Five Minute Balsamic Tipped Veggies

I thought it would be impossible to make something this delicious and healthy in less than 10 minutes, but sure enough, it took just 5, even with an electric stove to slow the process. The nice thing about cooking with Swiss regional foods is that it’s incredibly easy to make authentic Italian flavors too, and the oregano, balsamic vinegar, and fennel all lend themselves perfectly to this Swiss-Italian fusion.

Five Minute Balsamic Tipped Veggies

Ingredients (for 1. Multiply by the number of people to be served for a side, or multiply by 2 for each person for a main dish):

• ¼ large head of fennel, sliced into strips.
• 1 yellow (or other) carrot, sliced into rounds
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• a few tbsp water
• a pinch of black pepper
• 2 round slices of lemon

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet over medium flame for just a moment before tossing in the carrots, fennel, vinegar, and some water. Stir to coat and cover quickly.
2. When the liquid has evaporated, continue stirring with a bit more water, and add the pepper, oregano, and garlic.
3. Add the lemon and increase the heat for 1 minute, stirring, to give a browned, roasted edge to the veggies.

Finito!

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Morning-After Carrot Bread

Last night was my roommate Eve's birthday party. It was a fantastic party with a huge feast of food cooked by Eve, her mom, Dani and I. We were all duly exhausted this morning when we met with Baruk, our couchsurfing friend, for breakfast. Not to mention, still not hungry after all the festivities. Which is why we went for a fresh carrot juice instead of the leftover cakes and mousses.

I'm sure most of you who make your own juices share my dismay at the thought of tossing all the solids of your beautiful, fresh produce. Something just has to be done with the leftovers. As usual, mine evolved into some sort of "bread," containing nothing bread-like really, but ending up a wonderful platform for either sweet or savory toppings, and with a dense, moist texture. This particular loaf was a concoction of all the leftovers from my recent experiments: activated pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed milk, homemade soy yogurt, leftover fermented buckwheat pancake batter, and about 2 cups of carrot pulp. That makes it a fairly picky recipe, but substitutions abound, and the point is not to have to think about it too much when you're wiped out from last night's chaos. So, breathe easy and use what you have.

Morning-After Carrot Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of carrot pulp
• 1/2 cup fermented buckwheat pancake starter*
  
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
  
• 1/2 cup polenta
• 1 cup yogurt
• milk of any type, until you have a good, thick, cornbread-like consistency
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/4 cup activated pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• dash of cinnamon, cardamom, or other desired spices
• Flax, Pumpkin, Sunflower, or other seeds for garnish
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C)
  
• Mix flours, baking powder, and spices
• in another bowl, combine yogurt and buckwheat starter, then add to the dry ingredients and stir together
• Stir in carrot pulp and pumpkin seeds
• Add milk until the batter is a very thick glop. Picture cottage cheese
  
• In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the oil until just bubbling (not smoking!).
• Pour the oil into the batter and quickly mix together, then pour everything back into the cast-iron skillet.
  
• Smooth out the top, sprinkle with seeds and put in the oven
• Immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F (175 C)
• Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out mostly clean-a little moist is ok!

Notes:
*If you would rather skip the fermented starter, just add a little extra polenta and yogurt, and a binder like xanthan or guar gum if desired-the starter is very gooey and helps to make a springier bread, but is not necessary.

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