the wearness

Katharina Küllmer is a passionate chef, food photographer and stylist. In her new work "Aromenfeuerwerk - Vegetarisch - Die neue grüne Küche" (EMF Verlag, 34 €) she shares about 100 innovative vegetarian and often vegan recipes with us.

The focus is on the use of aromas, herbs and spices. All dishes are prepared without classic white flour and refined sugar - ranging from a quick breakfast with energy balls or chickpea pancakes with roasted vegetables to a dinner with miso tofu bowl with soba noodles or chard packs with curry tahin sauce. Here are three delicious recipes:

Socca pizza with almond rocket pesto, courgettes, olives and capers.

For 4 persons

FOR THE SOCCA.

• 300 g chickpea flour 
• 1 teaspoon sea salt and ground cumin each
• 2 tbsp olive oil plus some sunflower oil for the pan

FOR THE PESTO.

• 160 g almonds
• 140 g rocket salad
• grated peel of 2 organic lemons
• 140 ml olive oil
• 4 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp sea salt

FOR THE TOPPING

• 200 g courgettes
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 1⁄4 TL Salt
• 50 g rocket salad
• 8 tbsp rungs
• 4 tbsp capers
• Esters of 2 organic lemons
• Chervil and cress

AND

Pizza tray or fireproof pan (24 cm Ø)

Chickpeas have many important dietary fibres, proteins and minerals. They satisfy for a long time and are so versatile: roasted and caramelized with soy sauce, I often use them in salads and wraps. Hummus is on my menu several times a week, sometimes pure, sometimes refined with herbs or vegetables. I also prepare chickpeas as a curry hot stew and make delicious crêpes, chickpea buffers - or this socca pizza - from chickpea flour.

Preheat the oven to 220 ° C top/bottom heat.
For the pizza dough, mix the chickpea flour with sea salt and cumin. Add olive oil and 580 ml water, mix and let swell for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the pesto. Roast the almonds briefly in a pan without fat and then mix with the rocket, lemon peel, olive oil, maple syrup and sea salt to a pesto using a hand blender.
For the topping, wash the zucchini, cut them into thin slices and fry them in a pan with sunflower oil. Flavor with a little bit of salt.
Preheat a pizza tray or a fireproof pan in the oven for a few minutes. Take it out, put some sunflower oil on the pizza tray, toss it and put 1⁄4 of the dough on it. Bake for about 10 minutes in the upper third of the oven until the sides of the socca are golden yellow and crispy. Remove the socca and place it on a piece of kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough until four soccas are baked.
Coat the finished soccas with the pesto, add zucchini and rocket. Sprinkle the socca pizza with sprouts, capers, lemon zest, chervil and cress.

TIP
If you make the socca with friends, it is a good idea to prepare the first finished pizza and divide it while the second dough is in the oven. Then the bottom is still a little warm. Anyway, the socca also tastes great cold.

Detox Broccoli Salad

For 4 persons

• 150 g coloured quinoa
• 250 g broccoli
• 50 g roasted, salted cashew nuts
• 50 g almonds
• 30 g walnut kernels
• 80 g seed mixture (e.g. sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts)
• 100 g organic salad cucumber
• 2 spring onions
• 30 g fresh ginger
• 1⁄2 bunch smooth parsley
• 1⁄2 Mint bunch
• juice and zest of 1 organic lemon
• 1⁄2 Pomegranate
• 1 1⁄2 tsp sea salt

This salad is simply fantastic, an absolute power provider. If I don't feel fit or if I am stuck in an energy low, I make this salad and soon I feel fully energized again. The salad is crunchy, spicy, fresh and nutty, it is really addictive. You can eat it solo or with fried halloumi or tofu, for example. Feta is also an excellent accompaniment.
Wash the quinoa and cook according to the instructions on the packet. In the meantime, wash the broccoli, pat dry, then finely chop the florets and stalk. Mix with the quinoa.
Chop the cashew nuts, almonds and walnuts coarsely and roast them in a pan without fat. Allow to cool for a moment, then stir the mixture into the quinoa salad. Wash the cucumber and dice it very finely with the skin. Wash and clean the spring onions and cut them into fine rings. Peel and finely grate the ginger. Add the cucumber cubes, spring onions and ginger to the salad.
Wash the parsley and mint and strip the mint leaves. Finely chop the parsley together with the stalk and the mint leaves. Add the herbs, lemon juice and zest to the quinoa salad and mix well.
Remove the pomegranate seeds and add them to the salad. Flavour the Detox Broccoli Salad with sea salt as desired.

Layered Nicecream

For 4 persons

FOR THE NICECREAM

• 850 g banana (peeled 700 g)
• 4 tsp Chai almond cream
• 8 dried, pitted dates
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 200 ml almond drink
• Mark of 1 vanilla pod

FOR THE CHAI ALMOND CREAM

• 200 g almonds
• 1 star anise
• 2 small carnations
• 1 cardamom capsule, seed triggered
• 1⁄2 TL ground Ceylon Cinnamon
• 1⁄2 TL cubeb pepper
• 10 g fresh ginger
• 4 tsp coconut oil

FOR THE MARMALADE

• 500 g mixed berries (TK)
• 3 tbsp coconut blossom sugar
• 1 tsp locust bean gum

Already in my first two books of the "Aromenfeuerwerk" series I showed some recipes for Nicecream, the nice sister of Icecream. I still like to give in to my craving for this cold delicacy, because Nicecream gets along completely without sugar and even does us good with all its spices!
For the Nicecream, cut the bananas into slices and freeze them for a few hours, preferably overnight.
For the Chai almond cream, roast the almonds in a pan without fat. Finely grind star anise, cloves and cardamom seeds, add cinnamon and cubeb pepper to the almonds and roast at low heat until the spices start to scent. Peel the ginger and chop it finely. Blend the almonds with the spices, ginger and coconut oil in a high performance mixer. Keep it in a closed screw glass.
For the berry jam, simmer the fruits with the sugar gently for a few minutes. Then stir in the locust bean gum.
For the chocolate ¬Nicecream, mix half of the frozen bananas (about 350 g) with 4 teaspoons of Chai almond cream, 4 dates, cocoa powder and half of the almond drink (100 ml) in a blender to form a cream.
For the vanilla-nicecream, blend the remaining frozen bananas with vanilla pulp, 4 dates and 100 ml almond drink in a blender to prepare a cream.
Layer both Nicecream varieties alternately with the Chai-almond cream and the berry jam in glasses.

TIP
Not absolutely necessary, but simply beautiful: I like to garnish my Nicecream with pollen, raw cocoa nibs, popcorn or blueberries. Let your imagination go wild.

Photos/Recipes: © EMF/Katharina Küllmer