Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

I have been telling friends about onion weed these days, everybody seems surprised (and happy) that you can eat it, especially those who gave up growing spring onions because they seem to take so long for what you get. And onion weed is free and plentiful! I kept telling everyone to use it as a spring onion without realizing that most people here use spring onions just chopped in salad, and that'a about all! So now for more suggestions for onion weed, and spring onion! After reading about the creamy onion weed pasta sauce ( here ) you may like check this  old post  as well for more images of the plant and its uses, and in the photos above there are some more things I have been cooking this week. On the top left my  nabe  (pot) with simmering  Yudofu , one of my favourite tofu meals for chilly evenings: In a capable pot I put water with some dried kombu (about a large sheet broken into 3-4 pieces), and a few dried shitake mushrooms to simmer, a...

Since chickpea flour can be mixed with just water and it will still bind like eggs do it is perfect for vegan recipes. For my Vegan fritters I used another overlooked green from my garden: carrot leaves. I always end up planting carrots to close, and fail to thin them when I should (I just don't have the heart to do it...) so I had to pick up a few little ones to let their sisters grow in peace. Baby carrots are great anyway, but what a waste throwing out all those pretty leaves! Then I read on the blog  Galline 2nd Life  (a blog that I enjoy a lot!) a recipe for a  frittata with carrot leaves . Carrot leaf fritters  I washed and roughly chopped the carrot leaves, made a batter with chickpea flour, water, salt and pepper, added a chopped red onion, and fried my fritters. In the end I topped them with some smoked paprika and a few sesame seeds. Good hot or cold. Natural face mask and exfoliant I discovered that chickpea flour can be ...

Chickpea flour, also called gram flour, or besan, or garbanzo flour, is a wonderful product. It is gluten free, high in protein, iron and vitamins, and perfect for vegetarians. I payed $3.50 for a kg bag in the Indian store, and 1 kg goes a long way. My main reason for buying it was to make fritters, like onion bhaji,  while the only Italian dish based on chickpea flour I am familiar with is  Farinata , a kind of savoury pancake, so my repertoire was a little limited. Then the other day I was making some spicy marinated tofu, and I always have leftover marinade when I do this, so I thought of 'scooping it up' with a few veggies and the chickpea flour as a binder. Broccolini flower fritters I started with plain yogurt to which I added a little squeeze of garlic, some freshly grated ginger, a little lemon juice, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander... (well, use whatever takes you fancy really). Then I added a chopped red onion a...