. You just wait.

We start off with one of our more popular roots, the beetroot. They are of course delicious to boil or roasted in the oven with some feta cheese, but today we’re using it raw – to keep its nutrients intact. We got inspiration from a burger we had at a raw food cafe and made a beet spread that we’ve named Beetroosh (think hummus and baba ganoush). We used avocado and cashews to make it creamy, and mustard, capers, lemon and thyme to give it some extra flavor. It came out super delicious! You can use it on crisp, in a wrap, on a bread or as a side dish to any meal.

We served it with roasted sweet potatoes and sunroots and thinly sliced raw carrot, radish and some salad. So in this dish the roots are turned into a spread, they are oven roasted and they are eaten raw. We told you they were versatile!

Raw Beetroosh
4 persons

4 cups (10 dl) raw beetroot, grated
2 ripe avocados
1 cup (2,5 dl) raw cashew nuts
1 small red onion
1 small organic lemon, juice & zest
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp pickled capers
1 tsp fresh thyme
sea salt and freshly grounded pepper to taste

Start by wash, peel and grate the raw beetroots. Add all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process or blend until smooth. Taste and add some more mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Oven roasted root veggies
4 persons

4,5 lb (2 kg) mixed root vegetables (we used sweet potatoes and sunroots/jerusalem artichokes)

Preheat oven to 425 F/200° C.

Wash and give the sweet potatoes and jerusalem artichoke a good scrub to remove any dirt. Keep the peel on. Cut the sweet potato length wise and divide the sunroots in half. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for around 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned.

Garnish with raw radish, raw carrots, green leaves, sprouts, fresh herbs and drizzle with oil.

A while back we received an email from one of the editors at Bon Appétit Magazine, asking if we wanted to create a vegan and gluten-free Christmas menu for them, as a special web feature. We usually aren’t strictly vegan or gluten-free, but were so flattered by the offer that we didn’t have to think more than 2 seconds before answering them that we would happily take it on as a challenge (while dancing a silly dance and singing “We are working with BA, we are working with BA…”).

We came up with five different recipes; Cinnamon roasted root vegetables, Mustard kale salad, Spiced spinach tarts, Christmas falafels and a Pomegranate cheesecake. It is always fun to cook at Christmas since you get to use holiday flavors like saffron, clove, cinnamon, mustard and lemon. We hope that the recipes will be of some assistance in all the Christmas commotion, wether you make one dish or go for the whole menu.

The whole thing has been up on the Bon Appétit web for about a week now, and apparently it is on their top list of most popular articles (we’re dancing that silly dance again!). Click here to see it on Bon Appétit. You can also scroll down to read the recipes here.

Spiced Spinach and Mushrooms in Almond Tartlets
Makes 6 tartlets  

Our gluten-free tart crust has the subtle taste of almonds and fresh herbs, and it can be filled with just about anything. One of our favorites is this clove-spiced spinach and mushroom filling. Potato starch, tapioca starch, and all flours are available from Bob’s Red Mill.

Tartlet shells
½ cup superfine chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour
¼ cup almond flour or almond meal
2 Tbsp. potato starch, tapioca starch, or cornstarch
½ tsp. sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. each finely chopped fresh rosemary and thyme
3 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil plus more for pans

Filling
2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil or olive oil (for frying)
1 small red onion, finely chopped
½ tsp. ground cloves
4 cups fresh spinach
1 leek, thinly sliced (including green leaves)
12–15 crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
Juice of ½ lemon

special equipment: Six small tartlet pans

Making the Tartlet shells: Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add coconut oil and 3 Tbsp. ice-cold water. Using your hands, work dry ingredients toward the center until dough forms. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes. DO AHEAD: Dough may be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly with plastic and chill.

Preheat oven to 375°. Divide dough evenly into 6 portions. Form each portion into a ball and press 1 dough ball evenly onto bottom and up sides of each tartlet pan. Trim dough flush with edge of pans. Prick bottom with a fork to prevent it from bubbling as it bakes. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

Let tartlet shells cool slightly, then invert each pan and turn out shells onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Making the filling  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cloves and cook until onion is lightly browned; add spinach, leek and mushrooms. Cook until spinach is brightly colored, 3–5 minutes. Add lemon juice and cook 2 minutes longer. Spoon 2 dollops filling into each tartlet shell and serve hot.

Baked Saffron Falafel
4–6 servings  

For this vegan and gluten-free dish, we were inspired by two Swedish Christmas classics—saffron buns and Swedish meatballs. Use red cabbage leaves to wrap individual falafel into small parcels; they’ll look like mini Christmas presents that you’ve set out for your guests. You might recognise this recipe since it is similar to our herb and pistachio falafels.

Falafel
½ cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. buckwheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. saffron threads

Tahini dressing and assembly
4 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)
4 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red cabbage, cored
1 cup salad greens
2–3 Tbsp. plain soy yogurt

Making the falafel: Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse sunflower seeds in a food processor for about 30 seconds. Add chickpeas and pulse 1 minute longer. Add onion and remaining ingredients and pulse, occasionally scraping down sides of work bowl, until mixture is slightly coarse and well combined. Using your hands, form 24 small round falafels and place on prepared sheet. Bake, turning every 5 minutes, until falafels are evenly brown, about 15 minutes.

Making Tahini dressing: Using a fork, beat tahini, orange juice, and garlic in a bowl until creamy dressing forms. Set aside.

Assembling: Gently separate leaves from cabbage; rinse and pat dry. Place 2 falafels in the center of a cabbage leaf. Top with a few greens; spoon a little dressing and yogurt over. Fold each side of leaf in toward center, about 1”–2”, then fold the end closer to you over the filling and tuck it under the falafels. Tie with kitchen twine to hold together.

Cinnamon Roasted Vegetables
4–6 servings  

This simple dish takes just a few minutes to prepare; then the oven does the rest of the work. You can throw any kind of vegetable in here; simply adjust the cooking time according to the size.

1 head Romanesco or cauliflower, trimmed, halved lengthwise, cut into small pieces
2 lb. carrots, halved if large
½ lb. parsnips, halved if large
2 medium sweet potatoes. Cut into thick sticks
2 whole garlic cloves, mashed with the end of a knife
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
5 2”–3” cinnamon sticks
sea salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Place vegetables and garlic in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil; sprinkle cinnamon over and scatter cinnamon sticks around. Season with salt. Using your hands, toss vegetables to coat well. Roast until golden and crispy, about 1 hour. (Time will vary depending on size of vegetables.)

Mustard Quinoa, Cranberry & Kale Salad

4–6 servings  

Here is one of our absolute Christmas favorites. Red quinoa, with a mustard and lemon dressing, served with fresh kale, pomegranate seeds, cranberries, and roasted pecans is perfect for any holiday gathering. You don’t want to miss this one.

1 cup red or black quinoa
Sea salt
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, preferably organic
2 Tbsp. prepared English mustard
4 large kale leaves, center ribs and stems removed, finely chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries, preferably unsweetened or sweetened with apple juice
¼ cup roasted, salted pecans
Fresh pomegranate seeds


Rinse quinoa in water. Drain and place in a medium size heavy pot; add 2 cups water and season with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until a curly string-like germ has separated from the circular part, 15–20 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk oil, lemon zest and juice, and mustard in a bowl until smooth and creamy; season mustard dressing with salt.

Transfer quinoa to a bowl and drizzle with mustard dressing; toss to coat. Divide kale among serving plates; top with quinoa, cranberries, and pecans, dividing equally. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Frozen Pomegranate and Cashew Cake
8 – 10 servings  

This is a Christmas version of our Flower Power cake. We use soaked cashews that when blended become super creamy and smooth. The crust is sweet and crunchy with nuts and dates, and the pomegranate topping adds a fresh, fruity note to the Christmas spiced filling. Serve the cake cold but not deep-frozen.

Crust
1 1/2 cups raw almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts
1/2 cup raw, shelled sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp. hemp seeds
12 fresh Medjool dates, pitted
2 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. sea salt

Filling
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1/3 cup agave syrup (nectar)
2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
Zest and juice of 1 orange
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Topping
Seeds from 2 medium pomegranates (you could substitute it with frozen raspberries to make it less expensive)
Juice of 1/2 lime

Special equipment: An 8”-diameter nonstick springform pan

Crust  Grind the first 3 ingredients in a blender or food processor for 1 minute. Add dates, oil, and salt and purée until mixture comes together. Place in springform pan and press evenly across bottom of pan. Chill.

Filling  Heat oil and agave in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking, until liquid. Place mixture in a blender or food processor; add soaked cashews, lemon juice and zest, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; discard bean. Purée until very smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Pour filling over crust and chill in freezer until set, about 30 minutes.

Topping  Place pomegranate seeds and lime juice in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour topping over cashew filling. Chill in freezer until solid, 30–60 minutes. Let stand at room temperature 10–15 minutes before serving. Run a sharp knife under hot water to make it easier to cut the slices. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Remove from freezer and let stand about 20 minutes before serving.

Photos by: Johanna Frenkel

I have no idea how we have managed to keep this dish from you guys for so long. I have been using the same recipe for years and it is one of those dishes that always whispers in my ear: “Hey, why don’t we see each other more often?”. It’s a rich, warm and comforting dish, similar to a stew or a hot pot. It’s sweet, yet a little spicy. It has a scent of cinnamon and sweet raisins with a twist of lemon and cilantro. Not to mention, it’s perfect for a cold winter day.

Let me quickly explain the tagine (or tajine). It is similar to a large clay pot with a conical lid. I am not a scientist, but as far as I understand the moist and flavors that evaporates from the food stays within the lid and – thanks to its shape – drips down back into the food. So the food is steamed in it’s own vapors and cooked/baked at the same time, isn’t that just groovy!? The result is incredibly tender vegetables filled with flavors.

With all this explained, we have to admit that we actually didn’t cook this version in a tagine (we have made it in a tagine before though). This time we used a regular clay pot. It doesn’t give the exact same result, but with a couple of tricks you will get pretty close.

A few simple secrets to a successful tagine.

1. Always balance the sweet (apricots, raisins and cinnamon) with the spicy (harissa or chili).

2. Think big. No need for fine chopping, use large chunks of vegetables. Looks better, tastes better.

3. Don’t stress it. Let the vegetables sweat for a long time on low heat under a lid.

4. No peeking. If you lift the lid the steam will vanish. If you however have to lift the lid, make sure that the vapor under it drips back into the pot.

5. Stir carefully. After a while the vegetables will be very tender and you don’t want to crush them.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine
Serves 4 people 

You can use almost any kind of vegetables in this stew, it’s perfect for emptying the fridge.

3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced (or 1 tsp grounded)
1-2 tbsp grounded cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
salt
2-3 tsp harissa paste (or dried harissa)
2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
1 lemon, juice and zest
a handful fresh cilantro
1 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 zucchini, cut into 2-inch pieces
10 dried apricots
1/2 cup chickpeas/garbanzo beans, pre boiled
a handful raisins

Serve with: white quinoa or couscous, roasted almonds, fresh cilantro and fresh mint

In a clay pot: Heat olive oil in a large clay pot and sauté the onion for a few minutes until it softens. Add garlic, ginger and the spices and stir around before adding harissa, tomatoes, lemon juice and fresh cilantro, Bring the tomato sauce to a boil and then lower the heat.
Add pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato, zucchini and apricots. Stir around, make sure that all vegetables are somewhat covered in tomato sauce. Put the lid on and simmer for about an hour. Stir carefully once or twice, otherwise leave the lid on.

In a tagine: Prepare the tomato sauce according to the instructions above. Transfer it to the tagine. Add the vegetables, attach the lid and put in the oven on low temperature for at least an hour. When the vegetables feel tender, add chickpeas and raisins and let everything simmer for 5 minutes before removing it from the oven.

Serve the tagine in bowls together with cooked quinoa. Sprinkle with almonds, lemon zest and fresh spices.

Hi friends. Thank you so much for your sweet, touching and personal notes on our post about giving children a healthy start. Reading your comments and tweets is always a moment of joy, but this time you touched us like never before. We felt so encouraged and among friends on a topic where we normally feel lonely. Thank you for that. We are terrible at responding to your comments, but do know that we talk about you often.

We spent the weekend in our country house. Cooking and shooting a special web feature for a Big American magazine. Our brief was to create a couple of vegan AND gluten free recipes. It truly was a challenge for us. We are not experts in neither gluten free baking, vegan recipes nor Christmas styling. My favorite Christmas activity is to travel as far away from the celebrations as possible. Luise on the other hand loves Christmas, so she was in charge of the recipe making. Everything turned out pretty nice in the end, and we will let you know more about it later.

One of the recipes that Luise came up with was mini tarts or tartlets. If you have tried to make gluten free and vegan tart dough you know it’s not super easy. If you leave out flour, butter and egg, it is literally nothing left of the traditional dough. So it took Luise quite a few tries to come up with this recipe, but my gosh if she didn’t nail it in the end! It is one of the best tasting tart crusts I/we have ever tried (sorry mom). And it doesn’t crumble (well not as much as her earlier tries did anyway). The filling in this tart is quite different from our Christmas version. One thing that they have in common is that they are not stuffed with any egg or cheese. Just sautéed vegetables. Plain, simple and delicious.

Autumn Tart
Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients in the filling to what you have in season. If you are not a vegan you might want to try a few slices of manchego cheese on top.

Tart Crust
120 g (1 1/4 cup) chickpea flour
90 g (1/3 cup) almond flour
40 g (4 tbsp) potato, tapioca or corn starch
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp sea salt and black pepper
6 tbsp coconut oil (a little extra for the tart pan)
6 tbsp ice cold water

Autumn Filling
coconut oil or olive oil for frying
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 fresh sprigs of rosemary
1 leek, thinly sliced (use the green leaves as well)
500 g fresh baby carrots, divided lengthwise
1 small sweet potato, thinly sliced
1 small romanesco, cut into smaller pieces
6 brown mushrooms, sliced
3 small kale leaves, stems removed and chopped
1/2 lemon, juice

Preheat the oven at 400°F/200 C°.

Making Almond Crust: Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, add coconut oil and ice cold water. Using your hands, pull dry ingredients towards center until all is combined. Firm a ball, wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for 1/2 hour. Press the dough into a tart pan and bake for about 15 minutes. Prepare the filling.

Making Autumn Filling: Prepare vegetable. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and rosemary, cook until turning light brown, then add leek, carrots, sweet potato and romanesco. Cook until brightly colored and starting to turn golden brown, but still crispy. This should take about 5 minutes. Add mushroom, kale and lemon juice, cook for 2 more minutes and set aside.

Serving Autumn Tart: When the tart is done, remove from oven, let cool a few minutes. Fill the tart with the Autumn Filling and serve!

Photos by: Johanna Frenkel

Ps. This tart is vegan. And today (November 1st) is World Vegan Day. We show our support by reducing the price for our iPad app to $1.99. Today only. So if you haven’t checked it out yet, today is a good day to do it. Download it here!

We had a conversation with a friend a while back about the effects of cooking according to season. It might be one of the most helpful and immediate actions we can do for our environment. Choosing locally grown doesn’t only help the farmers but also on a bigger perspective. Imagine if we didn’t have to fly food all around the world just to satisfy our needs for this and that. I’m telling you, that is a whole lot of transportation we could save in on (and the transportation of animals, phew we’ll leave that page blank).

Don’t misunderstand us now, we really don’t want to preach. The way we see it everyone has their own way and their own conscience. You should all do what feels right for you. And even if you want to choose locally grown it is not possible for everyone, since a local apple strangely enough often can cost more than an apple that has been transported here from the other side of earth.

We will however, when it is possible for us, try even harder to share recipes according to the season. And if we inspire you to do the same, we sure won’t complain about it. It will be a bit difficult since we are a global food blog, and what is seasonal for us might not be in season in your part of the world. But at least Europe and large parts of the U.S. shares more or less the same seasons.

We will kick things off with something incredibly local and seasonal. Handpicked mushrooms, rhubarbs and zucchinis. And honey that we have extracted ourselves (a WOW might be appropriate here).

Since we live in central Stockholm we don’t find a lot of food growing in our neighborhoods. So we have made sure to have a CSA box subscription and friends with resources. We have, for example, two friends with bee hives. When we visited them last weekend – on a mushroom-picking-mission – we also got the opportunity to help them out with the honey extraction. Fun to learn. Exhausting after a while. And oh so delicious to taste.

When we got back home we brought two jars of honey, a bag of delicious funnel chanterelles and some fresh rhubarbs with us. We also had a giant zucchini which we had received in our CSA box earlier that week. Since Luise is a lot more creative with new recipes than me, she closed the kitchen doors and told me and Elsa to be back in an hour. When we entered she had made a rhubarb compote, roasted the zucchini and topped it with the funnel chanterelles. We dripped some honey over them and had it for dinner. In Sweden we often make chanterelle sandwiches and serve as a starter, these are a bit similar but the zucchini replaces the bread. Much better. If you can’t find zucchinis, all kind of pumpkins will work great.

Baked Zucchini & Roasted Funnel Chanterelle

1 big zucchini, squash, butternut squash or pumpkin
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp raw honey
fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic (1 for the zucchini and the rest for the chanterelles)
500 g Funnel Chanterelle or winter mushrooms

Roasting the zucchini: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Cut the squash into 1/2 inch (1-2 cm) slices. Place them on an oven skillet, drizzle with olive oil, honey, thyme and some minced garlic. Roast for about 40 minutes.

Preparing fresh funnel chanterelle: First trim off the bottoms of the stems, then gently brush them off. Don’t rinse them under water, for they will absorb water and turn mushy when you cook them.

Making the mushrooms: Heat olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Mash the garlic cloves with the end of a chef’s knife, remove the peel and add garlic to the pan. When golden, add the chanterelles. Sauté until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes.

Serving: Arrange a dollop of chanterelles on top of each zucchini. Drizzle some honey on top and serve together with the rhubarb compote.

Apple & Rhubarb Compote
We like our compote a little tart, if you prefer it sweeter you can add a few tbsp of honey or agave.

1 lb (1/2 kg) red organic apples
250 g rhubarb, cut into slices
1 cup (2 dl) water
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp cardamom seeds
1 tsp cinnamon grounded

Preparing the fruit: Wash the apples and cut into quarters and cut out the seeds, then chop into squares (leave the peel on). Trim off leaf ends and roots on the rhubarbs using a sharp knife. Wash the stalks and slice them into 1 inch (2,5 cm) pieces.

Making the compote: Place apples, rhubarbs, water and the rest of the ingredients in a pot. Bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium and let it simmer for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally. The compote is done when the water is gone and the fruit is tender.

Store: Clean the jars in boiling water. Pour compote in the jars while it is still warm and seal the jars right away.

When I became a vegetarian, by the age of fifteen, it was a bit of a challenge for my family. Even though they have always been interested in food, most of their recipes included chicken/fish/cow/lamb. However, one vegetarian dish that always has been on my mom’s repertoir was vegetable pie and tart. She was famous (at least in our family) for her tarts, and during my first vegetarian years they were very often (read always) on the menu. Today my mom can easily whip together all kind of creative vegetarian menus, but we still often ask her to make tart when we visit for dinner. It has become a tradition.

Since my mom was the tart-maker in the family I always stayed out of it, and to this day we still never make tart at home. So you can understand my surprise when I came home from work a few days ago and found a tart waiting on the kitchen table. I of course immediately started looking after my mom in the apartment …

This tart was however created by Luise. It is actually quite different than my mom’s, since it is made on a thin and crispy rye dough, with an egg filling instead of mom’s cream and cheese. She topped it with tomatoes, fennel and chanterelles, all which are in season in Sweden right now. The thing with tarts is that they are actually quite quick and easy to make, and if you stick with vegetables in season it will guarantee you great taste. Leave the stem on the tomatoes for a rustic look.

Tomato & Chanterelle Rye Tart
Makes 2 tarts 

Dough
1 2/3 cups (4 dl) rye flour
7 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp  flax seeds
a pinch of salt
5 tbsp cold water
1 egg 

Making the dough: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and start working the dough by hand. When it comes together, start to kneed it on a clean surface for a couple of minutes. Place it back in the bowl, cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for about 1 hour. Take the dough out of the bowl and divide it into two. Place the dough in two 9-inch (23 cm) tart shells covered with parchment paper. Pad the dough out by the heel of your hand until it covers the whole tart shell and sides. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork. Pre-bake the tart crusts for 10 minutes at 350°F/175°C.

Filling
4 eggs 
1 cup milk (we used soymilk)
1 tsp nutmeg
a pinch of salt & pepper

Vegetables
500 g fresh roman tomatoes
1 medium size fennel (thinly sliced)
200 g chanterelles  (divided in halves)
2 fresh rosemary sprigs 

Making the filling: Add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk it together with a fork. When well combined, pour over the pre-baked tart crusts. Add the vegetables and rosemary. Bake the tarts for 25 – 30 more minutes at 350°F/175°C. Serve!

Ps. We forgot to tell you that:
A) Our oven glass door exploded when making this recipe. 
B) We dropped the other (better looking) tart on the floor 5 seconds before we had planned to take photos of it.
C) We decided to laugh about the whole thing even though crying was a much closer option.

Vegetarians don’t have hot dogs to turn to when they crave fast food. We have falafel in bread. Deep fried chickpea balls served with vegetables, tomato salsa, hummus and a yogurt sauce. During my years as a vegetarian I have probably tried every single falafel restaurant in Stockholm, many in other parts of Sweden, and a few on other places around the world. But strangely enough I have only made them myself a handful of times. So we thought it was about time that we made our own version of falafel in bread.

When we first started talking about this, we quickly agreed on some ground rules:
1. To skip the bread and wrap them in big green leaves instead. We learned to do this on our trip in Vietnam. Cabbage leaves are perfect in size and have a great crisp taste. You could also try big lettuce leaves.
2. To bake them instead of frying them. The whole deep frying thing doesn’t rhyme well with us. Also, it is not necessary at all. As long as you bake them on a high temperature they will be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
3. To make them green. We once tried these really nice tasting falafels that were completely green on the inside. We can’t remember what they were made on, but in our version we used pistachio, parsley and mint to achieve the green look. Apart from looking nice, these ingredients also makes them taste divine and oh so flavorful.
4. To make them vegan. Even though we eat egg and some dairy products, we try to keep some of our recipes vegan. This time we made the yogurt dressing on soy-yogurt (look for it in health stores). Since we used buckwheat flour we also managed to keep them gluten free.

Baked Herb & Pistachio Falafel
Serves 4-6 (about 24 falafels)

We used mint and parsley to flavor and color the falafels, but feel free to try it with whatever fresh herbs you have growing in your garden at the moment.

8 sprigs of fresh mint
8 sprigs of fresh parsley
200 g pistachio nuts
2 cups garbanzo beans/chickpeas (we used canned)
2 cloves garlic
½ small onion
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp flour (we used buckwheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder

Start by blending the herbs in a mixer for about 30 seconds. Add pistachio nuts and pulse until well combined. Rinse the garbanzo beans. Add them and the rest of the ingredients into the mixer and blend for about a minute. Youmight have to stir around with a spoon occasionally. Try to keep the texture of the falafel dough a little rough. Make 24 small round falafels, place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for about 15 minutes on 375°F/200°C, turn every 5 minutes to get an even brown color.

Cashew Nut Dressing
6 tbsp cashew butter (look for it in health stores or make it yourself)
6 tbsp canola or rapeseed oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until they are combined.

Mint Yoghurt
1 cup soy yoghurt (or regular if you prefer)
4 sprigs of fresh mint (chopped)
1 lime, juice and zest 

Add yoghurt, mint and lime in a bowl and stir around until combined. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to get an intense mint flavor.

Tomato Chili Salsa
3 tomatoes, chopped into small dices
1/2 red chili, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
fresh oregano
salt & pepper

Chop the ingredients and add everything to a serving bowl. Stir around. Add salt and pepper according to taste. Serve immediately or put in the fridge for 30 minutes to get more intense flavors.

Assembling the falafel
1 head white cabbage (or any lettuce with big leaves)
1 red romaine lettuce
falafels (recipe above)
cashew nut dressing  (recipe above)
mint yoghurt (recipe above)
tomato salsa (recipe above)
fresh herbs
pistachio
raisins

Separate the leaves by turning the lettuce and cabbage upside down and removing the stem or cone with a knife.
Put it under running water and gently separate the leaves one by one. Pat dry.

Hold one cabbage leaf in your hand, place a lettuce leaf inside of it, add 2 or 3 falafels, a spoonful of cashew nut dressing, mint yoghurt, tomato salsa and top with some fresh herbs, chopped pistachio and a couple of raisins. Fold it gently. Enjoy!

When Design*Sponge – one of the coolest design blogs on the web – asked if we would like to do a recipe for them, we were quick to say yes. So a few weeks ago we went out to our country house and made one of our favorite summer dinners, Portobello Burgers. We always eat them with mashed avocado and some kind of salsa, instead of the old ketchup and cheese combo. They are very easy to make and taste so incredible fresh. For this recipe we added grilled peaches instead of making a salsa.

Here are a couple of pictures from that day (with David’s photographer sister Johanna behind the camera). You can find the recipe, see more pictures and read the whole story here.

Photos by: Johanna Frenkel

You know when you do something that you think you are pretty good at. And then you see someone else doing it a hundred times better, and you realize that you have been sucking at it the whole time. That is how we felt when we ordered a vegetarian pizza from a small ristorante on Sicily, a few years back. The way they put topping on a pizza, mama mia, that is how it was meant to look like (and taste!). Forget about the traditional vegetariana, with a few vegetables in pretty looking patterns. These pizzas were topped with at least ten different ingredients. And instead of arranging them in plain patterns, they were stacked upon each other in a big pile. There were tomatoes, onions, spinach, olives, big chunks of garlic, artichokes, mushrooms, marinated eggplant and zucchini, big pre boiled potatoes … and a lot more. The lesson we learned from that day, don’t be shy when you decorate a pizza. Just throw as many vegetables on it as you can fit.

These pizzas are inspired from that sicilian restaurant, but instead of making one giant pizza we made mini versions. It has probably been said a zillion times before, but this is a great thing to do for a party. Prepare all the ingredients and a big batch of pizza dough (you can prepare the dough the day before), then let everyone decorate their own pizza.

Regarding the dough. About a year ago we made potato pizza on a rye dough. That recipes was so good that we have been sticking with it since then. This time we used the same recipe, but switched rye for spelt flour, and it turned out just as good as the rye dough. We have tried a few different gluten free pizza doughs, but we never found one with the same elasticity as our dough. So if you have the perfect recipe for a gluten free pizza dough, please write it or link to it in the comment field, and we will try them out next time.

Vegetarian Mini Pizza
Makes around 8 – 10 small pizzas (5-inch) or 1 large

As we mentioned above you can use almost anything as topping, we have only written some suggestions. We marinate the zucchini and eggplant and make a proper tomato sauce ourselves, if you want to make it easier for yourself you can buy these things pre-maid in the supermarket.

Dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tsp instant dry yeast
2 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 cup spelt flour (we used light)
2 tbsp olive oil

Tomato sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp capers (drained)
a pinch of dried chili
1 1/2 cup of canned tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano
salt & black pepper

Topping:
4 pre boiled potatoes
250 g marinated artichoke hearts
100 g kalamata olives
1 zuchini (marinated)
1 eggplant (marinated)
4 brown mushrooms, cut in quarters
1/4 fennel, thin slices
300 g small tomatoes
2 small spring onions, divided in half
1/2 broccoli100 g goat cheese
salt & black pepper
fresh aragula, put it on after the pizza has been in the oven

Making the dough: Pour warm water in a medium size bowl. Add salt and yeast and stir around. Mix in 2 cups of flour. Gradually add more flour until the dough comes together enough for you to start kneading it. Knead for a couple of minutes, add additional flour if it sticks to your hands. Put the dough back in the bowl and drizzle it with olive oil. Work the dough until it’s completely covered in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for 1 – 2 hours.

Making the tomato sauce: Heat olive oil in a medium size pot. Add onion, garlic, and chili and saute  for 2-3 minutes. Add capers and fresh tomatoes and spices and cook for 10 minutes, lower the heat and let it simmer for half an hour more under a lid.

Preheat the oven to the highest possible temperature (450-500°F). Remove the plastic cover from the dough and start working it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Make 8 to 10 small portions. Stretch and flatten the dough until you get the desired size and thickness that you prefer and move it to a baking pan covered with parchment paper. Spelt flour doesn’t stretch as good as wheat flour but if you work carefully and flatten it with the palm of your hand you will get it right. Another trick is to roll them out directly on the parchment paper with a slightly floured rolling pin and then just move the parchment paper to the baking pan.

Brush the dough with 2 tbsp tomato sauce. Cover them with topping of your choice. Bake for about 10-15 min until the outer part of the topping and the edges are slightly burnt. Sprinkle with fresh goat cheese, a bit of olive oil, fresh aragula, salt and freshly grounded pepper. Serve immediately.

It has been awfully quiet around here lately. We are sorry about that. The reason for the silence is that our life outside the blog has been very hectic, but also lots of fun. Here is a short recap on what we have been up to, instead of serving new recipes for you.

First of all. We have started working together with two computer geniuses, on a project that hopefully will result in the Green Kitchen Cooking App for iPad! Pretty cool, huh!? It will take at least a couple of months before we are ready, but the plan is that we will create the best vegetarian-cooking app out there. It will feature some of our old favorite recipes, and some new and exclusive for the app. More on that as the project develops.

We have also been working on a guest post for Design Sponge. We will share one of our absolute favorite summer recipes there, so we will make sure to let you know when the post comes up.

Last but not least, we took a road trip to Denmark to visit Luise’s family. It is normally a 5 hour drive from Stockholm to Copenhagen, but with Elsa it took 10 hours. She is not too comfortable in the car these days, so we made a lot of stops at different places: a big playground, a moose park (yes moose!), an incredible flea market and a beautiful view. Nothing compares to Big Sur, but Sweden can be pretty beautiful too.

In Denmark we had 5 days of summer weather, barbecuing, friends and family. We visited the Aarstiderne Country Market, had dinner at Copenhagen’s new Raw food café Simple Raw and picked spring flowers. It was the perfect start of the summer.

At the Raw food café we tried a delicious zucchini spaghetti. The raw food version of zucchini spaghetti is very different than the classic Italian version, since the zucchini actually is the spaghetti. We have been making this type of zucchini spaghetti a lot since we brought a julienne peeler with us home from Thailand. And after our visit at the cafe we were reminded how perfect it would be on the blog.

So here we have created something that reminds of a delicious creamy Italian pasta, without using neither cream nor pasta. It has got a fresh fruity flavor and takes only a few minutes to make. Who said vegetarian/vegan/raw food was difficult? It can’t be much simpler than this!

Mint & Mango Marinated Zucchini Spaghetti
Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 as a dinner

When we were in Thailand we bought a julienne like slicer. They use it for green mango salad but it works just as perfect for slicing a zucchini. You can find similar slicers on Amazon or try julienne’s big brother, the vegetable spiral slicer.

Raw Spaghetti
2 Zucchinis

Wash the zucchinis and slice them with whatever tool you have (read above).

Mint & Mango Sauce
1 mango medium size
4 tbsp olive oil (add more if you like)
15 leaves fresh mint
1 inch fresh red chili
2 inches fresh ginger
a pinch of salt & pepper
a handful of green pea sprouts and pistachio nuts, for garnish

Peel and remove the stone from the mango, add all ingredients in a mixer and mix until smooth.
Pour the mango mint marinade over the zucchini spaghetti and work it in by hand. Arrange the spaghetti on the plates and garnish with sprouts and chopped pistachio nuts.