Oven-baked courgette fries with tyme and lemon pepper

To be honest, I am no fan of the whole low-to-no carb hype going on right now – carbs aren’t generally bad for you, in fact, you brain runs mostly on carbs, and you don’t really want to cut of your brains power supply, right? But what I do like about low-carb recipes, is that they offer a nice way to even out some of your culinary sins, like a huge piece of pie in your coffee break. Low-carb recipes are also a good ways to eat more greens, since the ‘carbs’ are often replaced with vegetables or fruits.

I actually created this recipe one evening when we had a small birthday celebration at uni in the afternoon and I had two servings of plum pie because it was just sooooooo delicious. So, instead of making a quick courgette-pasta dash that I had originally planned for this evening, I decided to skip the pasta and born was the idea of courgette fries! Make sure to use small zucchini, since they contain less water and therefore make the fries crispier. Admittedly, they will never get as crispy as deep-fried potato fries, but what they miss in texture you won’t miss in flavour!

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Eat your greens: Potato salad with thyme and broccoli

Potato salad is a hazard for you daily calorie count? Not this one! Instead of mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise alternatives, I used light soy joghurt mixed with a little soy cream for a light but still delicious dressing – trust me, you won’t miss anything. I also added one of my favourite vegetables – broccoli! It’s available pretty much all year round, easy to prepare and only needs to be simmered for about five minutes – perfect even for lazy people! (Not that I am ever lazy – ok, fine, I am.)

The young potatoes and broccoli work great together, and the light thyme dressing adds the perfect creamy yet savoury flavour you want in a potato salad. Even without mayonnaise! One last point: Depending on the brand of soy joghurt you use, you might want to add a little more lemon juice than I recommend in this recipe – sadly, some brands still add quite a bit of sugar to their soy products and you will need to balance this out with something sour. Just see what works best for you!

Apple celery root soup with thyme topping

Celery stalks is something I eat really often, 1) because I really love its fresh and crunchy flavour, and 2) because they are already in the perfect dip-and-munch shape and therefore perfect as a small snack when you are having a lazy moment. (Not that I would ever have any of those of course…) Root celery on the other hand is something I rarely buy, mostly because I too often think ‘why bother with a knobbly root if you can have crunchy stalks with pretty much the same flavour?’ Which is actually kind of discriminating against knobbly beings if you think of it.

So, this week I purposely bought a nice, lovely knobbly little celery root to make this special treat: apple celery soup. Don’t let yourself be fooled by the seemingly random fruit-vegetable combination – the flavours of apples and celery work perfectly together! Savoury, fresh and just slightly sweet – this soup will make you want to lick your plate clean! Just make sure not to use very sweet or mushy apples, crisp and slightly sour ones are the best choice for this dish. Also, even if you are feeling lazy, I would not recommend skipping the topping – it makes the soup go from ‘pretty good’ to ‘amazing’ in taste! But try it for yourself:

Hearty tomato soup with aubergines and green olives

Tomato soup is something that I almost exclusively eat during the summer – best made from fresh tomatoes of course. I made this one countless times last year, but just realized that I never posted the recipe! So here it is, late, late, but still. I really love the blend of the aubergine flavour with the rich flavours of ripe tomatoes in this soup, and the green olives just add the perfect spice to it. You can use fresh tomatoes – though that might be a little early in the year still – or you can just use canned ones. If using fresh ones, you can peel them if you want to, though admittedly I never do that. Once, because I am lazy, and second because I think the peel actually tastes really good. And this soup is meant to be “chunky” anyway, so some bits of tomato peel won’t be this noticeable. Concerning the seasoning, you can basically throw in any herbs that are growing in your garden – I recently went for rosemary and sage for example, but you can also just stick to the more ‘classic’ Italian flavours like basil and oregano. Just try what works best for you!

Fame for The Uni Cookbook, a long break and the perfect autumn treat

Hello my cooking comrades – it’s been a very long time since my last post, but a lot has happened in beetween. The main reason for my long break was that since my last post I have moved twice – first back in my childhood home and then into another city for my new university project – my PhD. Yes! I have finished my MA degree this summer and decided to stick to the university world just for a little bit longer.

And while I was busy with squeezing all my stuff in boxes, suitcases and cartons to be shipped from one home to the next, I completely missed a huge event for The Uni Cookbook: My blog was mentioned in this Guardian article by Fiona Beckett on “A new generation of student cooks” among other great blogs like nutmegs, seven by Elly McCausland and Poires au Chocolat by Emma Gardner – two awesome cooking blogs to check out for you, I have already saved them in my favourites and can highly recommend both of them! 

Creamy tomato soup with gorgonzola

You need:

• 1 small shallot
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (about 400ml)
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 75g gorgonzola
• vegetable oil
• fresh basil
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Chop the shallot in very small cubes. Heat some oil in a pot and gently roast the shallot for a couple of minutes. Deglaze with the vegetable stock and add the tomatoes. Boil for about 5 minutes, then season to taste with basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Finally melt in the gorgonzola before serving. Serve with some fresh bread.

Roasted potatoes and aubergines with mint joghurt

You need:

• 2 potatoes
• 1 small aubergine or 2-3 baby aubergines
• 2-3 tablespoons of natural joghurt
• olive oil
• thyme
• lemon juice
• paprika
• salt
• pepper
• garlic
• dried mint

Dice the potatoe and the aubergine. Heat some olive oil in a pan and roast the potatoes for 10 minutes with some salt and pepper. Then add the aubergine and some thyme and roast for another 10 minutes. Season to taste with paprica and lemon juice. In the meanwhile, mix the joghurt with some salt, garlic and dried mint and stir until creamy. Serve the roasted vegetables with the mint joghurt.