The "Baby it's cold outside" soup

The other day it was pretty chilly and miserable outside and all I could think about as I was shivering on the train platform, was how much I wanted to curl up on the couch with a hot, heart-warming and delicious bowl of soup while watching one of my favourite movies..

As soon as I got home I turned on the fairy-lights in the living room and headed straight to the adjacent kitchen to get cooking.. My evening Jazz playlist on and I was ready to get started.

This recipe, as most of the ones you'll find on this blog, is very easy and quick to prepare. If it's already 7.30pm and I had a double shift...I don't really want to wait over 40 minutes to eat...

And this is how long this soup takes, 40 minutes. It gave me time to have a shower, get in my comfy clothes and choose which movie I wanted to watch: Crazy Stupid Love. Go on, judge me..

In your warm bowl of goodness you'll find a protein source from the legumes and immune boosting action of garlic, onion, ginger and turmeric (the last two are also anti-inflammatory ingredients. Boom.)

Anyway, let's get to it!

INGREDIENTS

1 CAN OF COOKED CHICKPEAS (you could easily have the dried ones and soak them the night before if you planned this in advance. Soaking legumes will make them easier to digest).

1 CUP OF DRY LENTILS ( I love Puy lentils but I only had regular green ones so I used those, however if you can choose...Go Puy all the way. And you should soak these too if you can but this soup was not planned...)

1 CHOPPED RED ONION (you can also use white ones)

1 CHOPPED GARLIC CLOVE

1 THUMB SIZED PIECE OF PEELED AND CHOPPED GINGER ROOT

1 HANDFUL OF CHERRY TOMATOES CUT IN HALF

1 TBSP OF BOUILLON POWDER

1/2 LARGE BAG OF SPINACH

1 TBSP EXTRAVERGIN OLIVE OIL (plus a swirl to add raw as a topping)

1/4 TURMERIC POWDER

1/4 GROUND CUMIN POWDER

SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE (use Himalayan or sea salt as regular processed table salt won't get you any useful minerals...)

NOW GO AND DO IT...

Turn the heat on to medium and start boiling some water in a kettle on the side. In a pan add the oil, onion, garlic and ginger till soft. Add turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper and mix everything up. Cook for a further minute before adding dry lentils, tomatoes, bouillon and hot water. Bring to the boil and then down to a simmer for about 30/40 minutes (check the cooking time behind the pack of your lentils). Then add your chickpeas and cook for 5 more minutes before adding the spinach and cooking for a further minute. Done.

Pour in your favourite bowl, add a swirl of olive oil and go curl up on your couch. Keep warm and enjoy.

Love,

xxx

Foodolina

Buckwheat noodles with the best fresh tomato sauce

I LOVE TOMATOES. Maybe it's because I'm Italian but beautifully ripe tomatoes are delicious and smell just like summer, they take me back to my childhood summers spent in Puglia with my family.
It's kind of hard to find some really good ones here in England but when I do, I feel really lucky and want them in my kitchen straight away!
These days, I'm trying to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet just because I always feel so much better and my tummy is nice and flat when I do that, sure, I cannot resist sourdough pizza from Franco Manca sometimes, but in general, I try to keep gluten to minimum amounts.
Lately I discovered buckwheat noodles (see a recipe for a summer buckwheat noodle salad here), and since I have been craving spaghetti this week, I  used these beauties instead of regular pasta. Together with quick fresh tomato sauce, it tasted incredible without the bloat and heavy after dinner feeling. Score!
It's a very quick dinner to prepare and you get lovely fiber and magnesium from buckwheat, plus the fresh tomato sauce provides you with lycopene which has antioxidant properties. Enjoy!x

INGREDIENTS
1 pack buckwheat noodles
1 tbsp coarse pink Hymalaian salt

For the sauce:
1 pack (4 or 5) ripe vine tomatoes thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic chopped small
2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
a pinch of organic coconut palm sugar (you can use regular sugar if you don't have it but start thinking about                                                               substituting it, coconut palm sugar it's sweeter but doesn't upset your                                                              blood sugar levels as much due to it's low glycemic index)
a pinch of salt
some ground pepper
4 or 5 chopped fresh basil leaves

METHOD

Pop all the ingredients for the tomato sauce in a small pan, except for the basil, and let it cook over medium to low heat for about 10 minutes stirring  every now and then.
After 10 minutes add your noodles to boiling water (noodles generally take 5 minutes) and add the basil to the sauce stirring it in.
Drain noodles and add to the pan with the sauce so everything mixes in real nicely.. Time to serve!
Buon Appetito.x

Quinoa Stuffed Round Courgettes

Every Sunday morning I head to the Brixton Farmers Market to do my weekly grocery shopping.
I love it there, I can always talk to the farmers and be sure my veggies won't be covered in nasty pesticides.
Last week I found some beautiful round courgettes which I had never tried so I was seriously excited and got the three prettiest ones!
I also bought some lovely cherry tomatoes and an aubergine and here's what I did when I went in my kitchen...x

INGREDIENTS
3 Medium/Large Round Courgettes (I had 2 Green and  a gorgeous Yellow one)
1 Pack Cherry Tomatoes cut in half or quarters
1 Small aubergine chopped in small cubes
2 Garlic Cloves chopped teeny tiny
Feta Cheese to crumble on top
Dried Mediterranean herbs
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
1/2 Cup Quinoa
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to season

Preheat the oven at 180 C, gas mark 4, 375 F.

Wash your courgettes then pat them dry.
Cut the top off but don't throw it away! It's going to become their little hat :)
Scoop out the inside of the courgettes, chop it and keep in in a bowl to the side.
Drizzle the inside and outside part of these little veggie bowls and season with salt and pepper before placing them in the oven with their tops on for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, rinse your quinoa and pop it in boiling water (remember to put some coarse salt in it) for 10 minutes.
As the quinoa cooks you can  grab a pan,  drizzle with extravirgin olive oil and add garlic, tomatoes, aubergines and the inside of the courgettes. Cook on low/medium heat for 15 minutes stirring every now and then, should it become too dry while cooking just add a little water.
When the quinoa is ready, drain it and leave it to cool.
By this point your kitchen should already be smelling heavenly and your pan should be filled with soft delicious veggie mix. Add the quinoa and walnuts to it, mix it up for a minute and take off the heat.

When the 30 minutes have passed take your courgettes out of the oven and move them face down on a plate layered with some kitchen towels to absorb the extra water that will have collected inside them.
Time to stuff them!!!!
It's all about layers baby. First some crumbled feta on the bottom, then some quinoa filling, then more feta and filling again and top up with a little more feta on top.
Place under the grill for about 5 minutes (or just till your feta goes a little golden), then take these beauties out and add their little hats before serving.

Cute and delicious, hope you'll love them as much I did.x

Mediterranean roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes

My parents are visiting this weekend and I'm so happy because honestly, this long winter, interminable cold winds and showers were really starting to get me down and I was really missing home. Yup, I could not see hope for spring or summer weather over here and that's when I start thinking about long queues in the sun outside ice cream parlours in Milan (where my family is) or Rome ( where my oldest friends are), old men sitting at tables outside bars playing cards, drinking coffee while watching the world go by and lots of Vespas whizzing by. Anyway, my point being my parents are here and I'm oh so happy. Yesterday we walked around town all day so when we got home around 7 we were pretty tired to start cooking so we bought some olives, grilled artichokes and eggplants, olive bread and ripe tomatoes and had a little Italian home picnic instead. Plus... I quickly made something that my mom adores but can't have as often in Italy.. Roasted sweet potato and butternut squash. I'm not sure why sweet potatoes are not imported as much over there but hey, it is true as Italians we do already have some pretty awesome tasty vegetables. Even so, I would always find time for sweet potatoes as they are probably my favourite root vegetable!
And my mom adores it too. Probably more than I do as she doesn't get to eat it as often so it's a real treat for her..
So what follows is my quick recipe for roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes with Italian dried herbs, ready in 30 min, just the time for you to get changed when you come home from work, lay the table, have some bits and pieces as antipasto like we did or prepare any other quick main that would go well with this side dish.
Now, I know it would be so much better to have a proper whole butternut squash, cut it in half, roast it etc.. But I'm not going to lie to you, after a long day I really cannot be asked. Maybe on a Sunday when I'm relaxed and have all the time in the world, but after a busy weekday including working and studying I buy a bag of ready chopped butternut squash and sweet potatoes so I can just dress them and pop them in the oven. Yes I do. So if sometimes you're a bit lazy like I am but still want yummy food quickly then read on, otherwise.. Look away now.x

RECIPE (for 2 hungry people or 4 small sides)

1 Pack Chopped Butternut Squash and sweet Potato ( or just butternut squash and then you can peel and chop 1 big sweet potato)

1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1tbsp Mediterranean dried herbs ( mine is my grandma's mix, she never remembers what's in it, bless her, but I think a mix of oregano, thyme, rosemary should do the trick.)

Just pop the chopped squash and potatoes on a bowl, add oil and herbs and
season with salt and pepper.
Mix it up, put on a baking tray and in the oven at gas mark 6 for 30 min BUT take the tray out and mix everything up after 15 min before putting them back in again for the remaining time.

Take out of the oven and serve!x

Spinach and Walnut Penne

As some of you might know, I'm not only a nutrition student but first and foremost an actress and as much as i love this unstable job with all my heart, it also means that I'm often on a very tight budget..
Oh, the glamorous life...Anyway, having only a small amount of money to spend doesn't necessarily mean that you can't prepare tasty food that's also good for you.
Enter Abel and Cole's Spinach and Walnut Penne.
I actually made this for Easter lunch when we had two of our dearest friends over and they both really liked it which made so happy!
Unfortunately this recipe isn't on the Abel and Cole Website but you can find it in their cookbook.
It saved my life so many times so I had to write a post about it. I'm currently off dairy so mine is a vegan version which means I omitted  the grated Parmesan but if you have no problem with cheese then by all means add some at the end.To be honest the sauce is so creamy and filling that i really do not miss anything else.. Also I add more spinach than the original recipe as I LOVE my greens!!!

RECIPE  (serves 4)

500gr WholeWheat Penne
1/2 Mug Walnuts (standard tea mug)
4 Mugs of freshly chopped spinach
Salt and Pepper
Extravirgin Olive Oil























Cook your penne in salted boiling water (I use Hymalayan salt but regular sea salt is absolutely fine), mine take about 10 minutes but just follow the instructions on your pack.

While the penne are cooking, pop your walnuts in a food processor and grind them to a soft breadcrumbs consistency, then slowly add some cooking water till you reach the consistency you want.I like mine smooth and creamy. I would suggest to keep some cooking water on the side in case it gets a bit dry when mixed with the pasta.
1 minute before your pasta is done add the spinach.
Drain penne and spinach, add the sauce, season with salt and pepper and drizzle some lovely olive oil then
mix all together, serve and enjoy!Whoop!xxx

Loving Chicken Soup

It happened. After many days of strangers coughing on me on public transports, days of cold winds and pouring rain, I am now sick and writing this post from my bed as I can't watch tv because everything sounds like an explosion in my head at the moment.
So I'm being constructive and using this time to let you guys know about my Loving Chicken Soup. My mom's recipe actually, she explained it to me on the phone a few days ago when I started feeling like I was coming down with something..And it's so simple and comforting, just like a hug. Exactly what you need when you're down.

Recipe:
2 Carrots chopped
2 Celery Sticks chopped
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1 medium potato or 3 small ones chopped in small cubes
2 organic chicken breast chopped in small cubes
1 big handful of spinach chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp vegetable stock
Enough boiled water to cover the vegetables plus 1 cup more.

Put the oil, carrots, celery, onion and garlic in the pan on a medium heat and season with salt and pepper. Leave for about 5 min or until they soften making sure you stir every now and then.
One they're soft you can add the water, stock and potatoes and leave for about 15 min. Finally, add the chicken and leave for 3 to 4 min, make sure it's cooked through. I normally take a bit out after 3 min and if it's soft and cooked I immediately add the spinach and leave for 1 more minute before turning off the heat.
Serve in your favourite bowl and remember to drizzle a tiny bit of oil before you eat..

Love Frittata

I'm guilty.That's right, I'm one of those people that buys way too many fresh vegetables in advance and then doesn't get around to using all of them and by the end of the week an evil smell coming from the refrigerator reminds me how much food is rotting in my veggie drawer...
But all of this is going to change, first of all because I've seen this sign on a van the other night that said LOVEFOODHATEWASTE and it reminded me of how much I actually do waste.And yet I still complain I have no money, it's all spent on food...Well instead of buying too much, dear Valentina, try and actually use up what you have left first and only then buy more food!
So that's what I did yesterday and something wonderful happened..My first very own recipe!No food blogs, no cookbooks, just a phone call to my mom to make sure i was going in the right direction..Bear in mind I'm Italian and the call to my mother would have happened even if hadn't been cooking so i thought i might as well put it to good use..
And so my super duper colourful Love Frittata was born. I've just decided to call it like that first of all because as I was cooking it I sure did put lots of love into it, as I do with everything I cook, I truly believe food tastes so much better if your heart is in it.Not literally.
Secondly because I did bake it in my heart shaped pan, which I really adore and find makes everything look super cute but not as cute as my boyfriend who tasted it as well and gave me his seal of approval.Success!
I used all the vegetables I had left and they worked so well together I decided this was one for the blog.
I had it for dinner and the day after for lunch but it can also be easily eaten as part of a delicious brunch with friends.

So here it is:

RECIPE:
2 Sweet Potatoes, chopped
1 Courgette,chopped
1 Leek,thinly sliced
A handful of spinach, chopped (all I had left in the bag..)
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
1tsp dried Mediterranean herbs mix (my grandma gave me mine, I think it's rosemary, origano and thyme.. )
4 eggs
A pinch or two of pink Hymalaian salt (that's what I  had at home but sea salt is perfect as well)
Black pepper to taste

Turn the oven on at 220c, 425F or gas mark 7 (that's what i use as i have a super old gas oven).

First,put the chopped sweet potatoes in a bowl with 1 tbsp of oil, plus a pinch of salt and pepper and some dried herbs but don't worry if you don't have them, it'll work just the same. Toss it all together and then pop it on a baking tray and in the oven for 25-30 min or till the potatoes are nice and soft,half way through move them around so they can cook evenly.
Once they're done, take them out and lower the heat to gas mark 4, 180c, 350F.

Put the garlic cloves in a pan with the oil and when the garlic starts to brown a little, add in the chopped courgettes on a medium heat and kept stirring every now and then for about 10 min till they become soft, add the leeks and let those soften too and last add spinach and parsley and stir for about 2 minutes before turning off the heat.

Put all 4 eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper and whisk.

Now get a baking pan and put all your vegetables in and add the eggs,mix all together and put in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the top is firm.

Take out of the oven and Buon Appetito!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.xxx