Following our previous blog post about how to eat during winter time to balance our energetic flows; here's some inspiration to start practising the alchemical cooking style.
Recipe to activate by cooling down
Beetroot Gazpacho
1 pack of cooked beets, chopped, juices reserved
1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped
5 ripe tomatoes (about 5 medium), cored and chopped
1 Onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Coarse or Himalayan salt
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving
3-4 large cooked prawns, per serving
Puree beets with juices, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, vinegar, oil, 1 tablespoon salt, and basil in a blender or food processor until almost smooth. Season with more salt as desired. Chill until ready to serve, or you can also have it lightly warm. Divide gazpacho among 4 serving bowls. Drizzle with oil, and top with cooked prawns and a few basil leaves. Serve, with crackers. Beautiful!
[A recipe to activate by heating up is a vegetarian paella. Soon I'll be writing a special blog post to this beautiful dish originally created where I come from: Valencia, Spain ]
Recipes to generate inner heat
Lamb stew with rose petals
500 gr of diced lamb for stew
1 onion sliced
500 gr diced pumpkin
1 can chickpeas
3 tbsp chickpeas flour
1 litre of Moroccan broth (chicken stock with cumin, ginger, coriander seeds, paprika, and turmeric)
a bunch of dried apricots
3 tbsp dried rose petals
olive oil
Roll the lamb in the chickpeas flour and set aside. Cover the bottom of the saucepan with the oil. Sprinkle the rose petals with medium heat and sauté. Add the lamb into the saucepan, sauté the lamb and the onion until it's all golden. Add then the pumpkin, chickpeas, dried apricots, and the stock. Simmer for 1 hour, very slow cooked. I also do this recipe with eggplant, instead of pumpkin, simply let your imagination fly and get creative!
My Autumn-Winter Soup
500 gr pumpkin
500 gr carrots
2 shallots
75 gr fresh ginger
1 litre vegetable stock
125ml coconut milk
1/2 tsp chilli powder
a few springs of fresh herbs such as chives or coriander
Extra virgin olive oil
Deseed and roughly chop the pumpkin, peel and chop carrots, peel and chop the shallots, then peel and finely grate the ginger. Pick and finely chop the herbs.
Place the pumpkin, shallots, ginger and some oil in a large saucepan and sauté until soft. Add the stock, coconut milk and chilli powder. Season, then bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes.
Blitz in a food processor, then serve with the fresh herbs finely chopped and a splash of coconut milk. you can also add some roasted pumpkin seeds... yummy!
Desserts for warming the winter blues
Baked Apples with cinnamon
Ingredients
4 apples (Gala or Golden for best results), cored and chopped
2 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup organic raw sugar
Preheat your oven to 210 degrees. Throw the chopped apples with the cinnamon, lemon juice and brown sugar and place in a baking or casserole dish. Cook apples, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until soft and juicy. Serve for dessert with cream or with a splash of maple syrup.
My Spiced Chocolate
Happiness is a hot cup of chocolate. One of the most popular winter beverages, hot chocolate, is chock-full of amazing benefits.
Not only does it keep you warm during the cold winter season, it can also boost your overall health. Chocolate itself is high in powerful antioxidants that help prevent heart disease, age-related macular degeneration, premature ageing, and can even reduce your risk of cancer, since they combat free radicals in your body. The darker your chocolate, the more powerful antioxidants it has.
Hot chocolate has been used for many years to treat diseases and fight bad moods. It’s known as a special healthy drink from the 16th to 19th centuries, and sometimes was taken as a medicine. Nowadays, people don’t consider hot chocolate as a medicine, but drink even more than ever!
There are plenty of tasty and healthy hot chocolate recipes you can try to enjoy the following health benefits of drinking hot chocolate. This is my favourite one, you can make it hot (spicy) or not, the pungent would come from chilli, you just need to avoid it if so.
Ingredients for 1 mug:
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cinnamon bark
2 cloves
a pinch of ginger powder
a pinch of mixed spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice)
a pinch of crushed chilli
a pinch of whole peppers
2 tbsp dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa powder)
1 tsp raw sugar
Pour the milk in a saucepan with all the spices and bring it to boil, then turn off the stove and leave it 5 min. Repeat the process again and stir, allowing the milk to soak with all the flavours. Strain the milk to remove the spices and pour it again into a clean saucepan, add the chocolate and stir for a couple of minutes to blend it well. You can also add some milk foam on top of the mug and sprinkle some cinnamon powder. And enjoy!
Wishing you a magical winter!
Sonia x