Maple Mushroom Mountain

Hey everyone! This week we'll be making a grilled mushroom burger with a Canadian touch. I recommend using the portobello mushroom. It's big, juicy and full of flavour.

Ingredients

- 2 Portobello mushrooms ( or another big mushroom)
- 1 clove of garlic
- Port Salut cheese ( or another type of creamy, subtle flavoured cheese )
- Fresh thyme
- Avocado
- Tomato
- Red onion
- Maple Syrup
- Apple cider vinegar
- Alfalfa sprout
- Olive oil
- Black Pepper
- Coarse sea salt
- Tomato ketchup
- Hamburger bun

Preparation

Preheat your oven on 200 °C. Finely slice the clove of garlic. Remove the stems from the mushrooms. Mix garlic with 4 tbl spoons of olive oil. Put the mushrooms in a baking tray with the side of the stem facing up. Cover them with the oil-garlic mixture. Drizzle some maple syrup and vinegar over the mushrooms, scatter thyme leaves, add salt and pepper. Put the mushrooms in the oven, and depending on your oven it should take about 15-20 minutes to cook the mushrooms until they are done.
Cut the hamburger bun in 2 equal parts. Cover the bottom part with alfalfa sprouts, add the mushroom, slices of cheese, ketchup, some avocado, red onion rings, a slice of tomato and the top part of the bun.

Maple Mushroom Mountain

Music

This week's music is by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist. While being a solo artist she is also a member of the band Broken Social Scene. The song is How Come You Never Go There from her fourth album Metals.

Feist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLj5FA0Dbks

Caesar's Sandwich

Hey everyone, it's been some time since my last post, but we're back with a delicious vegetarian spin on a classic recipe: The Caesar salad with chicken. The salad's creation is generally attributed to restaurateur Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who operated restaurants in Mexico and the United States. In my version of the dish, I replaced the croutons with crunchy ciabatta bread, and to add some more crunch I added Parmezan crisp. 

Some of the ingredients

Ingredients

- 1 egg
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 tbs of lemonjuice
- 1/2 tbs of mustard
- 7 cl peanut oil
- cayenne pepper
- black pepper
- salt
- roman salad
- 1 eschalot
- Parmegiano Reggiano ( Parmezan         cheese )
- ciabatta
- Quorn filet ( or another type of meat replacement)
- marinade ( olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, black pepper, oregano, cayenne pepper )


Preparation ( Caesar dressing )

Put the egg yolk in a bowl. ( we don't use the egg white ). Peel the garlic clove and cut it into small pieces. Add to the egg yolk. Now add the lemon juice and the mustard. Mix it with a whisk. Now gently add a little bit of the peanut oil while you keep whisking. You need to give the egg yolk some time to absorb the oil. If you add too much oil at once the emulsion will part. Keep adding the oil until you have a nice, smooth dressing. Add cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt and a tablespoon of grated Parmezan cheese. Let it cool in the fridge.

Preparation ( Parmezan crisp )

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray and make some circles with grated parmezan ( about 10 cm diameter ). Bake the cheese until golden brown, remove from oven and let them cool down.

Preparation ( Caesar's Sandwich )

Put the ingredients for the marinade in a plastic bag, add the filet and let it marinade for at least 2 hours. 
Rip the leaves from the salad ( I used the small leaves at the center because they tend to be the most crunchy ), and wash under cool water. Cut a piece from the ciabatta, cover the top side with some olive oil and put under a grill until crispy. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and fry the Quorn filet. When the filet is done, cut it up in slices. Cut the ciabatta in half, add some salad leaves, and cover with the dressing. Now add the slices of fried filet and some slices of eschalot. Top with the parmezan crisp, and close with the other half of the ciabatta.

Caesar's Sandwich

Music

A song by the " The King of Cool ". American singer, actor, comedian and allround cool cat Dean Martin. Born in America to Italian parents, he's a perfect match with the Caesar's Sandwich. See you next time and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz2cZx118P0

The French Connection

Hey everyone! For today's recipe I'm combining two classic French dishes with bread : The mushroom toast and the baguette with Brie and honey. On y va!

Ingredients

Ingredients
- Brie de Meaux
- French bread
- white mushrooms ( champignon de Paris )
- 2 eschalots
- 1/2 glass white wine
- 1 tbs honey
- fresh parsley
- a handful of walnuts
- olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- coarse sea salt
- black pepper





Preparation

Finely slice the eschalots in rings. Heat up some oil in a pan and cook the onions. Add a tbs of honey and let the eschalots caramelise. When they start to turn brown take them of the fire. Put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray and put the eschalots under a grill until they are crispy.

In the meantime cut the mushrooms in slices and chop the clove of garlic, the parsley and the walnuts. Heat up some oil and cook the mushrooms. Make sure your oil is hot enough and leave the mushrooms. They need to colour, so don't be to quick to turn them over. Add the white wine and let all the fluid cook out. Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped parsley.

Cut the bread in two parts, add slices of Brie, top with the mushrooms, walnuts and honey glazed onions.

The French Connection

Music

Chainsmoker, womaniser and musical innovator : Serge Gainsbourg. The song is from the filmscore of the movie " Cannabis ", composed by Serge Gainsbourg with the help of arranger Jean Claude Vannier with whom Gainsbourg would again collaborate the following year on  "Histoire de Melody Nelson". Bon appétit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGXZ_wo9lg

Neapolitan Breakfast Bomb

Today's dish is made with some typical Neapolitan ingredients. The Neapolitan cuisine was influenced by the different cultures that controlled Naples. Some ingredients used in this recipe are very typical for the region. We're going to make a fresh, raw zucchini salad which works extremely well with the hearty, smokey flavour of the scamorza and the eggs. 
This is some excellent hangover food : quick, easy and greasy. ( Your liver probably won't think the same about it.)

Some ingredients

Ingredients

- 4 eggs
- scamorza ( smoked mozzarella, you can find this at an Italian delicacy store )
- fresh basil
- 1/2 zucchini
- ciabatta bread
- seasalt
- black pepper
- juice from 1 lime
- finely chopped fresh parsley
- extra virgin olive oil



Preparation

Finely shred the zucchini ( I used a cheese grater ), and toss it in a bowl together with the lime juice, parsley and season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Whisk the eggs, season with salt and pepper. Finely slice the basil ( julienne ). Heat up a tsp of oil in a non-stick pan and add half of the eggs and half of the basil. When the omelet is done, do the same with the rest of the eggs and basil. 
Grill the ciabatta until crispy. Cut it in half. Cover the bottom half of the ciabatta with the zucchini salad, add the basil omelettes, and end with the scamorza.

Neapolitan Breakfast Bomb

Music

Some fine relaxing music this week to get over that hangover. Harlem River Drive by American jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oxrWgmWmG4

Beginner's Falafel

Happy World Vegetarian Day! A perfect day to post a classic vegetarian recipe. Probably one of the oldest replacements for meat. Today's recipe is a homemade falafel with a spicy dill and yoghurt dressing. 

Some of the ingredients

Ingredients ( Falafel )
-400 gr chick peas ( I used canned ones, if you use dried ones you need to soak them overnight )
- 3 spring onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- salt
- black pepper
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tbs chopped parsley
- 1 tbs chopped coriander
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 50 gr white bread crumbs
- flour
- 2 tbs sesame seeds
- peanut oil for frying
- pita bread
- lettuce
- tomato
- red onion
( You can make 3 big falafel's with these ingredients )

Ingredients ( dressing )
- 125 gr Greek yoghurt
- 1 tbs chopped dill
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 chili pepper


Preparation ( Spicy Dill & Yoghurt Dressing )

Add the yoghurt to a bowl. Finely chop up 1 clove of garlic and the chili pepper ( if you don't like it too spicy remove the seeds). Add the dill, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper to the yoghurt. Put it in the fridge until needed.

Preparation ( Falafel )  

Finely chop the spring onions, crush 1 clove of garlic and add all the rest of the ingredients ( except sesame seeds and flour ) to a food processor. Add a little bit of water and mix it. If the mixture is to dry add some water. Roll balls with a handful of the mixture, and then flatten them so they have a hamburgerlike shape. Dip in the sesame seeds and flour. Fry in hot oil until crispy. 
Put the pita bread in the oven, cut it open and add the falafel. Top it with the dressing, onion rings, tomato and lettuce.

Beginner's Falafel

Music

This week's music is by one of my favourite contemporary electronic producers : Flying Lotus. The song Beginner's Falafel inspired me to do this easy falafel recipe. The song is from his first full album : "Los Angeles". Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBvOKbXEXJk

A Fistful of Eggplant Parm

Hey everyone! Last week I didn't find the time to make some scrumptious dish, so this week I'm  trying to make up for that with a sandwich that could feed a whole family. The Italian/American classic : " Eggplant Parmesan "

Some ingredients

Ingredients

- 6 Roma tomatoes

- 2 eggplants

- 1 eschalot

- 2 bayleaves

- a handfull of chopped basil

- thyme

- oregano

- 3 cloves of garlic ( I used smoked garlic )

- marjoram

- rosemary

- parsley

- Parmigiano Reggiano

- buffalo milk mozzarella

- 3 slices of Provolone cheese

- rocket salad

- panko or breadcrumbs (panko tends to be crispier)

- baguette

- 3 eggs

- plain flour

- 1 tbs of sugar

- rock salt

- black pepper

Preparation ( tomato sauce )

Boil water in a pot. While you wait for the water to boil you can start by finely slicing the eschalots and 1 clove of garlic. Cut a cross in the top of the tomatoes and drop them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds an cut into small dices. Heat up oil in a pot and cook the eschalots and the garlic for about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, bayleaves, thyme, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sugar and the chopped basil. Turn down the heat and leave it to simmer for at least 40 minutes. In the end add salt and pepper.

Preparation ( deep fried eggplant )

Start by whisking the 3 eggs in a bowl. Add flour on a plate. Finely slice the parsley, and mix it with the panko on a plate. Cut the eggplant in slices ( about 0.5 cm thick ). Heat up your fryer ( 130 degrees Celsius ) and add 2 cloves of crushed garlic to the oil. Flour the eggplant slice on each side, dip in the eggs and finally put the slice in the panko until each side is covered. Now repeat with all the slices. Deepfry the eggplant until golden brown and put them on some kitchen paper. 

Preparation ( A Fistful of Eggplant Parm )

Cut the baguette in 2 pieces ( put it under a grill first to make it more crispy ). Now the following part is how I assembled my sandwich but you can do it any way you like. 
Cover the bottom part with some tomato sauce
add parmesan
slices of eggplant
tomato sauce
parmesan
provolone cheese
slices of eggplant 
tomato sauce
parmesan
buffalo milk mozzarella. 
Put under a grill, and let the cheese melt. At the end put some rocket salad on the mozzarella and put on the top half of the baguette.

A Fistfull of Eggplant Parm

Music
The music that I chose for this dish was the result of the perfect marriage between Italian and American cinema. The Spaghetti Western. Made famous by Italian director Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone. This is probably the most famous song by Ennio Morricone. Enjoy!

Ennio Morricone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM

Heart Attack American

The motto this week : "Bigger is better"! I wanted to make a typical American hamburger and create a burger that is pure overkill. Two burgers, a lot of cheese, a homemade Jack & Coke BBQ sauce, pickles, onions and lettuce. It's easy, big and very tasty. So let's get started.

Ingredients

Ingredients
- cola
- ketchup
- Jack Daniels Whiskey
- wine vinegar
- 1 eschalot
- rock salt
- smoked paprika
- 1 chipotle pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 tomato
- 1 large pickle
- lettuce
- 2 slices of Cheddar cheese
- 2 vegetarian burgers
- vegetarian bacon
- hamburger bun
- 1 clove of garlic
- cayenne pepper
- olive oil


Preparation ( Jack & Coke BBQ Sauce ) 

Finely slice the eschalot and the garlic. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and cook the eschalot and the garlic ( about 3 minutes ). Add 1 cup of cola, 1 cup of ketchup, 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar, 1 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels, a tbs of smoked paprika, a tsp of cayenne pepper, and the chopped up chipotle. Stir it until all the ingredients are mixed and leave it to simmer on low heat for about 1 hour. You should get a thick sauce. At the end add some salt to your own taste. Let the sauce cool down.

Preparation ( Heart Attack American )

Heat up oil in a pan ( I used olive oil ) and fry the burgers and the bacon until crispy on the outside. Put a little bit of sauce on the bottom half of the bun, add one of the burgers, top it with a slice of cheddar, and add a little bit of the bbq sauce. Now put on the second burger and top it with a slice of cheddar. Put it under the grill until the cheese starts melting. Also put the top part of the bun under the grill. Take a spoonfull of sauce and put it on the melted cheese, add bacon bits, red onion slices, tomato, pickles and lettuce. And Bob's your uncle!

The Heart Attack American

Music

The music accompanying this dish is a song by one of my favourite bands at the moment. I also stole the tittle of the song for the burger. Heart Attack American by L.A. based band The Bronx. Enjoy the food and the music!

The Bronx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Ej_i2qaH8

The Italian Stallion

Hey everyone! New week, new recipe, at least that's what I'm going to try doing. This week's recipe is an Italian twist on the hamburger. Again, not difficult to prepare but you'll be busy for some time. We're going to make our own hamburger bun, fresh Pesto alla Genovese and a balsamic vinegar reduction. So, here we go.

Some of the ingredients

Ingredients
- yeast (I used wet yeast)
- lukewarm water
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 egg 
- 2 tbs sugar
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- sundried tomatoes
- Pecorino cheese
- 6 tbs freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- vegetarian burger
- Balsamic vinegar
- 1 eschalot 
- Rocket salad
- 1 tomatoe
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 cups basil leaves
- 2 garlic cloves
- coarse sea salt

Preparation ( Sundried Tomatoe & Pecorino Burger Bun )

Take half a teaspoon of yeast and add to a glass of lukewarm water. Mix it and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Put 2 tbs of olive oil, 1 egg, sugar and the yeast in a bowl. Add the flour, salt, 4 tbs of grated Pecorino, a handfull of chopped sundried tomatoes. Knead the dough and add flour if it stays to sticky. Transfer the dough to a bowl that is slighlty greased with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in buns (depending on the size of your burger).
Roll into rounds and flatten the buns. Put the buns on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Cover with a damp cloth again and let them rise for another 20 minutes. In the meantime preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Brush the buns with some olive oil and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Preparation ( Pesto Alla Genovese )

Heat up the pine nuts in a skillet until golden brown. Let them cool down completely. Rinse the basil leaves and gently dry them. Place them in a mortar together with the pine nuts, garlic and a pinch of coarse sea salt. Grind the ingredients against the wall of the mortar until you have a paste. Add 6 tbs Parmigiano and 2 tbs Pecorino. Put the paste in a bowl and in a slow and steady stream add olive oil while you keep whisking.

Preparation ( Balsamic Vinegar Reduction )

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add one finely chopped eschalot and cook for about 3 minutes. Add a glass of balsamic vinegar and reduce the vinegar on low heat until it gets a syrupy consistency.

Preparation ( The Italian Stallion)
Heat up olive oil in a pan and prepare the burgers. Take 1 tbs of pesto and spread on the bottom half of the bun. Place the burger on top of the pesto and add a slice of Pecorino. Place under a grill until the cheese starts melting. Add 1 tbs of the Balsamic Vinegar reduction and spread it on the cheese. Place some slices of tomato and cucumber. Add some rocket salad and put on the top half of the bun.

The Italian Stallion

Music
No stereotype "Godfather-like" song for this dish. But a song by electronic pioneer producer Giorgio Moroder. The Acadamy Award winning soundtrack to the movie Midnight Express. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrPWkIRWY9U

The Facemelting Rice & Bean Burrito

Hey everyone! For my first official post I picked one of my all time favourites: The rice & bean burrito.
It's a real easy dish, but it takes a lot of preparation. The basis of the dish is a chili. Now I know there's a lot of discussion about what a chili is, so this is my take on a chili sin carne. I'm a real sucker for spicy food, so this recipe may be a little too hot for some of you. But remember this is the way I prepare it. Feel free to improvise with the recipe.

The Facemelting Rice & Bean Burrito

Ingredients

Ingredients

- 4 Roma tomatoes

- 1 red onion

- 1 bell pepper (paprika)

- 100 gr red beans

- 65 gr brown rice

- cheddar cheese

- sour cream

- 1 1/2 Habañero pepper

- 1 Chipotle pepper

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1 tbs smoked paprika powder

- thyme

- oregano

- rosemary

- 2 bay leaves

- cilantro

- lime                                                                                    

- 1 tbs cane sugar

- salt

                                                                                                                                                                         

Preparation

Boil water in 2 cooking pots. While you're waiting for the water to boil you can start by finely dicing the onion, pepper and garlic. Cut a cross in the top of the tomatoes and drop them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Add the rice to the other pot ( I use brown rice so it takes about 20 minutes untill it's done). Peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds ( I prefer using Roma tomatoes cause they have lots of meat and very little seeds ). Heat oil in a pot and add the onion, garlic and smoked paprika powder. Cook until tender (about 3 minutes). Then add the paprika and let it cook for another 3 minutes. In the meantime slice the tomatoes and add them to the rest together with the thyme, oregano, bay leaves, Habañero pepper, chipotle, salt and sugar. Add the beans ( if you use dried beans remember they need to be soaked in water for about 12 hours!). Let it cook at low heat for about 30 to 40 minutes. In the end add a handfull of chopped cilantro and juice from one lime (only add the lime when the dish is no longer cooking, otherwise it will give a bitter taste). Mix in the rice with the chili. Take 3 tbs of the chili/rice mix and place on a tortilla, add sour cream and grated cheddar. Roll up the tortillas. Drizzle a little olive oil on the roll and put under a grill untill slightly golden brown. You can serve about 6 burritos. If you leave the chili for a day it will even taste better.

Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lnfyMGBi6w

I couldn't think of a better band to accompany this dish than the legendary desert-rock band Kyuss with a song about heat. Enjoy and untill next time!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3980337/?claim=abt4bvkwdyv">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Do you like vegi food? Do you like honest, fresh homemade food? Do you like fast food? Do you like good music?
Well then you came to the right place.
On this blog I'm going to share my vision on vegetarian fast food. During my years being a vegetarian with a love for cooking, I gathered a lot of recipes which I tweaked according to my own taste. I'm going to post my recipe for a dish accompanied by a song that fits with the general idea or atmosphere of the dish.

Coming soon : The Facemelting Rice & Bean Burrito