Vegan Pumpkin-Chickpea Stew

                               

For a long time I did'nt like to prepare dishes with pumpkins because I hated to cut them (realy a hard work and one need a very sharp knife...) and because I tought that I had also to peel them, what meant that it tooked a quite long time to prepare the dish. But I discovered that very often it is not necessary to peel the pumpkin. So the workload is reduced to cut the pumpkin..... And now I love dishes with pumpkins. The following recipe is one adpated from Haya Molcho and is apart the cutting of the pumpkin really quick prepared.

You need (serves 3-4 persons):

500 g Pumpkin (Hokkaido or butternut or wich one ever you may like) It does'nt matter if you take a little bit more or less....

1 Cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves 

400 g chickpeas ( I used canned one, ready to be prepared)

140 g tomatoe puree

1 Onion, cut in slices

1 garlic glove, cut in slices

1 organic Lemon, cut in small rounds

4 crushed pimento

500 ml water

Some olive oil, salt and pepper to season

To prepare:

1. Wash your pumkin and then cut your pumkin in wedges.

2. Heat up in a deep pan some olive oil and cook the onion until lightly brown then add the garlic and continue cooking for a minute.

3. Now add all the other ingredients and stir well

4. Heat up all and then let simmer for about 20 minutes (until the pumpkin is soft but still ) in your pan covered with a lid, stir from time to time

5. Take out the cinnamon stick, the bay leaves and the lemon-pieces and season wirh salt and pepper

                                 

It's time to eat! Serve with some baguette or some Naan bread or..... Simply savour !

Socca with Chanterelle Ragout

Since a long time I associated chickpeas only with humus. But some days ago a friend told me about a pancake like treat made with chickpea flour called Socca.. and then I found a recipe in a cookbook with recipes from the south of France. In this recipe they make out of chickpeaflour somewhat of a crispy bread..they called it Soccer....have to try it soon. But to start I made those chickpea flour pancake called Socca that my friend was telling me about. As Fall starts I found some delicious looking Chanterelles at the Farmers Market and so I made Socca with Chanterelle Ragout. The chickpea flour gives a very definite taste to the pancakes and paired with the creamy Ragout resulted in a very fine, easy done dish.

Here to the recipe...

You need:

For Socca:

- 230 g chickpea flour

- 2 Egg whites

- 450 ml water

- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive oil

- 1/2 Tsp. salt

- Some more olive oil to bake the pancakes

For Chanterelle Ragout:

- 500g Chanterelles

- 1 small onion, cut in small cubes

- 150 g Crème fraiche

- 3 Tbsp Olive oil

- 1 bunch parsley, chopped

Salt and Pepper to season the Ragout.

To prepare:

1. Start by preparing the batter for Socca by mixing together the chickpea flour, water, 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil and salt.

2. Whis the egg whites with a hand whisk until it forms soft peaks

3. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter

4. Reserve the pancake batter for 30 minutes

5. Meanwhile clean gently the chanterelles by brushing them, cut them in halves or quarters (depending on their size)

6. Heat up a small amount of olive oil in a non sticking pan and pour in some of your socca batter (so that it is about 5 mm thick). When you see some sort of bubbles appearing on your pancake surface, turn it to the other side and continue cooking the second side until slightly golden brown.

Proceed in the same way until you have used the whole batter. Reserve the pancakes in the to 50 C preheated oven

7. Heat up 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a pan. Sear the onion and than add the chanterelles, stir from time to time until they start to get soft

8. Add the crème fraiche to the Chanterelles and season with salt and pepper to your taste and fold in the chopped parsley (but do not cook anymore)

9. Place the Socca on a plate, cover with some Chanterelle Ragout and disperse some chopped parsley over all

 

Humus – Hummus – Houmus

There are different ways to write Humus and I confess that I don´t know which spelling is the right one. Perhaps all of them are right..? But who cares, it is not my intension to make an orthography lesson. Humus is a traditional dish from Mediterranean, oriental and Arab countries that is easily done and tastes great with some Pita-, Naan-Bread, Focaccia or Baguette.

I use tinned chikpeas (I find no difference in taste when using dried one…and it is much easier as you only have to open the tin…), Tahin (= special sesam paste that you can find meanwhile quite easily in stores selling oriental, arab or Turkish ingredients), salt, pepper, fresh Lemon and Orange Juice, pine nuts and of course some good quality extra vergin olive oil.

1. Drain the chickpeas in a colander and squeeze one lemon and one orange, reserve the juice.

2. Roast about 20 g pine nuts in a pan until they turn slightly brown and start to deliberate a delicious odour

3. Now you mix together 450 g chickpeas, 4 Tablespoons Tahin and the juice from 1 lemon + 1 little Orange in a blender until you obtain a smooth, fluffy paste

4. Season with salt and pepper and add more Tahin or lemon juice regarding your taste.

5. Top the Humus with the roasted pine nuts and drizzle some olive oil over it.

(If possible prepare the humus one day before you intend to eat it. I find that the Humus takes than the flavour from the pine nuts.)

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