Beltane: Strawberry Avocado Pasta salad

So I am finally motivated to write some blog posts again. I just sorted out my menu pictures and I will do a recap of some sort. Next up I plan to post some recipes for salads that we made in the past weeks. Summer has finally arrived so I think this is a good place to start to work on my back log :)
Today I will share a recipe that we made for Beltane, on the first of May. And because it still isn't Litha, I think I am allowed to do this ;) It is probably one of the shortest recipes ever. But it has great flavours.

Strawberry Avocado Pasta Salad: (serves 2)
- 150 gr pasta
- 1 cup strawberries, sliced
- 1 avocado
- 0.25 cup feta, crumbled
- 0.25 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil

Cook the pasta, drain and let it cool down a bit. Pit the avocado and cut into cubes. Mix everything into a bowl with the pasta. Enjoy :)

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Beltane: Orange Blossom Cookies

Happy Beltane everyone! These cookies have a funny story. I actually baked them last year for beltane but then I lost the picture and didn't blog the recipe. Somewhere later in the year I found the picture again, but I waited until it was Beltane again to post it.

These cookies taste a bit exotic and are a bit of an acquired taste. It might take a bit to get used to. But because next to strawberries, edible flowers are typical used in Beltane dishes, I wanted to try this recipe. The original recipe is from Koken met Karin.

Orange Blossom Cookies: (makes 25)
- 175 gr flour
- 50 gr castor sugar
- 125 gr butter (margarine for vegan)
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- pinch of salt

Mix the butter with both sugars and the orange blossom water until soft. Sift flour and salt above the bowl and mix this with a fork until crumbly. Then make a nice ball of dough with your hands. Shape the dough into a log and wrap it in clingy plastic foil. Put this in the fridge for an hour or longer.
Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees.
Cut the dough with a sharp knife into 0.5 cm slices.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the cookies on there, Leave some space because they will get a bit bigger in the oven. Bake them for about 15 minutes until they are light with a slightly darker edge.

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Beltane: Honey Ginger Cake

Today it is officially Beltane. We already celebrated it last Sunday but today I am still spending a bit of time on it, like cooking something that nice for dinner that fits the Beltane theme. We are making Strawberry Risotto tonight! This recipe has been on the blog for a while already, and it is one of my favorite summery risottos. But today I am going to share the recipe for a Honey Ginger Cake. The spice mix used is a typical Dutch mix but just use whatever mix you would use for your gingerbread instead :) I am actually not too fond of honey myself, but in this recipe it turned out really great! It gives the cake richness, but it is a very sticky cake ;) 

Honey Ginger Cake

- 300 gr selfrising flour

- 150 gr brown caster sugar

- pinch of salt

- 2 tbsp Dutch cake mix (or gingerbread mix)

- 200 ml buttermilk

- 1 egg, beaten

- 150 gr honey

First stir the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet ingredients and stir through. Do not mix this batter! Line a baking sheet in a cake tray and pour the batter in. Bake in a pre heated oven on 160 degrees for about 60-70 minutes.

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Beltane: Tomato-Cheese Pretzels

I have to admit that neither tomatoes or cheese are actual Beltane ingredients but I choose to make these for the Beltane picnic anyway, because the shape and stripes symbolised the ribbons around the maypole for me. So I thought they would be suitable :)
The recipe I got from sacla, which is a brand that sells pesto and Italian products. They make these with green pesto and tomato tapenade. But I choose to make them all the same with a pesto rosso. But it will work either way :) They taste great both warm and cold. And make a nice addition to lunch or as a snack. The first batch we forgot to twist. But the 2nd batch was twisted which adds to the Beltane effect.

Tomato-Cheese Pretzels (Makes 8)
- 8 sheets of puff pastry
- flour
- 4 tbsp pesto rosso (or regular, or tomato tapenade)
- 100 gr cheddar cheese, grated
- 50 gr parmesan, grated
- 1 egg yolk, beaten

Thaw the puff pastry. Make sure you do this only shorty before you make them or else the dough goes floppy and it more difficult to work with. Pre heat the oven on 200 degrees. Place flour on a clean work space and place 2 stacks with 4 sheets of puff pastry on it. Roll both of them into a rectangular sheet of dough, as thick as 1 sheet of puff pastry. Spread some pesto on top. Or do 2 different ones for each. Sprinkle both cheeses on top of that so that is sticks.

Cut into strips of about 2 cm. Use the short end of the dough as the length of the stripes. The grab each on both ends and twist in opposite directions, like unrolling a candy wrap. Place a baking sheet on your baking tray and lay the pretzels on top. Stroke the parts that don't have pesto with egg yolk. Bake for 10-12 minutes until crispy. (or 30 minutes in our oven).

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Beltane: Strawberry Avocado Couscous Salad

It isn't Beltane until the first of May, but I will already start to blog some related recipes while I make them. Especially because the Beltane department is lacking on the blog. Somehow I always manage to post recipes for Ostara and Imbolc, and after that I kind of forget.... So not this year! Beltane might be known to people as May day, it is part of the 8 pegan festivals, and I try to celebrate them each year because I like to be in tune with nature and these festivals follow that flow. Typical Beltane foods are strawberries, honey and edible flowers. The latter is a bit of a challenge, but I might come up with something. This year a picknick is planned with some friends, and I will make things for that too. But this recipe appeared on the menu because I was looking for something summery that was easy and a bit on budget. The recipe is vegan and will be very suitable for a picknick. The avocado holds up nicely in this recipe because of the vinaigrette. But you have to play a bit with the sweet and sour balance. I like it a bit more on the sweet side. Original recipe comes from Damn Delicious.

Strawberry Avocado Couscous Salad (serves 4)
- 1 cup couscous
- 1 avocado, cubed
- 0.5 cup corn kennels
- 0.5 cup strawberries, sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tbsp pine nuts (optional, does make it more expensive, but would taste great)

Lime vinaigrette:
- 0.25 cup olive oil
- 0.25 cup apple cider vinegar
- zest of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 3 tsp sugar or more to taste

For the vinaigrette whisk all the ingredients together. Set aside.
Prepare the couscous, by pouring boiling water over the couscous in a pan. Stir through for about 90 seconds until the couscous absorbed the moist. Cover and leave it to rest for about 3 minutes.
Combine with the other ingredients and stir in the vinaigrette.

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Weekend Cooking: Strawberry Risotto

In an Italian themed cookalong in July, I made Strawberry Risotto. I was looking for a nice Italian dish that wasn't that standard and I stumbled across this one. I wanted to give cooking with fruit a try, because getting in enough fruit is still one of my weak spots and that is why I decided to go ahead and make this summery risotto. The combination might sound strange, but I actually love it a lot. I hope you will give it a try as well :) I adapted the recipe from Italiaans koken met Antoinette.

Strawberry Risotto (serves 4)
- 1 or 2 spring oinions
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 350 gr risotto rice (short grain)
- 300 gr strawberries
- 1.5L vegetable broth
- some butter
- Parmasan cheese, grated
- fresh basil
- salt and pepper

Cut half of the strawberries into little pieces and puree the other half in a food processor. Cut the spring onion and some fresh basil. Bake the onion shortly in some olive oil. Add the rice and stir fry for a minute or so until the rice gets a white color. Add about 200ml from the broth and put the heat to medium. Let the rice absorb the fluids. Keep stirring and add about 200ml fluids at one time. Add the strawberries and basil after about 10 minutes when the rice is turing soft. Also add some pepper and salt (but not too much, the cheese will add salt too). Now only use 100ml fluids at a time and let the rice simmer while stirring for about 8 more minutes until the rice is creamy and soft. Keep tasting, you will know when it is right. Turn off the heat and stir the butter and cheese through the dish. Taste some more and adjust flavors if needed. Let the risotto rest for about 1 minute and serve in deep plates.

Vegan option: You can replace the butter for margarine and use natural yeast instead of cheese. You can also leave out the latter. You will get a more sweet dish, but I tasted it before adding the cheese and I liked that version as well.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking. This is a foodie meme where all kinds of food related posts are shared, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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