Casa Robino

Today I was desperate. I was desperately in need of something to eat, and why not, something to blog...I always forget to go to the store before everything closes on Sunday. Willingly forgetting about shopping slowly became an automatic reflex during the past few years, triggered by the need of saving money instead of buying unnecessary things. That is to say, there is most certainly something hidden in your kitchen or in your fridge that you can recycle into something tasty. These days it is not bad at all, since I have a whole hostel kitchen for myself. But of course I can't use everything I want (especially when I'm not working), and my commitment to eat the least possible diary products and eggs has already been tried hard by the nearly endless availability of such delicacies. That's why I dumpster-dive in my kitchen!Well, I don't really "dive" into any dumpster, but the kitchen bin is always full of tomatoes that the diligent breakfast staff throws all the time because of nearly invisible wrinkles. Sometimes, they are even thrown because they are ripen... it's almost worse than in some stores! So, just stretch your arm, and you'll find organic ripen tomatoes waiting for you...Another thing my kitchen is teeming with are bread crumbles. There is a bread-cutting machine and a brush to clean and collect the crumbs. I had about 1/2kg of organic local potatoes on my shelf, so what could I do? It's time for potato gratin!Ingredients:1/2 kg potatoes1/2 zucchini1/2 red onion2 slices of veggy hamsome bread crumbsolive oilsalt & pepperPreparation:Boil the potatoes with the skin until they are soft. Then remove the skin and mash them in a bowl. Cut the onion and slightly pan-fry it, and then add it to the mashed potatoes and some more oil. Put salt & pepper in the mix.Then cut the half zucchini (you can also use other veggies, if I hadn't had that I would have used the sliced skipped tomatoes!) and pan-fry it too. Take a gratin pan and oil it. Put half of the mash potatoes and level. Then add the two slices of veggy ham - I used it because I had it, but you can use seitan slices (when I make seitan at home, I always slice it for sandwiches, etc.) or tofu or other veggies, or just nothing. Then put half of the fried zucchini on top, put another layer of potatoes, and the rest of the zucchini on top. Cover with bread crumbs and a little bit of oil, and grill it in the oven at 200C for 10 min.This meal has probably cost me about 1€ maximum (and don't forget that I'm in Norway). I ate half of it for lunch, and I'm gonna eat the rest for dinner, so that makes my day (the potatoes fill you up quite nicely). Almost all ingredients are vegan and organic, and it took me about 20min to prepare.

See original: Time for Vegan Potato Gratin

Today at work I surpassed my very own cooking skills. Speaking without false modesty, I made a soup that was simply divine (I ate three plates of it). The nice part is that it was totally random: I just used the wonderful organic vegetables delivered by my boss. Lots of stuff comes from the last harvest on his farm, back in October. Actually, the soup itself is not so special. It's the way it is served, that is. Here is the recipe for 4 people:

• a piece of ginger as big as one of your fingers
• half a celery root
• about 6 medium-size carrots
• 200 gr red lentils
• spinach
• the shredded peel of 1 organic orange and/or lemon
• a bunch of parsley
• olive oil
• salt

Preparation:Peel the ginger and cut it into tiny little cubes. Cut the celery root into slightly bigger cubes. Chop all the parsley and fry everything in olive oil on the bottom of your pot. You can also add extra spices at this point, like paprika or cumin (I didn't do it, because the soup is tasty enough at this point). This is the base of your soup, which is supposed to be both mildly spicy and aromatic.Julienne half of the carrots and make sure they don't get dark while waiting (I used the juice of half an orange to prevent the oxidation). Put them on one side. Put the rest of the carrots in the blender with enough water. Now, add only the blended carrots to the soup base, extra water, and the washed lentils. Stir well and bring to boil (be sure the lid is not on when it starts boiling, lentils make foam!). Add salt. Meanwhile, chop off the hard part of the spinach leaves and add them and the carrot staves to the boiling soup. Chop the rest of the spinach leaves and put them in a bowl. Grate the peel of the orange and/or the lemon and prepare it on a small plate/bowl.When the lentils have cooked and the soup has taken a nice intense-yellow colour, the soup is ready to be served. I put it in a deep plate first, put the fresh spinach in the middle, added a spoonful of olive oil and a pinch of lemon peel on top. Ready.You know, it's a real pity to cook the spinach when it's so fresh and organic as the one I had today in my kitchen - it loses like 80% of its weight and in soup it almost disappears! - that's why I served it fresh, and I used everything of them. But since it's winter, and it's Norway, and you need something to warm you up, fresh spinach leaves put to soften in a hot ginger soup is the best you can get.Same goes for the lemon. It's a pity to throw away the peel when you use organic lemons. And you can do so many things with it! In this case, it goes perfectly both with the taste of the ginger and the carrots, and it surprises the eater with its unusualness in soups.

See original: Divine carrot and lentil soup