Perfect Roasted Vegetables

As simple as roasting vegetables might sound, I believe there is an art to it. The vegetables have to be charred but not burnt, crispy yet tender and not too oily neither dry. So, this goes for all the ’simple’ dishes that you just have to know the art behind it, and once you do suddenly these simple, everyday dishes start looking fancy![and you start looking-and cooking-like one fancy chef!]
Back to the roasted vegetables : I prefer not to use root vegetables such as potatoes,carrots and parsnips to this dish, because they dont get roasted the same way with the others, but feel free to experiment! The key about cooking these babies is patience. Yes, I know no one gets excited with this word, not even me. But, be patient!![here it comes again!sorry!]

You need :
-2 eggplants
-2 green bell peppers
-1 red bell pepper
-1 orange bell pepper
-4 zucchini
-3 onions
-a bit less than 1/2 cup olive oil
-salt&pepper

-3tsp olive oil
-3 garlic heads

-balsamic glaze/crema di balsamico [store-bought or homemade]

Chop vegetables, taking care not cut the eggplant pieces too fat because they cook slower than the others. In a big baking dish add half f the oil, then the vegetables and then pour over that the rest of the oil. Toss to oil everything, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss again. Cover with baking sheet and place in preheated oven at 185C.
Now I have to say that this is a really good time to roast some garlic heads. For this dish you need about 3 but if you want for other uses roast more, since you are using the oven for quite some time. Chop the top of each garlic head to expose the cloves, and pour a teaspoon of olive oil on each head. Wrap in baking sheets individually and put in the oven as well.
After 40 minutes, take the baking dish out of the oven, uncover and place on the bottom of the oven to broil the veggies for a bit and give them some crisp. This will take around 20 minutes but check often and stir if needed. Once they are ready take the dish and garlic heads out of the oven. Unwrap garlic heads and leave to cool until you can handle them. With a spoon take out each garlic clove [it will be soft and mashed] and place in a small bowl. With a fork mash them up all together to form a paste. Drizzle balsamic glaze over vegetables and serve with lemon and the roasted garlic paste.
Serves 4 as a main dish!

Sour Cherry Leather

Fruit leather, or fruit roll-ups is usually sold as a candy, with lots of sugar in it. I used to love the commercial strawberry roll-ups, but found that they were really unhealthy, so I decided to make my own version of fruit leather. Its so easy to make that I wonder why I havent done this before. All you need is loads of your favorite fruit, a blender, baking sheets and an oven or dehydrator.
This sour cherry leather is tart, sweet and addictive! I used frozen sour cherries[they were really cheap],agave syrup as a sweetener, a dash of vanilla and some drops of lemon juice. If for any reason you cant use a big amount of one fruit to make fruit leather, you can always use some apples as a base, which is what they also do in commercial fruit roll-ups, that are later flavored with various fruit flavors.
But since I found these sour-cherries so cheap, I decided to make pure sour cherry leather!

You need:
-2cups frozen and thawed [or fresh] sour
-1/2 tbsp lemon juice
-1/4tsp real vanilla extract
-5tbsp agave syrup

Puree sour cherries with agave nectar in blender. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Prepare a baking dish [I used the big flat one that comes with the oven] with baking sheets, spray with canola oil or other bland tasting oil. Pour mixture and with a spatula spread on the surface to make a thin layer[1/4 to 1/8 inch]. Set oven at 50 C or 120 F and let dehydrate, until the surface of leather is not sticky.[approx.4 hours]. Remove fro oven, roll it up with the baking sheets and cut in portions. Enjoy plain, like the candy, chop it up and use in salads or cut strips and make fruit sushis for parties! Whatever, just use your imagination!
You can also do this with a dehydrator, if you have one available!

Lemon Roasted Pistachios

Whats better than nicely salted roasted pistachios? Well lemon roasted salted pistachios…At least for me, since I love lemon on literally everything. But I promise this is something everyone will like.
So it all started when my boyfriend’s dad brought these pistachios from Iran. I noticed that to make the salt stick on the shell, they used lemon. So I decided to roast my own pistachios, shelled, so that the lemon is actually on the nut. It really compliments the pistachio flavor, but be careful not to overdo it with the salt since the lemon almost covers the need for salt!

1+3/4 cup shelled roasted good quality pistachios[unsalted]
1/2 cup lemon juice [2-3 lemons]
1/2 to 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Mix together pistachios, salt and lemon and toss well. Place in a baking dish, big enough to fit them on one layer. Place on the bottom of the oven at 60C[140F] for several hours [around three] or until there is not lemon juice water left and pistachios are completely dry.

Onion Rosti

Rosti is a traditional Swiss dish that farmers eat. Its is fried grated potatoes. The first time I tried it was when I got a ‘ready to cook’ swiss style Rosti from Waitrose. It was vegan and had a garlic ham flavor. Since then I loved it. I buy many packages and when I don’t know what to eat, I eat that!! Because its fast to make it. It looks like an omelet but I never liked omelets! This is by far better, I usually have it next to my meal instead of french fries or rice. You can have it also for breakfast, but I was never a big fan of omelet breakfast. I am a fruit&oatmeal person.
Anyway, I did some research on how to make Rosti, and found that many people use egg whites, but the original recipe is egg free. I guess they put them to make the potato stick together like a pancake, but again there is no reason to use eggs, because then its not Rosti! They only thing about making Rosti from scratch, is that you need well, more time. But nothing crazy.
You can add anything in it, like you would in an omelet. But my boyfriend’s idea was to add onion, and its so perfect with it that I didnt want to ruin its simplicity. Its is definitely worth trying this!

You need :
-4 medium size potatoes
-2 tbsp oil for light pan frying
-2 onions
-1 tbsp+1tsp nutritional yeast
-1/2tsp salt [or to taste]
-1tsp garlic powder

You need to boil the potatoes until the are a bit softened. Not like you would to eat them boiled, but firmer. Try cooking them 5 minutes less than you normally would, around 10-20 minutes depending on the size. Chill them in the fridge overnight, or for a couple of hours.[If you don't do this they will become mashed and grated is what we are aiming for]
Peel the potatoes and grated them, like you would grate a carrot, but holding the potato sideways, to make the strips longer.

Add nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt and toss lightly without mashing the strips.
Chop onion in small pieces.
Heat a frying pan [same size you would use for pancakes]. Add 1/2 tbsp oil and onions. Saute for 2 minutes and add half of the potato mix [2+1/2 handfuls approx.] With a spatula mix onion and potato and press lightly to distribute the potatoes evenly on the pan. Cook on medium high heat for a good 10 minutes and flip. To flip, unless you are a good flipper[a.k.a. my boyfriend], use a plate, a bit smaller than the pan. Cover the pan with the plate, and flip. Then smoothly put the rosti back on the pan to cook from the other side, pour the rest 1/2tbsp of oil around the edges of rosti[to make it crispy] and leave 10 minutes.
Repeat with the rest of the potato. This makes 2 pancake sized Rosti. Serve warm, plain or with your favorite sauce. [I love it with ketchup]

Blackberry Fro-yo

Now I don’t know about you, but the past few months I realized that my sugar taste has changed! I was always a big fan of really sweet sweets, even though I am ball-busting level picky when it comes to desserts. Usually my motto is less is more. I like simple stuff. But lately I have noticed that I find foods ’sweet’ that other people try and say ‘its not sweet enough’ which I never expected to happen to me. I mean yeah I have a weird taste but I am always able to say what is sweet and what’s not. Well I guess people change. And sweetness tolerance is no exception. So after an inedible-y sweet coconut ice cream mix and a lot of thought I decided that the best way to make vegan ice cream should be simple, low fat, sugar free but tasty! I never liked heavy cream, whipped cream and buttery oily stuff in my foods or desserts as an omni so why would I like it as a vegan?? I mean yeah, decant is good but a high fat content sometimes makes me want to throw up!Its true! And I remembered an old favorite, fruit flavored frozen yogurt, and of course I decided to make my own vegan version which couldn’t be more simple. And you dont even really need an ice cream machine to make it.
You need :
-1cups unflavored, unsweetened soy yogurt
-1cups frozen blackberries
-1tsp agave syrup
-1 tsp vanilla extract

Note that this is a small batch, for 2 people, but I like to eat it ‘fresh’ and make more when I want. But you can double this. Just remember to use the same amount of blackberries and yogurt [lets say for 3 cups yogurt, 3 cups blackberries]and then adjust vanilla and agave to your taste.
Also if you if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you have to it it all.[NOT THAT THATS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM]So don’t freeze it for a later use unless you use an ice-cream maker.

Option 1:In a blender mix everything together and serve.
Option 2:For a creamier and firmer version after blending chill in the ice cream maker and serve
Option 3: If you want to get rid of the little seeds[I like them]you have to thaw blackberries-or use fresh, and put them through a juice maker to remove the seeds, then mix everything together and chill overnight. Next day freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.

Of course you can do this with any fruit, and if not using a machine dont forget to use frozen fruit.Enjoy!