A friend of mine, brought me Einkorn flour…and was telling me all about the benefits of einkorn. The question is what is einkorn? Einkorn is an ancient grain form the spelt family, and originally from Italy. Einkorn is the German name for petit epeautre or engrain in French and piccolo farro in Italian. Not to be confused regular epeautre or regular farro or spelt.

This little amazing grain has not been hybridized, it remained like it was 10,000 years ago and has a shell so hard that makes it very resistant to weather or bugs, therefore does not need any chemicals. Einkorn has a lot of nutritional benefits (very high protein content) and most people who are gluten intolerant can actually consume it. What’s not to like about this grain?

So i got very curious about this flour that I decided to make pasta…the result is incredible, the dough is fine, smooth with a gorgeous texture. The flavor is delicate yet bold and nutty, needless to say, I will only use einkorn flour from now on, in all my baking. I bought whole wheat einkorn pasta for the days I don’t have time to make it by hand, and it’s really delicious.

This recipe is quite simple, it combines carrots, wild mushrooms and whole wheat einkorn penne. The carrot pesto provides a delicate sweet flavor that can be enjoyed in many different ways. This pesto could also be used as a dip, or spread…or anything you can think of.

You can keep it vegan without parmesan, either way it is delicious.

Ingredients for 2

• 200 g einkorn penne
• 1 tbs olive oil
• about 8 large oyster king mushrooms, sliced

For the pesto

• 2 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3-4 basil leaves
• 2 tbs walnuts
• 1 tbs grated parmigiano reggiano
• 2-3 + tbs extra virgin fruity olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the pesto

Mix all ingredients in a mixer and mix until smooth. Add some pasta water at the end if too thick.

For the pasta

Heat olive oil in a pan, add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute until water evaporates and cooked.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and let it cook for about 10 min until al dente.

In a mixing bowl, add pasta, mushrooms and carrot pesto. Stir well to combine all ingredients together and serve hot

Who said tofu is boring? When you start preparing it like you would prepare meat, it’s the same thing. Meat by itself is boring too in my opinion. The great thing about tofu is that it absorbs all the flavors it is exposed to. So you cook it the same way, you would cook meat, and the problem is solved.

I like to always have two vegetable dishes on my plate, mo matter what I eat, so you can play around with this recipe. I always say recipes are just there to give you ideas, it’s not something rigid, you can modulate them to your tastes.

This recipe is very simple, it would almost be an express dish, if you didn’t have to cook the spaghetti squash which takes quite sometime.

 Ingredients for 2

For the tofu skewers

• 1 extra firm tofu package, drained and cut into 1 inch squares
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 inch ginger pieces, grated
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbs sake
• 1 tbs coconut sugar
• salt and pepper

For the spaghetti squash

• 1 small spaghetti squash, cut lengthwise
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3 large king oyster mushrooms, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 3 large heirloom tomatoes, peeled, seed removed and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs dry white wine
• 2 tbs mixed herbs (parsley, basil, chives, etc…)
• Salt and pepper

For the dandelions greens

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• chili flakes
• 1 bunch dandelions, cut into 1.5 inches
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the tofu

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except tofu. Mix well, then add tofu, coat it with marinade and let marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Grill on a skillet until golden brown.

For the Spaghetti squash

Cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise. Wrap it in aluminum foil, making sure that it’s sealed and no air is going through the wrap. Bake in the oven at 390F for about 45 min. Remove from the oven, unwrap and remove seeds. With a fork carefully detach the spaghetti from the skin and place in a container.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add shallots. When shallot are soft, add mushrooms. Stir well. Add tomatoes, garlic and wine. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until water evaporates from tomatoes and tomatoes thicken. Add mixed herbs at the end.

Add spaghetti squash to the tomato-mushrooms mixture and mix well.

For the dandelions

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add garlic, chili and stir until fragrant. Add dandelions, salt and pepper. Add stir well until wilted.

Serve spaghetti squash, add tofu skewers on top and dandelions all around. Drizzle with olive oil and eat hot.

For the pastry “connaisseurs“, Napoléon is a famous pastry from Eastern Europe, made out different layers of crème patissière (custard), and puff pastry. While in Lithuania, and during its Russian campaign, Napoléon fell in love with this dessert, and named it after himself. The rumors even say that he lost the battle of Waterloo, because he ate so many of these the night before the battle. But of course, those are earsay, and only historians can prove this fact.

This is my savory version of Napoléon. This savory Napoléon has different layers of king oyster mushrooms and eggplants. King oyster mushrooms are simply oyster mushrooms that are grown to a large size, just like portobello are cremini mushrooms grown until they reached a particular size. What I like about king oysters is their meaty legs that remind of the fresh porcini, you can just slice them and enjoy them saute with garlic and parsley or any way you like.

This savory version of Napoleon has manchego and a drizzle of a parsley/garlic/paprika/olive oil mixture in between the layers, which adds a pleasant note to each bite. The concassée finishes the dish with a nice balance of chili and slight acidity of the tomato.

These cute little bundles of vegetables can be served as an appetizer, then two would be perfect, but then there is no rule in the number want to add on each plate.

Ingredients for 4-6 pieces

• 1 medium size eggplant (seedless), sliced
• 1 large king oyster, sliced
• 1/2 cup manchego, sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced lenghtwise
• 1 tbs olive oil
• Fleur de sel
• pepper

For the herb-oil

• 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper

For the tomato concassée

• 2 medium sized, heirloon tomato, chopped, peeled and seedless
• 1 tbs extra virgin fruity olive oil
• cayenne pepper
• fleur de sel

Preparation

Grill eggplants on a grill pan or cast iron grid. Set aside. Saute mushroom slices in 1 tbs olive oil. Slice zucchini with a mandoline, making ribbons. Grill zucchini on a grill pan. Set aside.

For the herb-oil, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

For the tomato concassée, after peeling the tomatoes, crush one tomato, with a mixer to make a purée. Cut the other tomato in small pieces. Mix both tomatoes, add cayenne, pepper and fleur de sel. Add olive oil. Mix well.

Start assembling the napoleon. In a flat surface, place one slice of eggplant. Add 1/2 tsp of herb-oil. Place one slice of mushroom on top. Add manchego. Proceed with another slice of eggplant, mushroom and manchego. Wrap it all with two slices of zucchini (one might be too short to be wrapped around). Place in a pre-heated oven at 390F until the manchego has melted.

Serve in a plate with one tbs of tomato concassée. Drizzle extra olive oil on the tomatoes, and add some cracked black pepper.

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