Beetroot Hummus

Beetroot Hummus

It is nice to wake up with a ray of sunshine on the eyelids, a sigh of wind on your cheeks, craving for ice cream and the song “Emozioni” by Battisti in your ears.                                                                                     

Happiness is like a glass of red wine, like the geraniums hanging from the grandmothers’ balconies, like my cat’s cover, and the flavour of watermelon in Summer. Dilated pupils, dimpled cheeks, crow’s feet at the sides of the eye: those are the symptoms of a natural state of serenity.

But what colour is the melancholy? This term is a combination of two Greek words: mélanos (black), and mélas, cholé (bile), so its meaning is “black bile”. It often happens in life to fall into negative emotions, but food can be useful in case like this. Today, we take from the pantry an ingredient that has the colour of happiness and at the same time is able to fight against the dark sides of melancholy: the beetroot.

In fact, in addition to its high content of minerals and vitamins and to its purifying and energetic properties, this root also contains betaine, a substance that can affect the brain, improve people mood and fight against a state of moderate depression.

The beetroot can be consumed in various ways, but I suggest you to blend it with lemon, olive oil, garlic, chickpeas, salt and tahini sauce, to obtain a creamy tasty hummus which is beneficial to the physical and mental health!

“Capire tu non puoi, tu chiamale se vuoi: Emozioni.”

The recipe

Ingredients for 4-5 people:

  • 400 g beetroot;
  • 300 g precooked chickpeas;
  • 1 garlic clove – chopped;
  • Some lemon juice;
  • 1 table spoon extra virgin olive oil;
  • 2 table spoons of tahini sauce;
  • Some mint leaves;
  • Some parsley- finely chopped;
  • A pinch of salt;
  • A sprinkling of pepper and turmeric.

Instructions:

  1. In a food blender, pour all the ingredients: beetroot, chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, oil, tahini sauce, mint, and salt;
  2. Blend until you obtain a smooth cream, if it is too thick, add more oil;
  3. Serve with a sprinkling of turmeric, pepper and chopped parsley.

My advices:

  • There are different types of bread that originally accompanied hummus in the Middle East, such as unleavened bread orpita, however slices of toasted bread are also fine;
  • This hummus is perfect alongside falafel (you can find my recipe here). It will give the dish a touch of freshness and the scent of Summer.

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Vegan cream tart with fresh fruit | Quick and easy recipe

Vegan cream tart with fresh fruit | Quick and easy recipe

This morning the sun has a different smell. It smells of wheat, of poppies, of lost innocence: the smells of my childhood, carried by a slight sense of sentimentality.

I go out for a walk. I look at people’s faces from Clapton and their attentive looks. They seem so busy while taking their buses. Nonetheless, today I would like to stay away from the chaotic life of the City and going back to my childhood, when I used to run through the fields of my native county. Behind a grey road and hidden from red big vehicles here’s the Lee Valley.

I am just in love with this. London always seems to hide its beauty in its artificiality. Suddenly, cold noises just fade away and comes the Nature. I feel I am flooded by calm and serenity, so I start sinking in my memories… I stumble into the images of a little girl, who used to look at the lizards on the rocks and who loved to climb up on an oak tree and always scraped her knees. It’s funny how, suddenly, you can relieve past feelings and sensations, only by living the present moments.

It is maybe because here it’s full of berries. In a moment, I feel the taste of my grandmother’s lemon pie, when nobody blamed me if I dared to lick that cream from the spoon. I feel the smell of the crunchy shortcrust pastry and the freshness of fruits…

So, why don’t we give ourselves a bit of sweetness? We are the Past, the Present, we are the Spring!

The recipe:

Ingredients for the crust:

  • 150 g of Digestive type biscuits;
  • 85 g of melted Vegan butter;
  • 70 g of agave syrup (of any other type of sweetener);
  • Just enough fresh fruit to garnish or fill the cream.

Ingredients for the cream:

  • 230 ml of vegetal milk;
  • 10 g of corn starch;
  • 20 g of agave syrup;
  • 5 g of organic liquid vanilla;
  • Some organic lemon peel.

Preparation for the crust:

  • Preheat the oven at 180°C;
  • Crumble Digestive biscuits and combine them with melted butter and agave syrup, until you have a consistent mixture;
  • Put the mixture in a baking pan of 20 cm diameter. Spread and flat it well, until you have a uniform mixture of 1 cm height;
  • Put the crust into the oven for about 8 minutes;
  • Leave the crust out from the oven and let it cold down.

Preparation for the cream:

  • Pour some milk in a small pot and add corn starch. Let it cook slowly and blend it occasionally;
  • Add some maple syrup, some vanilla essence, and lemon peel. Never stop blending the mixture;
  • Let the mixture boil on medium heat until it thickens;
  • Continue cooking the cream and never stop blending. The cream should be thicken;
  • Cover the cream with film and let it cold, then put in the fridge for around 2 hours;
  • Finally, fill the crust with the cream.

Now you can fill the pie with lots of fresh fruit and enjoy it with your friends!

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