Posts Tagged ‘saffron’

 

Saffron bean salad

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Before we get down to business with a great recipe I have some chit chattering to do. Hey, how are you all? I’ve had a great day. I went grocery shopping in the morning with my mother and my sister and got some great things. First we went to the arab store I visit weekly and bought a bunch of different veggies and some fruit. Then we visited one of my favourite stores, Astrid och aporna (astrid and the monkeys – cute!), and bought some real gems, cheap carob chips (I’ve never even seen those in Sweden before, yay baked carob goods here I come!), agave nectar (something I’ve never tried before), gluten powder, panda liquorice and delicious icecream. It was great! The real gem of the day was the visit to a huge grocery store where they sold out all their green plants for half price. I splurged and bought 9 different ones, small and big and paid very little. I haven’t had any plants in the house for well over a year because of the cats but now I finally have some (and the cats will have to learn to stay off them). We finished the day with lunch together. I made Joanna’s Pasta Alfredo from Yellow Rose Recipes, as well as the Cajun Tofu and we finished the meal with some Carob Split Bars (Damn Tasty Vegan) and blueberry icecream. Ah, what a brilliant day.

I was meaning to post this recipe around xmas time, but I am a master procrastinator so I’ve been able to hold it off until now. Not that it matters much, you can eat these ANY time of the year really. It’s a very simple recipe for saffron beans but it’s delicious and will impress guests nonetheless. It’s such a feast for the eyes.

xmas saffron beans

Saffron bean salad:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cups big white beans (2 cans, rinsed and drained)
  • 1 medium red onion
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 cup finely shredded purple cabbage
  • 1/8 tsp saffron threads
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Finely shred the purple cabbage. peel onoin and cut in half. Slice thinly into half moons. Fry the onion and HALF of the cabbage in in olive oil and saffron. Add in the beans, minced garlic and lemon juice and stir. Keep on low heat for about 5 mins, stirring ever now and then. Add in the rest of the cabbage and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour beans into a serving bowl. Add a few dashes of extra oilve oil to make the beans shine and a squeeze of lemon. Serve the beans lukewarm or at room temperature. (Garnish with some fresh shredded purple cabbage for looks!)

 

Soup galore! … or Potato and Leek, Carrot and saffron.

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

Two soups in just a few days. I love soup, can you tell? Also, soup is usually very cheap and we’re three weeks from getting paid with no money in our pockets. Soups galore!

First off all. Leek and potato soup. How many of you don’t have a recipe for this already? It’s one of those many dishes that everyone has eaten, loved and made again and again. I make it when I’m low on money and in the mood for something filling and comforting.

Leek and potato soup

A recipe I read on line once said to put the rosemary in when you blend the soup. That was a super idea and improves the taste of the soup mucho! Unless you use dried, in which case you put it in with the stock.

Leek and potato soup: 4 servings

  • 1 leek
  • 1 big yellow onion
  • 2 cloves garlic (not too big)
  • 400 gr (14 oz) potatoes
  • 8 dl (3½ cups) vegetable stock
  • olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp fresh rosemary (or about a teaspoon dried)
  1. Wash the leek and slice it. Only use the white and the light green parts, don’t use the outer green leaves. Chop the onion.
  2. Heat up a little oil in a pot. Add leeks, onions and salt. Sauté for about 5 minutes on low to medium heat, until the onion softens and is slightly see through.
  3. Finely shop or mince the garlic and add it.
  4. Peel potatoes and chop them into cubes, add to the soup together with the stock.
  5. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes or so, until the potatoes are soft.
  6. Blend the soup in any way you want. Hand-held blender or in your fancy many moolah blender standing on your kitchen counter. Add the rosemary leaves as you blend.
  7. Heat up again and serve with bread and maybe a salad.

Carrot, orange juice and saffron soup

Also, CARROT SOUP. I love carrot soup, not only is it health food, it’s cheap and it’s tasty. This soup is fantastic. At work I know I read about a carrot soup with orange juice and saffron in it, but when I came home two days ago in the mood for carrot soup I just couldn’t remember what was in that soup. Other than carrots, orange juice and saffron of course.

Carrot soup with orange and saffron: Serves 4

  • 500 gr carrots
  • 1 orange
  • ½ envelope saffron (0,25g)
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1,2 l (5 cups) vegetable stock
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • salt, pepper
  1. Peel and chop carrots. Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic.
  2. Saute onion and carrots for a few minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
  3. Pour the vegetable stock and thyme in and let boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft.
  4. Juice the orange and pour into a bowl. Add the saffron to the orange juice.
  5. When the carrots are soft, add the orange juice mix and blend the soup. Hand held blender or the many moolah one again.
  6. Heat up again and season to taste.
  7. It’s like eating liquid paella!

My gorgeous man liked it too! He even threw the rockin’ horns for it.

Rockin' soup!

 

Paella

Friday, March 9th, 2007

One of the things I really love, but have never made before is paella. Back in my meat eating days I had it a few times, saffron is just fantastic, and my Spanish teacher (who happened to be from Spain) made it for our class once. I was hooked! A few weeks back me and my man Alex started planning our meals in advance to reduce food costs and more importantly, to really try and challenge ourselves to trying new foods and foods we’ve never made before. Every week now we try to eat something that is new or ‘weird’ to us. This week the weird one was that horrible fritatta I made and the new one was this incredibly tasty paella with some lettuce on the side. Next week I think I’ll try making risotto another one of those things I really like, but have never made. I should also try to come up with something for that okra I have lying about in the freezer, just waiting to be devoured.

Paella

It was fairly simple to make. It took a while, but to be honest, I didn’t have to ‘cook’ much. Having paella on a Friday night when I actually have the weekend off is such a treat. I found this recipe in a Swedish cookbook I have and changed some of the things around.

Vegan Paella: Serves 2 and let’s one of you have it for lunch the day after!

  • 2 dl medium grain rice
  • oil for frying
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 2 dl tomato sauce
  • 4 dl water
  • 1 stock cube
  • 1g saffron
  • 100g green beans
  • 4 artichoke hearts
  • 2 dl big white beans
  • 5 cherry tomatoes
  • a few lemon wedges

Slice up the onion, the garlic clove and the bell pepper. Fry in a bit of oil. Heat up the tomato sauce, water, stock cube and the saffron. Keep this warm. Mix in the dry rice with the onions and pepper. Pour some broth over the rice and add more whenever the rice starts to dry. After about 25-30 minutes on low-medium heat the rice should be soft. Put green beans, white beans, cherry tomatoes and artichoke on top, let it heat up a bit so it’s all warm. Put some lemon wedges on top. Squeeze lemon juice over the paella when eating.

Tastes delicious with some salad and bread.

Recept på svenska: Paella

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