Rainy Delight

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There is no bad weather. Only more or less appropriate dishes for the occasion … (Rcp# 19).

Ingredients for ‘Rainy Delight’

For the Vegetable Mix:

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 8 – 10 medium brown edible mushrooms (e.g. cremini, porcini, oyster mushrooms, shitake …)
  • 5 – 7 large green olives (pitted)
  • 5 tablespoons olive water (from preserved olives in jar)
  • 2 tablespoons ‘butter’ (plant-based)
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (dark)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger in oil
  • Fresh nutmeg
  • Caraway, ground
  • Canola oil for browning
  • Pinch of salt

For the Sauce:

  • 2 big handfuls of herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, mint, lemon balm, arugula or rocket, dandelion, broad-leaved plantain) and/or 1 – 3 teaspoons of herbs in oil and ½ teaspoon each of dried basil and oregano (if you don’t have enough fresh herbs)
  • 10 – 20 fresh chives
  • 100 ml olive water (from preserved olives in jar)
  • 1 teaspoon potato starch (dissolved in cold olive water, see above)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (mild)
  • 1 teaspoon bear’s garlic in oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon agave syrup
  • 3 tablespoons oat yogurt
  • 100g cream cheese (plant-based)

For the Millet-Amaranth Patties

  • 3 tablespoons yellow peas
  • 2 tablespoons unpeeled sweet almonds
  • 4 dates (pitted)
  • 2 tablespoons amaranth (whole grain)
  • 4 tablespoons golden millet (whole grain)
  • 2 tablespoons buckwheat flakes
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil ( native)
  • 3 tablespoons apple pulp

Cooking Instructions for ‘Rainy Delight’

  1. Place the yellow peas, almonds and dates ( previously refrigerated then sliced) in a powerful blender and crush.
  2. Wash millet (in a sieve) and place in a 3 liter pot with amaranth, buckwheat flakes and pea-almond-date mix.
  3. Pour 1 liter of hot water over the two combined mixes and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent lumping and burning. Remove from heat, stir well and set aside for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
  4. Chop the herbs and chives with a cradle knife. Dissolve the potato flour in 100 ml of olive water. Place all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl, except the oat yoghurt and cream cheese. Stir well and set aside.
  5. Wash the vegetables and cut off the ends. Using a cutting board, slice the carrots and zucchini. Slice the carrots a little diagonally to get long oval slices instead of round ones. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and slice them as well as the olives (with a knife). Place the carrots, zucchini, mushroom stalks, and olives in a pan or pot with 2-3 tablespoons of canola oil and saute over medium heat until the carrot slices are tender but still a little crunchy.
  6. Reduce heat and add sliced mushroom heads, butter and ginger in oil. Simmer over low heat for 5-8 minutes, then turn off and add 5 tablespoons of olive water, balsamic vinegar, nutmeg, caraway and salt.
  7. Add coconut oil and apple pulp to millet-amaranth paste and mix well. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place dough on baking paper (note if it is coated or not, if not, brush canola oil on baking paper) and baking sheet and spread out completely (height about 4 cm). Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven (hot! Hot! HOT!). Cut the baked millet-amaranth dough into patties/squares about 8 x 8 cm and turn to bake on the other side for another 15 minutes.
  8. Carefully heat the sauce in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until you see small bubbles and the sauce begins to thicken (because of the potato flour in it), then turn off the heat and carefully stir in the cream cheese and oat yogurt.
  9. Gently reheat the vegetables in their pot/casserole while turning.
  10. Combine all three components on a plate. Pour the sauce over the patties and lay the vegetables aside.

Side Notes:

  • The original saying goes: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.” Which, as I noted above, can also be said about food.
  • The inspiration for this dish came from the experience described in the post [‘No Rain Today‘].
  • If you eat fish, you can put some fish in the sauce. For the recipe above, you would use about 100 grams of fish. If the fish is fresh, you will need to precook it. You can also add 100 ml of the fish cooking water (from the pre-cooking or canning) to the sauce. In this case, I would add another tablespoon of herbs – fresh or in oil – and two more tablespoons of oat yogurt.