Vvery quick, these vegetable creams. Fresh ingredients, balanced flavors and healthy lightness are the basis of the recipes Light dishes (The Silver Spoon). Inside, also colorful first courses and second courses of meat and fish (such as the “Mackerel tartare with chives and yogurt”). The brilliant idea? Cook well and light. Everyday.
Romanesco broccoli cream soup
INGREDIENTS FOR 4:
1 kg Romanesco broccoli
4 tablespoons shelled and peeled hazelnuts
extra virgin olive oil, salt.
Procedure
Wash the broccoli, cut it in half, remove the leathery part and divide it into florets. Cook them in boiling salted water for about 15 minutesdepending on their size, then drain them, keeping a little of the cooking water. Coarsely chop the hazelnuts and toast them for 2-3 minutes in a non-stick pan.
Romanesco broccoli cream soup. Recipe from the Il Cucchiaio d’Argento Archive taken from “Piatti Light” (photo by Giulia De Ramundo).
Set aside 4-5 broccoli florets and blend the remaining ones with an immersion blender together with 4 tablespoons of oil and a little cooking water, dosing it according to the density you wish to obtain. Blend until you obtain a smooth, velvety cream and distribute it on the plates. Complete with a drizzle of raw oil, a spoonful of toasted hazelnuts, the broccoli florets kept aside and served.
“Light Plates” (The Silver Spoon).
Carrot and fennel cream
INGREDIENTS FOR 4:
6 carrots
3 fennels
1 shallot
1 liter of vegetable broth
fennel
mixed seeds to taste (sesame, poppy, sunflower, flax or pumpkin)
extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.
Carrot and fennel cream. Recipe from the Il Cucchiaio d’Argento Archive taken from “Piatti Light” (photo by Giulia De Ramundo).
Procedure
Peel and wash the fennel, remove the tough outer leaves, then cut them into thin slices. Peel the carrots with a potato peeler, wash them and cut them into chunks. Chop the shallot and sauté it in a saucepan with a little oil. When it has become transparent, add the vegetables and let them flavor for a few minutes.
Cover with the hot vegetable broth, season with salt and pepper and cook until the carrots and fennel have become sufficiently soft. Using an immersion blender, reduce everything to a smooth cream. Transfer it to serving plates, complete with a drizzle of oil, a sprinkling of mixed seeds, to taste, and a few sprigs of chopped fennel.