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summer

3 Tomato Gnocchi with Garlicky Prawns

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If you have ever been to Italy you know how a sauce with fresh tomatoes tastes. Creamy, sweet, tangy, fresh, natural, just delicious!! My family and I, we go to Italy every year, at least twice and eating some kind of pasta, gnocchi or risotto with fresh tomatoes is a staple there! I can’t spend time in Italy without eating the delicious Italian tomatoes.

Well, now I am back from holidays, back from Italy and only dreaming about those incredibly delicious tomatoes (not sure if you already know, but I am a tomato addict!! Favourite food of all time), and if I buy a tomato sauce at the store it is far from what you´d get in Italy. I’m not saying that they are not tasty but just not comparable with what you would get in an Italian restaurant. But as I was really craving a tomatoey dish with all the flavor I decided to start experimenting and finally created this super delicious 3-tomato gnocchi.

I was able to find some local, big, austrian tomatoes in different colors and shapes, at the farmers market, which I really liked (the more local the better!!), and all were organic from farmers around and did not contain any chemicals or anything else they didn’t need. I honestly loved the variety of color and really liked the different shapes, which made every single tomato unique. I definitely prefer them having different shapes and sizes without any artificial stuff in them than having 10 tomatoes with exactly the same color, the same shape, and the same taste, which 1) is boring & 2) not natural! I also found some small honey tomatoes which are my favourite! (Best snack ever!) They are sweet, have a great texture and just every bite is treat. The third kind of tomato I used was tomato paste, to intensify the flavor, and I would definitely not leave out when making this because it does make a difference!!! 

I also used fresh basil from our garden, white wine from the vineyard next to our house, and some sour cream from Austrian farmers (if you want to make a vegan version of this sauce, either leave out the sour cream at all or substitute it with coconut cream or another vegan cream cheese substitute)! The prawns that I used were from Italy and I bought them frozen so that they are really fresh. For this dish I used parted tiger prawns because I do not like to have small prawns where there only is one bite. I’d recommend peeling them before grilling or frying them since I believe that it is easier do this before than after cooking but if you prefer peeling it after to give it a look then that works too! 

When it comes to gnocchi I would always recommend using fresh ones. I personally do not like the packaged ones a lot since most of them only tend to become more and more the longer you chew them. You can either make them yourself or if you have a gourmet food store or an Italian store close to where you live, Idaho recommend buying fresh gnocchis there because the quality of fresh ones is just better. I used frozen ones I made over a year ago, which was not the best decision because they were in the freezer for pretty long, so they turned very mushy as soon as I cooked them. It didn’t make a difference in taste but in the looks. So if you can, use as fresh ones as you can get. Of course, if you do not like gnocchi, the sauce also tastes really really good with some pasta or even with rice!

I always make this dish when I start to miss Italy, and it is especially delicious in summer when the tomatoes are fresh, seasonal, and so flavorful. It also is a really healthy and balanced dish. You get some good carbs and vitamins out of the potatoes in the gnocchi, a lot of vitamins and antioxidants from the tomatoes, healthy fats from the olive oil, and some protein from the prawns. It is such a delicious and simple dish that will please the entire family and satisfy all your needs. I hope that you will like this dish and if you have any questions just leave them in the comments, I will answer you! If you are recreating it, just leave the hashtag #unepetitcuisiniere and I will see them!

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3 Tomato Gnocchi with Garlicky Prawns

A delicious & quick weeknight dinner

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 13 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 23 Minuten
Servings 2
Calories 584 kcal

What you will need

Thats what you will need:

  • 500 g Tomatoes lrge, and best different colours
  • 200 g Cherry tomatoes
  • 20 ml Olive Oil
  • 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
  • 1 Chili
  • 1 tbsp Sour Cream
  • 125 ml White Wine
  • 3 Garlic Cloves
  • 300 g Tiger Prawns
  • 300 g Gnocchi
  • 1 handful Basil

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. Cut the large tomatoes into 2cm cubes. Half the cherry tomatoes. Peel and finely slice one garlic clove and chili. In a big pan heat up half of the olive oil. In a smaller pot start bringing some water to a boil. When hot add the tomato paste to the oil and stir well until everything is well combined. Then add garlic and chili into the Oil and saute until it starts to turn golden-brown. Add the tomatoes into the pan and saute them for about 3 minutes. Pour the white wine over the tomatoes and add the sour cream and let it all simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. Generously salt and a little pepper. If it gets too thick, add some more wine, if it is too thin add some more sour cream or let it simmer for a little longer.

  2. Meanwhile peal the prawns, slice the other 2 garlic cloves, and add the remaining olive oil into a pan and heat it up. Cook the Gnocchi in the boiling water for about 3 minutes (depending on the Gnocchi you have), until soft. Fry the prawns with the garlick in the oil for about 2 minztes on each side.

    Cut the basil into thin strips and add into the sauce. Keep a few leaves for the garnish.

  3. Drain the Gnocchi and add to the tomato sauce. Divide it onto 2 plates, add the prawns and garnish with basil.

    Serve & enjoy!

Açai Bowl

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A friend of mine is from brazil. And she always tells me about all the delicious acai bowls she eats when she is there. Every. Single. Time. We. Meet. This makes me so jealous! I absolutely love Açai Bowls but it is so hard to get one (and if you get one, to get a good one) in Vienna. Now I know one place that makes really delicious ones and that is Superfooddeli! But unfortunately this one place that actually has them is 1 hour away from my home with public transport 🙁 !

Since I am a really huge fan of these bowls and do not want to spend 2 hours reaching that place and coming back I decided to make my own one. I bought Açai Packets from that store and made it at home. Absolutely delicious! And so easy. I really haven´t expected it to be that easy! The clue to making a good Açai Bowl is having a good blender. If your blender is not very strong, it is going to be hard for it to blend everything up smoothly and there will remain chunks in the smoothie.

I love having such a bowl for breakfast or brunch or even as a light lunch! It is prepared so quickly and really delicious. If you are off heading somewhere you can just pour it into a Tupperware and take it on the go! I love this dish!

Isn´t it a ton of Sugar?

Although I love making smoothie bowls, an issue I have with those kind of meals is that I am usually eating tons of sugar. Bananas, berries, mangoes, acai, … whatever. They are really delicious and full of vitamins but sadly also full of sugar. If you blend all of them up, I believe that you eat more fruit pureed than you would normally eat as a whole. To still get a delicious, creamy, and sweat bowl but not consuming to much sugar I decided to add some veggies to my meals. And believe me, this was the best decision!

I could not taste the vegetables at all, I couldn´t have told that they were in there. My 2 tips to adding vegetables to your smoothies are:

1st: freeze them before adding. You not only get a creamier and thicker consistency but you will also taste them less. I do not know why, but it absolutely is worth it.

2nd: use vegetables that do not have an intense color. In this case, it doesn´t matter too much since the smoothie bowl is pretty dark anyways but when making a bright smoothie bowls, e.g. a mango one and you add a dark vegetable like spinach, the whole meal will get a darker color and will look less appealing. If you want to make a green smoothie though, this is something different, the go ahead and add all the spinach and kale. For my Açai Bowl I used celery and zucchini, which I have peeled before a froze it.           

What about toppings?

When it comes to the toppings you are absolutely free and can decide according to your desires! If you prefer fresh fruit, whatever fruit you like, something crunchy, something frozen, something creamy, the possibilities are endless! For me, I believe that toppings are the best part of any smoothie bowl!

As delicious as they are, you can easily go overboard. When adding tons of nut butters, chocolate chunks and sugar loaded granola you can easily turn a light and healthy meal into something rather heavy and dense. For my topping I like to use some more fresh fruit, like mango and berries, some homemade healthy granola, coconut chips, goji berries, hemp seeds, a spoonful of nut butter (I absolutely love almond butter with this!), some cut up banana and some edible flowers.

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Açai Bowl

A low sugar twist on our all time favorite smoothie bowl

Course Breakfast
Cuisine brazilian
Prep Time 12 Minuten
Servings 1
Calories 465 kcal

What you will need

For the smoothie

  • 100g g frozen Acai
  • 1/2 Banana frozen
  • 2 stalks Celery frozen
  • 1/2 Zucchini frozen
  • 100 g Blueberries frozen
  • 100 ml Almond milk more/ less depending on how thick you want it

For the toppings

  • 1/2 Mango
  • Blueberries
  • 2 tbsp Granola
  • 1/3 Banana
  • 1/2 tbsp Goji Berries
  • 1 tbsp coconut flakes
  • 1 tsp almond butter or any other nut butter

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. The night before making the bowl peel the zucchini and cut it up along with the celery and banana. Freeze an Açai package and the berries.

  2. Add all the ingredients for the bowl to the blender and blend it up. Start with a little nut milk and work your way up adding a little a time, depending on how thick you want your bowl to be.

  3. While you are blending the smoothie, take the mango and cut down the half. Peel it and place it with the flat side down on a cutting board. Finely slice it into really thin strips. The thinner the easier to make the rose. Once you have cut it, carefully slide them slightly apart, so it is a long strip. Take an end of the long strip and start rolling it so it will turn in itself so it turns into a rose. Cut up the banana into slices.

  4. When the smoothie is blended well, pour it into a bowl. Top it with the mango rose, the banana, the granola, the berries, the goji berries, the coconut, almond butter, and edible flowers. 

  5. Serve and enjoy!

Grilled Peach Salad

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I currently am enjoying the last barbecues with friends and family on those late warm (or not so warm as we have here in Austria :() summer days. It’s a coming together, spending time with loved ones, enjoying sun, summer & drinks. Just laughing, chatting and feeling so free, just happy. You’re just sitting around a table and enjoying your time. Honestly, who doesn’t enjoy it? I am really going to miss the smell, taste and atmosphere of the barbecuing during winter, when it is cold and you only step outside when there is no other option. Thinking about this just gives me even more reason to enjoy every day, on which sitting outside and having a barbeque is still possible, as much as I can.

Barbecue to me means grilling some goood meat and making a bunch of delicious sides & salads. But who only wants boring salads. I mean – I get it, get some Vitamins in and be healthy but that doesn’t have to be boring. It is so simple to transform a boring salad into super delicious and addicting one with very little effort and ingredients. I can tell you so much, this salad is so mouthwatering and has such a great flavor so everyone will love it. Believe me. Even my brother who can be hunted with salads, really liked it. This salad is such a great side for any grilled dish. And if you don’t feel like barbecuing you can just make more of it, top it with some feta cheese, chickpeas or grilled prawns to enjoy it as a main. 

So why still sit around? Hurry up to still get those delicious late summer peaches from your local market and step into the kitchen. Stone fruit season is such a great season for cooking. You can make amazing sweets like tartes, cobblers, ice cream and muffins, just to name a few, or you can enjoy them in savory dishes such as salads, skewers, curries or chutneys. You can even mix them into drinks and make a Bellini and home. How versatile? For this salad I’d recommend using some orange or pink peaches as they make the salad nice & colorful. Also take some that are a little firmer so you don´t have problems with taking them off the grill because they´re falling apart. If you feel really fancy you can drizzle some balsamic reduction on them while grilling to make them extra sweet.

The dressing for this side is not your average oil-and-vinegar dressing, no it is much better. I used some creamy Tahini which is an oriental sesame paste, a fresh egg yolk, a good squeeze of lemon juice from lemons we grew in our garden, some balsamic vinegar for a refreshing twist, a little honey to sweeten it up and some Dijon mustard to give it that addictiveness! Absolutely bomb ?. To get that extra creaminess you don’t just whisk the ingredients but similar to a super quick mayo you use a hand blender and pull it up in one go. It just creams it all up and you get your new favorite salad dressing. Sure, it takes a little more time than simply adding 2 ingredients but it’s so worth it. 

To give the salad some more texture and make it more filling I added a few other ingredients. Some avocado (because what is a salad without avocado?), for some extra vitamins, fiber, and healthy fats, some cucumber for freshness, vitamins, and crunch, a mix of fresh herbs for a summer feeling a flavor, and last but definitely not least I decided to sprinkle some pine nuts. I love nuts in salads because I think that they make it more filling, add a good crunch, and just make it a little heartier. 

Now I can honestly just give you one more tip; go to a market to get some peaches, and you´ll be the chef of your next barbeque. 

If you recreate this I would love to see it, so just tag me on Instagram with @uneptcuisiniere or with the hashtag #unepetitecuisiniere so I can see if you enjoyed it as much as I did. You can also send me a mail or leave a comment behind, I would be really thankful for that! 

I hope you enjoy it, 

Katie <3

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Grilled Peach Salad

Amazing salad to round up the barbeque season

Course Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 4
Calories 198 kcal

What you will need

For the Salad

  • 4 handful Salad I would recommen using something like spinach or lambs lettuce
  • 2 Peaches
  • 1 small Cucumber
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • 3 Spring onions
  • 2 tbsp Pine nuts
  • 1/2 handful Basil
  • 1/2 handful Mint
  • salt & pepper

For the dressing:

  • 1 Egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp Tahini
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 lemon juiced
  • 2 Tbsp vinegar you can use a little less if you prefer it less sour

How to

Thats how it works:

  1. Heat up the barbeque.

  2. Wash and rinse the salad and add it into a bowl. Cut up the paches into 1.5cm thick slices. Finely slice the cucmber and add it to the salad. Cut the spring onions into thin strips and take the rings apart fromeach other. Slice the mint and basil and roast the pine nuts.

  3. Brush the hot grill with a little olive oil and place the sliced peaches on top. Let them grill for about 3 minutes on each side.

  4. For the dressing, get a tall mug. Gently place the egg yolk on the bottom, in the middle of the mug. Add therest of the dressing ingredients on top of it. take you hand blender and carefully place it on top of the egg yolk. Turn it on and slowly pull it up in one go. This will make the dressing really creamy.

  5. Mix together all of the ingredients in the salad except for the peaches. Pour the dressing on top and mix again. Divide the salad onto 4 bowls and top the with the grilled peaches.

  6. Serve & enjoy!

Creamy Vegan Summer Pasta

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This Summer Veggie Pasta is going to be your new weeknight favorite. It is so simple to prepare but yet so flavorful and nutrient dense. Seasonal summer vegetables in a light and creamy coconut sauce with our all-time favorite carb – pasta!

I was going to our local farmers market and I saw all the fresh veggies. Mushrooms, tomatoes, rhubarb, potatoes, peas, like every summer vegetable I could think of. When walking by that it just made me really want to eat all of them at once. I love going to local markets since buying products there is way more sustainable.

Later, I wasn´t sure what to make with the huge basket of vitamins, so I thought about pairing it with pasta, because with pasta you can never go wrong. Sure, this dish is not a traditional Italian pasta dish as it is made with coconut milk – but I promise you, it is at least as delicious as in Italy.

It is really simple to prepare, which is perfect after a long and hot day of work. The recipe only requires 9 ingredients, which you are very likely to have on hand anyway. For the peas you do not have to use fresh ones – you can go with frozen instead, same with the corn, you could use frozen or canned one instead of fresh one. If you do not have some of the vegetables on hand but still want to make this recipe, feel free to simply substitute one ingredient for another.

I would recommend using normal wheat or whole wheat pasta for this recipe since it brings out the flavor most. If using a rather dry pasta like chickpea pasta I would recommend using more coconut milk to not make the dish taste dry.

I think this is a great recipe if you are a vegan and want to in cooperate more veggies into your diet without giving up the good taste of pasta or even if you are not vegan or vegetarian but want to create a plant-based recipe. I hope that you will enjoy this dish and if you do so be sure to tag me on Instagram with @unptcuisiniere when sharing it!

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Creamy Vegan Summer Pasta

This is a really delicious summer pasta recipe that will safe you your weeknights. Super falvorfull, quick, simple, and vegan

Course Main Course
Prep Time 6 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 16 Minuten
Servings 2 people
Calories 763 kcal

What you will need

  • 250 g pasta
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 2 stalks spring onion
  • 100 g cherry tomatoes
  • 100 g corn cooked or canned
  • 100 g chanterelles
  • 160 ml coconut milk
  • 1 handful basil

How to

  1. Bring the water for the pasta to a boil. Add a lot of salt and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. In the meantime finely chop up the spring onions. Half the cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Then heat up the olive oil in a big pan. Once hot sweat the onions in there for about 2 minutes. Add all the other vegetables and let cook for another 4-5 minutes. If needed add some more water or oil to help cook. Once the vegetables are mostly cooked through, add the coconut milk and some water to thin out the sauce.

    Reserve one cup of pasta water and drain the rest of the pasta. Add it into the pan with the sauce along with a little of the pasta-water. Here it really matters which type of pasta you have chosen to use. If it is a ather dry pasta, I would recommend adding more water.

    Serve with some fresh basil leaves and enjoy!

Notes

if you are not vegan, a great idea is to add some crumbled feta cheese on top for more flavour and texture. If you are recreating this dish be sure to tag me on instagram with @uneptcuisiniere.