Our simple lunch salad consisted of a bunch of home-grown kale, lollo rosso and lettuce, with fried tofu cubes and cashews. I added a pinch of cayenne to the tofu along with the usual dashes of soy sauce and balsamico to get a bit of heat to complement the sweet-tart blueberry dressing. Forest blueberries are not as sweet as cultivated blueberries, so the amount of sugar might need tweaking depending on the type of berry that is used.

The Blueberry Dressing:

• 1 and 1/2 dl fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed the dressing with our immersion blender and that’s it. This made enough to dress two huge lunch portions, and would probably yield four portions of a more moderate size.

Dandelion, pictured above, is a wild veggie classic, but sadly not held in very high esteem in Finland. I think it tastes a lot like arugula. We ate the leaves almost every day in salads with a vinaigrette sauce.

Greater plantain is widely know in Finland to be a plant with medicinal properties. I remember my parents making a plantain poultice to treat a cut I got at the cottage when I was a child. The leaves are also a great, milder tasting addition to salads.

Fireweed is a delicious wild vegetable that can be used like asparagus or water spinach. It’s best used when the stalks are between 10 and 20 centimeters. We ate it on two separate occasions. The first time we steamed them and ate with olive oil and salt, and the second time I fried them in a pan and added garlic and soy sauce.

Lady’s mantle is a family of plants of which all the species are edible. The umbrella-like leaves were quite mild tasting, and we used them in salads with a vinaigrette sauce. Supposedly they go well in soups too.

Winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is an excellent but little known wild veggie. It’s name probably comes from the fact that its rosette stays green all through the winter. Its buds and uppermost leaves are used like broccoli. We fried them in oil together with some fireweed. This is what the buds looked like when I picked them:

Most of the wild veggies are best eaten in early spring, because their taste gets more bitter into the summer. It’s a short, very special season, which makes me think about the time before greenhouses and imported vegetables. Last spring we made a nettle casserole and a goutweed soup, this spring it was mostly salads. Also, check out the pesto Goddess of Cake made from goutweed.

Before gathering wild veggies, you’ll need a guide or a guidebook. For use in the Nordic countries, I recommend the book by Pelle Holmberg, Marie-Louise Eklöf and Anders Pedersen called Mauste- ja terveyskasvit luonnossa (2009), or Vanliga vilda växter till mat, krydda, hälso- och kroppsvård (2007) in Swedish. It has great photos of the plants, making it easy to identify them, and also  information about their medicinal properties.

Ever since I learnt to use our mandolin I’ve been making oven fries from scratch. I’m guessing they’re almost as quick to prepare as frozen fries but way more tasty, especially the crusty bits with potato skin. I enjoyed these with a mayonnaise dipping sauce that consisted of 2 parts plain soy yoghurt, 1 part vegan mayonnaise and a pinch of salt. Mayo was never a favorite of mine until I spent some time as an au-pair in Brussels and learnt to love it with fries.

This is what I used (serves 2-3):

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

I set the oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Then I scrubbed the potatoes and used our mandolin (aka v-slicer) to chop them into 1 cm thick strips. This could be done without a mandolin but the tool really makes the whole process much quicker and easier.

Now I spread the fries on a kitchen towel on a single layer and then folded the other half of the towel over the fries, patted them lightly, and let them dry until the oven was ready. Meanwhile, I mixed the paprika, cayenne, thyme and oil in a bowl, and when the oven had reached the right temperature I just tossed the fries in the oil until they were all evenly coated.

I spread the fries on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper in such a way that none of them were overlapping – important for crispy results. Then I baked them for 15 minutes in the upper third of the oven, tossed them up a bit, and baked for another 10 minutes until they were nicely fried and crispy. After baking I sprinkled them with sea salt and they were ready to serve.

We both really enjoyed this dish as a light Sunday lunch with a slice of bread. Well, for Heikki this was more of a breakfast really… The flavors are bright and clean, and a nice texture is provided by edamame and cauliflower. For a heartier salad, I would add a handful or two of toasted cashews, or maybe a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

The Marinated Cauliflower:

• 200 g cauliflower, in small florets
• juice of 1/2 lime
• grated zest of 1 lime
• pinch of salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper

I mixed all the ingredients together and let them marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

For the Salad:

• 1 and 1/2 dl quinoa, plus 2 and 1/2 dl water for cooking
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 dl edamame (frozen’s what we have)
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced

This is how I usually cook the quinoa for nice and fluffy results: rinse the quinoa well, place the quinoa and the water in a small cooking pot, and cook on high heat until the water starts boiling. Then I reduce the heat to low and cook, tightly covered, until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa has steamed a bit, for about 20 minutes. This time I added two garlic cloves in the cooking water as well, and after the quinoa was done, removed them from the pot and saved for later use in the dressing.

The edamame we get is frozen, and I just cooked it in plenty of water for about 3 minutes, then rinsed with cold water to cool down.

After the quinoa and the edamame had cooled to room temperature I tossed them together with the onions in a salad bowl.

The Dressing:

• 1/2 dl olive oil
• juice of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 an orange
• the two cooked garlic cloves from the quinoa
• 1/2 dl chopped cilantro
• 1/3 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed everything except salt and pepper together in our mini food processor until smooth and light green. Then I seasoned the dressing with salt and pepper, tossed the salad and the cauliflower florets with the dressing, and garnished with a few yellow cherry tomatoes.

This makes quite a large batch for two, so we had leftovers – they tasted mighty delicious after half a day of refrigeration as well.

There are numerous more or less detailed recipes for farinata around the internet, but I mostly relied on the one from The Daily Spud, who got it from a book by Elizabeth David. I added fresh rosemary and garlic for additional flavor. We enjoyed the farinata for dinner with oven roasted vegetables, and had the leftovers for a snack on the next day, when we fried our slices on a frying pan to get the crispiness back.

We both think farinata is a bit like polenta, but has much more flavor than any polenta we’ve ever cooked. Not to say polenta couldn’t be as good as this farinata – we just haven’t mastered cooking it right just yet. Some recipes have up to three times more olive oil in a similar amount of batter, but the 3 tablespoons I used was still enough to make the bottom side all shiny and crispy.

Here’s the short list of ingredients:

• 200 g, or about 4 and 1/2 dl chickpea flour (gram or besan)
• 6 and 1/2 dl water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus some more)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)

The farinata batter needs to rest for four hours before baking, so this recipe requires some planning ahead.

First, I whisked together the water, the olive oil, and the chickpea flour, making sure there were no lumps. The batter is pretty liquid, but it sets perfectly in the oven. I covered the bowl and let the batter rest for 4 hours.

Then I preheated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and brushed a round pie tray with olive oil. I mixed the salt, garlic, and rosemary in the batter, and poured it in the baking dish. Now, I baked the farinata for 30 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius, then upped the heat to 225 Celsius and baked for 15 minutes more.

Back in Finland, my first shot at cooking tempeh was not very successful. Fortunately I had that great first experience tasting it, so I didn’t give up on it. Unless you’re really used to its strong, often overpowering taste, it can be a tricky thing to cook. Fortunately, there’s a very simple way to cook it – the way I had it the first time.

Kering tempe is Indonesian for dry or crispy tempeh. Most of the recipes in the internet that go with that name also make a spice mixture with fried onions, which is mixed with the tempe before serving, but I’m partial to a version where the tempeh is simply eaten as it is, without any garnishes.

Here’s what I use:

• 1 dl oil (per frying pan)
• 250 g tempeh, cut into 3 mm thick slices
• salt to taste

I start by heating oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Using two pans makes the whole process a bit quicker, but (obviously) uses up more oil. Then I fry the tempeh slices on both sides, maybe about 3-5 minutes per side, but this depends on how hot the oil gets. It’s really easy to burn the tempeh, so I check the undersides often. The tempeh slices are ready when they are golden brown and feel crisp and hard in the middle when touched with a spatula. If they’re still soft, even just a little bit in the center, they are not ready yet!

After frying I put the slices on a kitchen towel to drain off the extra oil, and add the next batch to the frying pans. When I’ve fried all the tempeh I have, I put the slices in a bowl and add salt to my liking.

Fried tempeh keeps well, at least a couple of weeks if kept in an airtight container in the fridge. It’s a great snack, can be added to a salad or a sandwich, or eaten as a main protein in a light meal. Many people find tempeh’s taste a bit weird, but I guarantee that cooked this way it’s both delicious and addictive!

I think this amount would be enough as a side dish for 2-3. The quality of carrots really does make a difference here – I used a bunch of organic carrots that still had a nice protective layer of dirt on them when they reached us. Root vegetables keep better and stay much more flavorful if they’re not cleaned after harvesting, but unfortunately the supermarkets rarely carry “dirty” veggies.

The chipotle I used in this recipe is the adobado kind. Heikki mashed a can of chipotles in adobo sauce when he made the black beans from Veganomicon, and we still have some of the paste in the fridge. Chipotles are amazing in their depth of flavor, but I’m sure these fries would turn out well with other spices if they are hard to find.

The Carrots:

• 4 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into sticks
• 2 teaspoons mashed chipotles in adobo sauce
• salt to taste
• a dash of olive oil to coat

I cut the carrot into thin fry-size sticks and then tossed them with the chipotle and the olive oil. There’s no need to use much oil, just enough to coat the carrots. Then I spread the carrot sticks on a baking sheet in one layer, and sprinkled them with salt. I baked my carrots in 200 degrees Celsius on the upper rack of the oven: first for 35 minutes, then tossed them around, and then another 10-15 minutes until slightly charred here and there.

The Avocado Dip:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 3/4 dl plain soy yogurt
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

I simply mashed everything together with a fork and chilled while the carrots were baking.

After googling, reading and watching through a plethora of kimchi recipes, I settled on the one that looked most promising, and adapted it to my liking. Not only it proved to be really easy to make, but supremely delicious too! I am already planning my next batch of pickled vegetables. Even though making kimchi is easy, it does require some planning ahead. During the first day, there are two separate stages of preparing, and a six hour wait between them. After that, it takes three or four days of fermentation before the kimchi is ready.

This is what I used:

• 650 g chinese cabbage
• plenty of salt
• 1 beet, grated
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• slice of ginger, about 1 cm thick, crushed
• 2 teaspoons hot chili powder (or to taste)
• 4 teaspoons sugar

When making the kimchi, I mostly followed the instructions from the Pyongyang metro kimchi recipe.

I began by rinsing and chopping the cabbage, resulting with pieces of cabbage about 5 cm in diameter. I made layers from the cabbage in a plastic bag, sprinkling salt liberally between each layer. At this stage, it’s important to ensure that the cabbage is thoroughly salted, so next I poured some salt over my hands and rubbed the pieces of cabbage between my hands. I added some more salt, and repeated until I’d gone through all of the cabbage. Then I squeezed the pieces of cabbage between my hands to extract as much water out of them as possible. I did this over the plastic bag, so that all the extracted water was collected in the bag. I tied up the bag, and let it sit for 6 hours.

At this point, the original recipe said rinse the cabbage “if necessary”, and remove the extra water, but since my cabbage wasn’t that watery, I decided not to remove any water. Moreover, I didn’t rinse the cabbage, since I hadn’t used that much salt. Most of the saltiness disappears in the fermentation process anyway. Now I put the cabbage in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, and added the rest of the ingredients. I put on my kitchen gloves, and started squeezing the ingredients in my fists. I continued squeezing the cabbage mix for a couple of minutes.

All done! I tasted it a bit, and it was already really yummy, a bit salty perhaps. I closed the lid, and put the kimchi box into our coolest cupboard for 3 days. I think I read from one of the recipes, that the place to keep the kimchi should be under 20 degrees Celsius.

After three days, the kimchi was ready! I kept it in the fridge now, so that it wouldn’t go extra sour too quickly. We ate it as a side a couple of times, and I had it over rye bread a few times. We also made kimchi fried rice, which was really great! I followed this recipe pretty closely, except I substituted the meat for tofu, and omitted the eggs, of course. Oh, and I used 2 or 3 times more tamari than the recipe calls for, adding more of it in the end, tasting until the balance was right.

Kimchi fried rice with some steamed bok choy

I have been thinking about beets a lot lately. I don’t know why, but they are the one ingredient that has been inspiring me most this fall, and there doesn’t seem to be an ending to this state of affairs. I cannot get enough of the purple color, it simply makes me happy each time I cook with beets, and I think their earthy sweetness reflects the essence of autumn itself.

Here’s what I used:

• 6 beets, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 big carrots, scrubbed and cut into thick sticks
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chili
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

First, I preheated the oven to 200 Celsius, and prepped the beets, carrots, and garlic. Then I just placed all the ingredients in a baking pan and tossed them so that each veggie piece was covered with some spices.

I first roasted the veggies for 15 minutes, tossed them around a bit, roasted for another 15 minutes, tossed, and roasted for yet another 15 minutes. After this I checked the salt, and realized the veggies were done, so I turned off the oven. The rice we were going to have with the beets wasn’t quite ready yet, so I popped the vegetables in the oven that was still hot for another 10 minutes to keep them warm.

This is a lunch salad I made for myself the other day, and we had the leftovers as a side dish for a few days after that. I love the combination of oranges and red onions, and the freshness of the fruit was a very nice contrast to the earthy flavor of kamut. I don’t see why kamut couldn’t be replaced with another less expensive grain in this recipe: wheat berries, spelt berries, or even whole brown rice would most likely be very nice.

Here’s what I put in my salad:

• 5 dl cooked kamut
• 1 orange, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, cubed
• 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and chopped
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teapoons salt (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground black pepper to serve

Kamut is a grain that requires soaking overnight and even after that, a normal cooking time is about one hour to an hour and a half. I cooked mine in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and then let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes.

After the kamut had cooled down, I just tossed all the ingredients in a bowl, and refrigerated the salad for a few hours before serving. It actually got better and better over the next few days, so refrigerating the salad overnight would marry the flavors nicely.

Right before serving, I crackled some black pepper over the salad. Very nice served with homemade crackers or a nice crusty bread and hummus!