My favorite cold soup for warmer days

Although I adore Manresa’s strawberry gaspacho, a recipe I wrote down from their book when I was in California back in 2014, and which since then has been my top choice of cold soup for entertaining friends in the summer, this cold cucumber and avocado one is my favorite go-to on a daily basis. I love to play around with different green vegetables, herbs and citrus. For one generous serving, place half an avocado and half to three-quarters of a cup of very cold water in a blender, and add:

option I: 1 small cucumber, peeled + handful of coriander + juice of half a lime + salt and olive oil

option II: 1/2 small cucumber, peeled + 1/2 fennel bulb + handful of dill + juice of half a lemon + salt and olive oil

option III: 1 small cucumber, peeled + handful of spinach + handful of mint + juice of half a lemon + salt and olive oil

option IV: 1/2 small cucumber, peeled + 1/2 green pepper + handful of basil + juice of half a lemon + salt and olive oil

Blend all ingredients and serve cold, maybe with a couple of ice-cubes, a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of pepper and some scattered herbs.

An international summer and a trip to Japan - Act III.A

I finished spring truly exhausted. For a few days I couldn’t even be outside and face the sunshine: I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep the whole day. I managed to get away with this for a few weeks before duty called and the summer chaos begun. Retreats and holiday cheffing occupied most of my weeks, leaving me with very little time to rest. Plus, this time I didn't just travelled to the south of Portugal as usual, I had to pack my knives and fly to Switzerland for a magical forest bathing retreat organized by Saanenwald.

Saanenwald is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance human wellbeing through nature. Their programme has at its core the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, which consists of mindful walks in nature, engaging all the senses, that the team at Saanenwald also complements with meditation, yoga, and other plant-focused activities like foraging, essentials oils, herbal walks and landscape art. There is, of course, a component of plant-based food and cooking workshops, and that’s where I came in for one of the weeks.

They ran a 4-week experiment in 2019, solely for guests and press, but will open up to the general public next summer, so don’t forget to check them out for further details.

After this nature-filled week on the Swiss Alps, I headed back home and teamed up with the incredibly talented photographer, Filipe Lucas Frazão for the styling of a brand new UK based tableware company called Atlantica Table. It was two days of pure flow which truly fulfilled the strong desire I have to express my creativity through food aesthetics. This work was especially important to me because it was the first one I did in my own creative space: In the Mood for Food Studio.

A few days afterwards, it was time to hop on a plane again, this time to Biarritz, France, for the long-awaited Surf and Yoga trip: Women, wine and waves organised by Santosha Society.

Last but not the least, and maybe even the most expected thing of the last few years, it was time to head to Japan. I had envisioned this trip back while I was still living in Scotland: to spend my 40th birthday in Japan and hopefully watch a Rugby World Cup match, just like I did in the UK. I didn’t manage to do the latter but there’s a long post coming with insights and best of’s from this dream-come-true trip.

This year's wild blackberries recipe

I love the end of summer. I don't love that the summer is ending but I wished that the end of summer time would last forever. Just as I wished that mornings would last the whole day. Weird metaphysical wishes, I know.

Anyway, blackberries are everywhere and this year in particular I've been finding the biggest and juiciest ones. They're great on their own or with some other summer fruits like peaches and raspberries, which is normally what I have for breakfast, sprinkled with flax meal or drizzled with this.

Today I chose something more substancial and had them folded in a Dutch baby pancake. Hmmm pancake, yum... but what exactly is a Dutch baby pancake?, you might ask. First of all it has nothing to do with the Dutch or their little Poffertjes. According to Wikipedia, although German inspired this kind of pancake was baptised as Dutch baby pancake in a restaurant in Seattle, Washington (deutsch, dutch, honest mistake, I'm from Europe and had this confrontation in my mind at least once or twice). I had an English grandmother so I grew up eating Yorkshire pudding and to me a Dutch baby pancake is like a sweet version of a Yorkshire pudding baked in a cast iron skillet. To put it simply: it's a puffed crepe. 

For the recipe, I turned to one of my favourite books of all time, Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life and made a few adaptations to her Dutch baby pancake recipe, switching all-purpose flour to a blend of rice flour and tapioca starch, using coconut oil instead of butter (next time I'll try it with ghee!) and replacing half-and-half for almond milk, and thus turning the recipe gluten and lactose free. Nothing against the original ingredients, so please feel free to use them in the same quantities stated in the recipe if you prefer.

Dutch baby pancake with sautéed wild blackberries

For the pancake:
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 eggs, organic preferably
3 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1/4 cup almond milk
Pinch of salt

For the blackberries:
1/2 tsp coconut oil
1/4 cup blackberries
1 tsp maple syrup
1 squeeze of lemon juice

To serve (optional):
a sprinkle of dessicated coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Put the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet and place it in the oven to melt. In a hand-blender beaker put the eggs, flour, starch, milk and salt. Blend well and pour into the warmed skillet. Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. The mixture will rise and puff, mostly in the edges. In the meantime, heat the coconut oil in a small pan. Add the blackberries, maple and lemon juice and sautée for a few minutes until warm. When the pancake is ready remove it from the oven and pour the sautéed fruit on top of it. Sprinkle with the coconut flakes and serve immediatly.

Makes 1