Back to stay this time?

Dear cyberspace!

A year ago I wrote a post stating how bad we'd been about sharing our vegan experiences with you here on the blog. Well, we didn't get any better did we. So I thought it is time to give it another try, shape up, and get blogging!

I do have some wonderful news though! Now, three years (that's a crazy long time, gosh!) after we started our vegan project and vegan challenge, it is finally time! For what you may ask. Well a new vegan challenge of course! Starting in October, we're having another vegan month! This means four weeks of wonderfully vegan food and hopefully som more activity here on the blog! So far we're three that are in on it, my brother, my dear friend Elin, who helped us so much with our book, and me. I know that we're not that many, and I know there aren't that many people out there reading the blog. But if you do, if someone does, join us in our challenge! It's an eye-opener, that I promise.

Anyhow, the last couple of days, I've been doing some great vegan cooking. Everything from pasta with zucchini cream, apples and sage to lime and ginger noodles with fried tofu. Yesterday though, was the best in a long time! Creamy borlotti beans, brussels sprouts with almonds and best of all, fried chanterelles with garlic! So humble flavors, it was to die for (and very simple to make!)! I must confess though, we happened to find some really nice parmesan in our fridge, and well, lets just say you can't waste good parmesan. But apart from that, it was completely vegan and delicious! And I'm going to share the recipe for the borlotti beans with you. It's based on a recipe from one of my all-time favorite recipe-writers, Jamie Oliver, although a bit altered. Enjoy!

Creamy, humble borlotti beans (with Brussels sprouts and fried chanterelles)

500 g cooked borlotti beans (2 cans)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 stalk of celery
1 plum tomato
1 potato
Salt & pepper
A few springs of thyme and rosemary
A couple of sage leaves
3 bay leaves
Oil for frying
Water to cover it all
A splash of lemon juice

Heat a deep frying pan to medium heat with a splash of oil in it. Chop the onion finely, as well as the garlic. Fry gently until quite soft. Chop the celery in a few pieces, do the same to the potato, Cut the tomato in about three pieces. Pop all of the above in the pan with the onion, together with the herbs and some salt and pepper. Cover everything with water, bring to a boil and let simmer covered on low heat for about 40 minutes, until both beans and potatoes are soft.

Take the herbs and celery out of the pan and discard. Fish out the tomato and potato pieces and put on a plate. Take the skin of the tomato and mash it together with the potatoes on the plate. Add this back in with the beans, raise the heat, and let boil until everything is thick and creamy. Make sure to stir it quite often. Taste for salt and pepper, add the lemon juice.

To make the Brussels sprouts, simple boil them for five minutes in salts water. Take them out and rinse in cold water. Add to a pan of fried onions and fry gently for a couple of minutes. Season with salt, pepper and perhaps som balsamic vinegar. Top of with roasted almonds

Enjoy the beans together with chanterelles fried with garlic in some olive oil, the Brussels sprouts and a slice of nice sourdough bread.