This is probably the most beautiful veggie of all. Sorry sorry I don't want to be mean to all you beautiful carrots, potatoes and such. You know it's the intrinsic values that count, and this radish certainly is not the best veggie of all. Though, served with a pinch of salt, fresh lemon juice and olive oil it makes a nice apéro. Of course it also a nice addition to any salad. I probably should try to roll it into sushi once.

I not so good in soups. Or at least not as good as I would like to be. I can do nice minestrone type of soupes. But I always make them the same way. I definitely lack fantasy and I don't have a good book.  But I love soups especially vegetable soups.
Inspired by a post on 101 cookbooks I tried Heidis Borccoli soup. It's delicious, fast and they way I like soups.

croutons

5-6 ounce chunk of artisan whole wheat bread, torn into little pieces (less than 1-inch), roughly 3 cups total
1/4 cup butter or olive oil (I like 1/2 and 1/2)
1 1/2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
soup:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes (1 1/2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups light, good-tasting vegetable broth
1 large head of broccoli (12 ounces or 3/4 lb.), cut into small florets
2/3 cup freshly grated aged Cheddar, plus more for topping
1 - 3 teaspoons whole grain mustard, to taste

smoked paprika, more olive oil, creme fraiche (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees and place the torn bread in a large bowl. In a small saucepan heat the butter until it has melted. Whisk the mustard and salt into the butter and pour the mixture over the bread. Toss well, then turn the bread onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the croutons are golden and crunchy. Toss them once or twice with a metal spatula along the way.

While the croutons are toasting, melt the butter (or olive oil) in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the shallots, onion, and a big pinch of salt. Saute for a couple minutes. Stir in the potatoes, cover, and cook for about four minutes, just long enough for them to soften up a bit. Uncover, stir in the garlic, then the broth. Bring to a boil, taste to make sure the potatoes are tender, and if they are stir in the broccoli. Simmer just long enough for the broccoli to get tender throughout, 2 - 4 minutes.

Immediately remove the soup from heat and puree with an immersion blender. Add half the cheddar cheese and the mustard (a little bit a a time). If you are going to add any creme fraiche, this would be the time to do it. Now add more water or broth if you feel the need to thin out the soup at all. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Serve sprinkled with croutons, some toasted pumpkin seeds,  the remaining cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and a tiny pinch of smoked paprika.

We accompanied it with baked chèvre on red chicorino salad - yummy!

Autumn is definitely coming. Pumpkin filled with mushrooms.

Stefan made this lovely soup for us the other day.

Tomato aromatico

• 5 gloves garlic
• some basil stalks and leafs
• approximately 15 halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• lots of olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven on 180 °. Cook slowly for approximately 1 hour till the oil starts to take on the scent of the tomatoes.

• 2 slices of good bread in crumbles
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic glove
• 1 tin of pelati
• fresh basil leaves
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbs acceto balsamico
• a glass of white wine

Meanwhile fry an onion and a little garlic, add the bread crumbs, add 1 tin of pelati, some withe wine and some water.
Let it simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the tomato aromatico and chopped fresh basil leaves. And cook for an other 10 minutes.
Season.

Beat 1 egg yolk  and add 2 tbs acceto balsamico.

Serve with a bit of the acceto mixture and a basil leave on top.

We served it with freshly made focaccia.

With the fish soup we had this nice salad from Locatelis "Made in Italy" cook book.

2 large red onions
300 ml red vine vinegar
1 tbs sugar
100 ml extra vergine olive oil
250 g green beans
2 tbs freshly grates parmesan plus more for shavings
3 tbs shallot vinaigrette
small bunch of chives , chopped salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°. Leaving their skins on , wrap the onions in foil and bake for about 1hour until soft.

While the onions are cooking , put the vinegar in a small pan and reduce by about a third. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar until dissolved, then stir in the olive oil to make the vinaigrette.

When the onions are cooked, unwrap them and peel off the skin. While they are still warm, cut them in half, separate the layers and season with salt and pepper, then put them into the vinaigrette.

Blanch the green beans in plenty of boiling salted water for about 5 minutes, then drain. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with the parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Toss with the Shallot vinaigrette and sprinkle over the chives.

Arrange the onion layers on a serving plates. Place the beans on top and shave over some parmesan.

Shallot vinaigrette

Finely shave the shallots, then put them in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Add the vinegar and leave to stand for minutes.
Whisk in the oil and use straight away.

300 gr fresh peas
1 spring onions
a hand full of mint leaves
good quality risotto rice (I prefer carnaroli type)
2 gloves of garlic
Butter
vegetable stock
a hand full of basil leaves
1 dl noilly prat vermouth
50 gr parmesan
lemon zest
maldon salt

Cook the peas with a hand full of mint leaves and  one whole garlic in salt water till al dente.
Drain peas, mint and garlic and keep aside 1,5 l of the water. Set aside.

Fry the spring onion, the chopped garlic and the rice in a big lump of butter. Add a bit of the vegetable stock and stir. Continue stirring always adding vegetable stock when needed.

When almost al dente add 2/3 of the peas.
Mix the remaining peas, the  mint, garlic and the pea liquid in a food processor.

Continue stirring, add 1 dl vermouth, the mixed peas.
When al dente ad the chopped basil leaves, 50 gr grated parmesan and an other lump of butter. Stir to incorporate the flavours. Season with black pepper, lemon zest and  maldon sea salt.

This recipe is inspired by the great "Rivercafe cook book Green"

In the mood for more new things I tried a recipe I saw on tv. From time to time we watch  "Lanz kocht" on the german tv station ZDF. It a funny cooking program and the christmas show was packed with delicious looking dishes. I tried the vegetarian starter cooked by Tim Mälzer. But all the other courses looked fantastic to. Here you can download the recipes (german only)

It's an easy to make dish, it just takes some time to prepare.

Rondini are best straight from the garden eaten with butter and salt.

This is the time of tomatoes. I only eat tomatoes during the summer month (meaning july, august and September). I hate the tomatoes you can buy throughout the year in supermarkets, they taste of nothing. (If I really need tomatoes I buy cherry tomatoes they always have a bit of taste ) If you have ever tasted the ones we can buy on the market in summer you will stop eating the all year ones. We are very lucky here in Bern though, We have one farmer family who started some years ago to re-cultivate old tomato species. They produce up to 50 different variations.
Very sweet ones, lemony ones, soft ones and almost crisp ones. My favourite ones are the "Berner Rosen". An almost pink one. It's incredibly sweet and soft together with buffalo mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar it's just heaven.

Wild asparagus alla Sir Nick with ramson and lemon dressing.

Salad of barba di frate, shiitake mushrooms and cucumber.

Semi-dried tuna fish

Rondini with salt and butter - no better way to eat them!