Spring Pea Soup with Roasted Radishes and Sweet and Salty Cashews / Sopa de Ervilhas com Rabanetes assados e Cajus agri-doces.

Around Christmas time, Kyle Books threw a "Advent Cookbook Quiz" on Instagram and I was the lucky winner.

I had to choose 3, from 7 available books and one of the books I chose was Rita Serano's "Vegan in 7".

A delightful book, full of delicious vegan recipes and very straightforward and unpretentious.

Recipes using only 7 or less ingredients, beautiful gorgeous photos and simple, but delightful, recipe introductions.

You all know I'm not vegan or even vegetarian, but you all also know that I love to have and make vegan and vegetarian meals whenever I want and that's one of the reasons I chose this book as one of the 3 books I had to choose from.

Honestly, I have a handful of vegan and vegetarian books but this one, is truly adorable and my favourite so far!

If you want to know more and win one copy of this gorgeous book, have a look at Kimberly's, The Little Plantation blog as, she is not just offering a copy of the book but, she's also sharing another delightful recipe from the book.

I've marked down several recipes to cook and share from the book but, as a soup lover, this soup had to be the first recipe to cook and share.

Try it and feel healthy and green!

Note: Rita suggests to serve the soup with an optional swirl of Cashew Cream, but I opted for a scatter of the sweet and salty cashews, for crunchiness.

Romanesco with a parmesan, pancetta and chervil crust / Romanesco com crosta de parmesão, pancetta e cerefólio.

My Scottish good friend keeps on bringing me goodies from his garden and last weekend he offered me the only and lonely romanesco that he got this season and I thought that it was so kind of him that I wanted to make something special with it!!

It's great when we have so kind and special friends. A real bless!

I have to tell you that, before going into the pan, this romanesco had a job to do, which was to became a bouquet. Yes, as part of a funny moment on instagram, this romanesco was a bouquet for 1 day.

And because most of the bouquets were edible, one of the people that was involved suggested us to create a recipe with the ingredients from our bouquets and therefore, from my #umbouquetpeladocesuvelle, this is my #umareceitadobouquetdasuvelle and even if I do say so myself, it was absolutely delicious!!

ingredients (serves 2 to 3 as a light meal):

1 head of romanesco, separated into florets

4 slices pancetta

60g breadcrumbs

35g grated parmesan cheese

zest of 1 big lemon

3 tbsp chervil, chopped (you can use parsley)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Cook the florets in salted boiling water until al dente.

Drain and plunge into very cold water in order to stop the cooking process. Drain again and set aside.

Fry the pancetta in a frying pan and drain over kitchen paper, before cutting into small pieces.

To prepare the crust, mix the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, parmesan cheese and chopped chervil. Mix in the chopped pancetta and set aside.

Toss the florets very gently with the previous mixture and transfer into an oven proof baking dish.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

__________________

O meu amigo escocês está sempre a trazer-me produtos frescos da produção da horta dele e no fim de semana passado, ofereceu-me um romanesco, o único romanesco que colheu este ano. O máximo!!

Claro que ter amigos assim tão bons é uma verdadeira benção e sinto-me grata por tê-lo por perto.

Guardei o romanesco porque queria utilizá-lo de forma a ser o rei de uma refeição e de forma especial.

Até aqui tudo bem, mas entretanto, esta menina, começa a brincadeira dos bouquets da Suvelle no instagram e lá vai o romanesco também servir de bouquet para a brincadeira.

Como quase todos os bouquets que apareceram eram comestíveis, esta menina lançou a ideia de no final fazermos uma receita com os ingredientes dos bouquets.

Pois então, aqui está ela, a minha #umareceitadobouquetdasuvelle que foi o culminar da brincadeira #umbouquetpeladocesuvelle.

ingredientes (para 2 ou 3 pessoas, como refeição ligeira):

1 romanesco separado em floretes

4 tirinhas de pancetta

60g pão ralado (a partir de pão fresco duro)

35g queijo parmesão ralado

raspa de 1 limão grande 

3 colheres sopa de cerefólio picado (podem usar salsa)

sal e pimenta preta moída na altura

preparação:

Aquecer o forno a 180ºC.

Cozer o romanesco em água a ferver com sal, até este estar al dente.

Escorrer e mergulhar em água com gelo, a fim de parar o processo de cozedura.

Voltar a escorrer e reservar.

Fritar a pancetta numa frigideira até estar crocante e escorrer sobre papel vegetal.

Cortar a pancetta aos bocadinhos e reservar.

Numa taça, misturar o pão ralado, a raspa do limão, o parmesão e o cerefólio. Adicionar a pancetta picada e misturar bem.

Envolver os floretes de romanesco com o preparado da crosta e deitar tudo para dentro de um tabuleiro ou prato de ir ao forno.

levar ao forno por cerca de 20 a 25 minutos, ou até estar douradinho.

Muuuiiittoo bom!!

Recipe / Receita: Lia - Lemon & Vanilla.