Wonderful Christmas time..

Look, it's a white Christmas! How beautiful!
This is what the South of the Netherlands looked like yesterday when we went out for a walk.
Yesterday's dinner was a huge success, and my mom made it all.
We started out with pumpkin soup, followed by the main course which consisted of Moroccan stir-fried veggies and a wonderful beef stew.
My mom used this stew recipe from the BBC GoodFood website and it was absolutely delicious, although she made it with beef instead of lamb. So if anyone is still looking for a challenging recipe to make for New Year's Eve, this is one you should definitely try!
Last but not least, we had poached pears, with some vegan and gluten free ice-cream. (which, of course, was delicious!)
Today, we're going to have a chicken curry.. And (shh, don't tell anyone..) chocolate fondue!

And finally, I just have to show you how my cat is enjoying Christmas, pretty cute, right?

Happy Holidays!

Unfortunately, I don't have any recipes to post today.. (I tried making something with my rutabaga puree today, but it failed..)
Anyhow, I still wanted to wish everyone very happy holidays, with loads of good food. Tasty and healthy, and maybe sometimes not all that healthy because it's Christmas. As long as you enjoy these days!

There will be new recipes next week!

Rutabaga and beef mince stew

What a wonderful name for a veggie; rutabaga! Whoever made that up should get an award!
Or maybe it's just because I'm Dutch that it sounds funny to me..
Cooking with rutabaga (can't say it enough) was completely new for me. I'd only eaten it once before in my life, without actually knowing what it was. Because I wasn't able to go to the market last Monday I was browsing the supermarket for new veggies. This was the only one I'd never cooked with, so I bought it.
Because my rutabage was pretty huge, I used half of it for this stew, and I steamed and pureed the other half. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the puree yet but I guess I'll see about that tomorrow.
I know the picture of this stew isn't that clear, but just in case you were wondering; it tastes good!

Rutabaga and beef mince stew (serves 2)
- 1 small rutabaga, peeled and cut into approx. 2 x 2 cm cubes
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 leek, in rings
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 250g beef mince
- 1 apple, cut into cubes (discard core)
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp dried herbs (parsley, coriander, whatever you like)
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan, and stir-fry onion and garlic for a few minutes until it starts smelling good.
2. Add beef mince and fry until browned.
3. Add rutabaga, leek and apple and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Add garam masala, cinnamon, pepper and dried herbs, stir well.
4. Add 1 cup of water, cover pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes until rutabaga is soft and the water has evaporated.

Serve hot, and enjoy!

Curried parsnip, creamy savoy cabbage and oven baked fish

These days I've been eating quite some leftovers I had in my freezer, or I simply didn't have time to think of a new recipe. Today I felt like cooking something new again!
A quick and creamy savoy cabbage, curried parsnip and oven baked yellowfin sole fillets. Now I come to think of it, I made 3 dishes today, all within 40 minutes and ready to be served at the same time.

It's almost Christmas now.. People are getting into a festive mood and saying 'see you next year' doesn't feel as strange anymore. Last weekend I did my final Christmas food shopping; I bought some lentil papadams with red chillies, from Lijjad Papad, at the local Asian supermarket. These will make the perfect side dish for our chicken curry!
Of cours, lentils aren't truly paleo, but they're way better than grains so we don't mind having these during Christmas.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my savoy cabbage, it looks so complex and yet so perfectly beautiful..
I'd better get to those recipes now!

Curried parsnip (serves 1)
- 1 medium parsnip
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp curry powder

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Wash the parsnip and cut it into equal pieces, about 1/2 cm thick.
3. Spread parsnip over half of the baking tray, pour olive oil over it, add curry powder and mix with your hands until all pieces are covered with a layer of curry powder and oil.
4. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and soft.

In the mean time, prepare your fish:
Oven baked yellowfin sole fillet (serves 1)
- 2 yellowfin sole fillets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- lemon pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1. Put fish fillets into a small oven dish, or make one yourself by folding some aluminum foil into an oven dish.
2. Sprinkle oil and lemon pepper to taste over fillets.
3. Put the oven dish into the oven, next to the parsnip on the baking tray, when the remaining baking time of the parsnip is 12 minutes.

While everything is baking, you can prepare your savoy cabbage.
Creamy savoy cabbage (serves 1)
- 1/4 of a head savoy cabbage
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 shallot
- 1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp coconut oil

1. Wash savoy cabbage and cut into thin strips. Finely chop the garlic and shallot.
2. Heat coconut oil in a wok or frying pan, add garlic, shallot and ginger and stir-fry for a minute or so, until it starts smelling good. Make sure it doesn't burn!
3. Add cabbage and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add coriander and coconut milk and stir-fry until the cabbage has wilted and has gotten creamy.

By now, the parsnip and fish should be done, take them out of the oven and put them onto a plate. Sprinkle lemon juice and coriander leaves over the fish.
Add creamy savoy cabbage and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Serve hot and enjoy!

Italian kohlrabi crumble

Sometimes you just don't feel like eating meat or fish, or anything like that. Not because it doesn't taste good, but maybe just because it's a lazy Sunday.

Now my Sunday wasn't exactly lazy (I ploughed through the snow on my bike, just to go to the Christmas market in town, and did a lot of laundry too), but I still didn't feel like eating meat or fish for dinner.

I did want to use one of the kohlrabis I still had in my fridge so I decided to make an oven dish with an almond crumble topping; just to add some more protein.

It tasted really good and wasn't much effort to cook either. I'm definitely going to have my leftovers for breakfast tomorrow!

Italian kohlrabi crumble (serves 2)

- 1 kohlrabi, peeled and grated

- 1 winter carrot, grated

- 1 red onion, chopped

- 2 eggs

- 1 tbsp thyme

- 1 tbsp rosemary

- freshly ground black pepper to taste

- 1 cup almond flour

- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs, dried (oregano, etc)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2. Put kohlrabi, carrot and onion in a small oven dish and mix.

3. In a bowl, combine eggs, thyme, rosemary and pepper, mix well and pour over kohlrabi.

4. In an other bowl, mix almond flour, oil and Italian herbs until well-combined and it's got a crumbly consistency.

5. Sprinkle crumbles over kohlrabi evenly. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes, until browned.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Turnip puree

Seems like I'm eating a lot of mashed veggies this week. I love them all.
Just like this turnip puree.
I pretty much made it the same way as I made my parsnip mash, but this has a whole different texture and it's more refreshing. It's even better when you eat it cold!
Oh and something that doesn't have anything to do with food, but that I just wanted to share; I've got real heating in my home! Finally! They've installed it this morning and ever since, my home is nice and warm. Just in time for the holidays.

Turnip puree (serves 2-3)
- 2 turnips
- 2 apples
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Peel turnips with a vegetable peeler, cut them into small chunks and steam for 6-8 minutes, until soft.
2. Cut apples into pieces, discard the core, and put them in a bowl. Add turnip pieces and puree with a hand blender. (you could also put everything in a food processor)
3. Add coconut flour and cinnamon and stir well.
Serve warm or cold, whatever you prefer.

For serving, I sprinkled some more cinnamon on top because I thought it looked kind of festive. I served it with a simple chicken and kale stir-fry. But it might as well be part of any meal of the day. It could even make a sweet snack.

Parsnip cookies

What to do with my other portion of parsnip mash, that's what I asked myself yesterday. Since those pumpkin cookies last week worked out so well, I figured I might be able to make parsnip cookies as well.
I had one for breakfast this morning and it was really good!
It's a whole different way of using parsnips but it works.
Today I really needed to have something nice to eat after work; we had drinks and snacks to end 2010 and for a good start in 2011. Of course I couldn't take any of the snacks so I got home hungry, but a little too late to -in my opinion- make dinner. I also had to cycle all the way through the snow so I was pretty wet and looked like Frosty's sister.
Having tea and a cookie made me feel so much better!

 

Parsnip cookies (makes 10 cookies)
- 1 batch parsnip apple mash (for recipe, see previous post)
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp gingerbread spice
- 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Put parsnip mash in a bowl, stir in eggs.
3. Add other ingredients and stir until well-combined.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter on a cookie tray, lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake cookies on middle rack for about 40 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Let cool for a while and serve.