I've had the wildest craving for noodles lately. We have both been making ramen soup and also a tofu noodle recipe from our next book. And last week I had an aubergine left from another job and made this quick dish for lunch. While the aubergine was frying and the noodles were cooking, I had just enough time to stir together the dressing.

The dressing makes the dish, it has a good amount of ginger to give it a fresh punch – and sesame oil, miso and tamari to make it umami rich. It's an excellent quick lunch or dinner with the soft and flavorful aubergine, crunchy broccoli, earthy buckwheat noodles and chili for heat.

I posted a photo on instagram and had 394 comments from people who wanted the recipe. So, here it is. I thought it could be fun to do this as a Lunch Therapy cookalong this Wednesday. So if you follow me on instagram (

@gkstories

) I'll share more info there.

Hope you like it. Tag me in a photo if you make it. Or make it together with me for

Lunch Therapy

.

Notes: This is a vegan dish but feel free to crumble feta cheese on top.
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. 
2. Peel the roots and cut into chunks.
3. Place on a baking tray, covered with baking paper. Drizzle with olive oil, cinnamon and salt and toss to mix.
4. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until soft, golden and the edges are slightly crispy.
5. During the last couple of minutes add the pecan nuts to roast along the roots. 
6. Meanwhile, place millet, water, stock and saffron in a pot and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 8 minutes. Turn it off, place a lid on and let sit for about 10 minutes. Place the cooked millet on a serving platter and let cool slightly.
7. Remove the tray from the oven and let cool slightly.
8. Stir together the dressing ingredients and pour over the roasted roots.
9. Cut the pink Castel Franco lettuce in half and gently fold into the millet.
8. Add the roasted roots and nuts.
9. Scatter with the chopped dill and mint and finally the pomegranate seeds. Serve!

Notes: We have included Aran's original recipe here, but we made it vegan by swapping the eggs for 6 tbsp aquafaba (that we whipped before adding int he sugar). And coconut oil instead of butter.  We also used a little less sugar (3/4 cup). 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Crush the fennel seeds to a powder in a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder.
2. Fill a medium saucepan one-quarter full with water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. In a large heatproof bowl, combine the fennel, 7 ounces (200 g) of the chocolate, butter, and almond butter, and place over the simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is nearly all melted, then remove from the heat. The residual heat will continue melting the chocolate.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla and beat on high speed until the eggs are pale and very thick, about 5 min-utes. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat on medium speed until thick, about 1 minute.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the buckwheat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold this into the batter using a spatula. Scoop 1½-tablespoon mounds of dough onto each baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between. Lightly press small pieces of the remaining 1 ounce (25 g) chocolate into the top of each cookie.
5. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are crispy but the centers are soft. Be careful not to overbake. They might look a little underdone, but they will set while cooling. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes, or until you are able to pick the cookies up without them falling apart. They will keep for 3 days in an airtight container.

©2021 by Aran Goyoaga. Excerpted from Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple: A New Way to Bake Gluten-Free by permission of Sasquatch Books.

Extracted from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi (Ebury Press, £25)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F fan. Poke the sweet potatoes all over with a fork (about 8–10 times) and place them on a medium, parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until cooked through and softened. Set aside to cool and turn the oven temperature down to 180°C fan/375°F.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together the onion, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and set aside to pickle.
3. Remove the cooked potato skins and tear them into roughly 4 cm pieces. Transfer the potato flesh to a large bowl and set aside. Place the skins back on the baking tray and toss with 1 tablespoon of oil, 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Bake for 8 minutes, or until nicely coloured and starting to crisp up. Set aside to cool and crisp up further.
4. Use a fork to mash the potato flesh until smooth, then add the cheddar, garlic, cumin, another tablespoon of oil, the remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper, and mix to combine.
5. Put the remaining tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan, for which you have a lid, and swirl around to coat the bottom. Spoon the mashed potato mixture into the pan, using your spoon to distribute it evenly. Place on a medium-high heat and leave to cook for about 7 minutes, for the bottom to start to colour. Turn the heat down to medium and use a spoon to make eight wells in the potato mixture, breaking an egg into each. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, cover with the lid and cook for 4–5 minutes, rotating the pan, or until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny.
6. While the eggs are cooking, put the butter and sriracha into a small saucepan on a medium heat and cook until the butter has melted, whisking constantly to emulsify. Remove the mixture from the heat before it starts to bubble – you don’t want it to split.
7. When ready, spoon the sriracha butter all over the eggs, then top with a good handful of the crispy potato skins, half the pickled onion and all the picked coriander leaves. Serve right away, with the rest of the potato skins and pickled onion to eat alongside..

Hi! We are back after the summer with a vegan take on Caesar Salad. Or, the focus here is actually more on the mushrooms and the salad is just one way to serve them. I (David) posted this recipe as a little Lunch Therapy cookalong on

my instagram

last week but thought I'd put it here as well to make it easier to return to, print or just cook in your own tempo.

We haven't been posting new recipes here for a while since we have just gone through with our big move to Denmark. Everything is still very new and pretty chaotic to be honest as we are trying to find our way in our new house. But the kids are doing well and have adapted quickly to their new schools, Luise is doing her midwife internship at a Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and I'm working on starting a Green Kitchen Studio here in Copenhagen. We'll share more about us and the move in another post once we are further settled in. Right now I just wanted all of you to try this recipe.

I kept seeing this cool way of searing mushrooms on several sources online. The technique is that you press them between two pans on medium high heat so they release liquids and get a really crunchy outer texture. And then add a marinade that they soak up and become packed with flavor. I think the technique is credited to

Derek Sarno

and the result is pretty remarkable and the texture reminded me almost of chicken (although don't take my word for it, I haven't eaten chicken in 25 years). Anyway, they get both crunchy and juicy flavorful at the same time. You can see how I do it in

this reels video

. We serve the mushrooms with an easy vegan caesar that we make by simply tossing romaine lettuce in a dead simple dressing with just vegan mayo, a splash of vinegar and capers instead of the traditional anchovies and warm chickpeas instead of croutons. It's a truly delicious meal. Promise. Let us know what you think if you try it!

1. Add oil to a large sauce pan on medium heat.
2. Peel and chop the onion finely, slice the celery thinly and peel and smash the garlic.
3. Add them to the pan and let simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, dice the zucchini semi-finely and add to the pan. Let soften and then add the spinach (not essential, mainly to make the soup a little greener) and white wine.
5. Bring to a boil to cook out the alcohol then add half of the vegetable stock and the cream.
6. Let simmer for 10 minutes, add the herbs and mix the soup smooth with a hand blender or in a stand blender. Add more of the stock until you have reached your desired thickness. If you like to keep a little texture you can scoop out some of the zucchini before mixing and then adding it back in.
7. Taste and season with lemon juice, salt, pepper and more herbs if needed.
8. Serve in wide bowls or glasses and top with quinoa, a drizzle of olive oil, a dollop of sour cream (optional), dill and finely chopped red onion.

I know you came here for the cake. But first there are few things we want to share. You see there is a lot happening in our lives at the moment. We have mentioned it on instagram but not here yet. So here goes. We are moving to Denmark! Luise has taken up a lifelong dream and started her studies to become a midwife. The midwifery school is in Copenhagen so we are all moving to a little house just outside the city. The question where we should live and which country we call home has always been a topic in our family – as I think it is in most dual-nationality relationships. And after having spent 12 years in Sweden, we are now ready for Denmark and are moving after the summer. We are stoked but also of course scared and humble for the whole situation and all the changes for us and the kids. They are thrilled to move to a house (with a trampoline!) and closer to their grandma but also have a hard time grasping the changes. 

We will continue working with Green Kitchen Stories, but Luise will of course also be focusing a lot on her studies.

We have got plenty of fun GKS things planned. We are working on a new set of tattoos, I'm continuing working on Green Kitchen Studios – our production company. And we are working on a new book planned for next Spring! We are not revealing the name yet, but we are very excited about it.

Last year we also launched our vegan supplement line together with

Puori

and we are continuing working with them, developing the products and looking into extending the range. The protein powder has been out of stock but it's back in warehouses now. To celebrate we have a 20% discount code that is available all through May. You can order through

this link

and use GKS_MAY21 to receive the discount. May favorite product is the B12 Berry Booster so if you haven't tried it yet, now is a good opportunity.

Moving on to the real topic of the day. The cake! It's a real treat. The recipe is based on a polenta cake in our Green Kitchen Travels book but we have tweaked it a bit to make it even more moist and turned it into an upside-down cake with beautiful lemon slices and lemon honey syrup. It is the perfect mashup of an Italian cheesecake and a soft crumb cake with a flavor and texture hint of polenta and poppy seeds. Magically it is very moist but not heavy. It is also naturally gluten free and only sweetened with honey for wonderful floral tones. We are using ricotta cheese which makes the cake taste even better after day in the fridge.

It's been a long time since we recorded any YouTube videos but to celebrate this cake and our moving plans, we did a little film for you.

Hey, hope all is well. We are out in our country house in the Stockholm Archipelago to enjoy Easter holiday but I wanted to post this recipe before citrus fruits are entirely out of season. I'll tell you more about the salad below, but first we wanted to share some links to things we like, projects we have participated in and new books we are looking forward to.

BIG LOVE APRIL

– When Covid hit Denmark, restaurant Noma had to temporary close but one silver lining is that the Noma crew instead opened up outdoor burger restaurant

Popl

and their

Vegetarian Burger

is made with fermented quinoa and it looks amazing. We can't wait to visit!

– Every recipe in Hetty McKinnon's new book

To Asia With Love

looks so good. Count me in for all the simple noodle dishes!

– Luise and I participated in the second episode of the

Coming Clean Project Podcast

 with Oliver Amdrup-Chamby from Puori and Jackie Bowen from Clean Label Project, where we talked about transitioning to a plant based diet and learned lots about toxins in food. Find it in your podcast player.

– Iconic chef

David Chang cooks salmon in his microwave

and the comment section goes bananas. Hilarious to read.

– For anyone interested in working in social media I can highly recommend subscribing to Rachel Karten's

newsletter "Link in Bio"

. She was previously head of social media at Bon Appétit Magazine and her interviews are stellar! She also lists social media job openings.

– Luise did an

interview

(in Danish) with To The Moon Honey about life as parents, starting midwife school and our

Puori supplements

.

– Heidi Swanson is one of the first food blogs we read and all her books are gorgeous with that signature California vibe. We have ordered her new book

Super Natural Simple

and can't wait until it arrives.

– Fun news! We are working on an entirely new edition of our

Vegetable Tattoos

together with illustrator Penelope Dullaghan and the sketches so far are looking ace! They will be available this summer.

– On final book that we want to recommend is Julia Turshen's new book

Simply Julia

. It is smart, creative, simple and has a very balanced take on health.

– If you are wondering what to cook over the Easter holiday here are a few tips:

Soups

: 

Asparagus & Spinach Soup

 or 

Carrot, Tomato & Coconut Soup
Salads

:

Grilled Asparagus and Creamy Lemon Quinoa

 or

Spring Celebration SaladPies

:

Perfect Picnic Pie

or

Beet & Greens Tart
Chocolate

:

Chocolate Tahini Cups

or this

Banana, Almond & Chocolate Cake

Moving on to this this salad. I cooked this as a

Lunch Therapy cookalong

on instagram the other day and it is as beautiful as it is simple. We have practically been living on citrus fruits this winter, both as snacks but also in lunch and dinner salads. If you haven't tried citrus salads, they taste amazing combined with bitter greens,

baked feta cheese

or – as in this recipe – with olive oil, creamy avocado, crunchy hazelnuts, sweet dates and some bread to soak up the leftover juices. Check out the links and enjoy the weekend!

1. Set a big pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.
2. Add pasta for two people.
3. Tear the kale of the stem and add it to the pasta water, along with the peas and a garlic clove.
4. You only want to soften the kale slightly, so after about a minute you can use a thong to pick it up. Scoop also up the garlic, about half of the peas and some of the pasta water.
5. Add the kale, garlic, peas and a little bit of the pasta water to a blender, along with basil, mint, lemon juice and good grating of parmesan (or nutritional yeast to keep it vegan). Mix smooth, taste and adjust the flavor, adding more salt, lemon, parmesan or pasta water if needed. You want it entirely smooth.
6. Break the florets off the broccoli and toss into the pasta water during the last few minutes of the pasta's cooking time.
7. Pour it all into a colander and then back into the pot.
8. Pour half of the green sauce into the pot and give it a stir until it's all creamy.
9. Grab two plates and divide the remaining sauce in the middle of  the plates. Use the backside of a spoons to create round puddles. Divide the pasta on top.
10. Chop the toasted hazelnuts and sprinkle the over the pasta, along with some fresh mint leaves.

Croissants feel like the ultimate breakfast luxury that we sometimes enjoy on weekends in between other favorites like chia puddings, yogurt bowls, rye bread sandwiches and banana pancakes. Buttery, flaky and crunchy. We have quite a few good bakery's nearby so we haven't made our own croissants in years. But if you want to add your own twist you can add a savory filling to them. Here we have used creamy eggs, tangy labneh and lots of greens, inspired by croissants we have had at cafes in Australia, Capetown, L.A. 
We use pre-bought croissants here which makes this recipe very simple, but if you are looking for a little more ambitious project you can of course make your own. It's also a perfect recipe to make if you end up with one or two day-old croissants.
I (David) am making these on my instagram stories today so check it out if you want a more step by step approach for these.

Dough

75 g butter, plus a little extra for greasing

250 ml / 1 cup milk or oat milk

85 g sugar, (about 100 ml /1/2 cup)

1 g ground saffron (2 sachets), or 0.5 g strands saffron

1 tbsp dry yeast

1 egg, whisked

1/2 tsp salt

450 g / 3 cups / 7-8 dl flour, plus a little extra for dusting

Filling

200 g almond paste (buy or

make your own

) 

Zest from 1 orange and juice from 1/2 (save the other half for the glaze)

75 g butter, room tempered

50 g / 100 ml / 1/3 cup raisins

Egg wash

Orange syrup 

1 tablespoon boiling water

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp orange juice

I know we are closing in on Christmas and you are probably here looking for smashed potatoes, brussel sprout recipes and holiday sweets. But to balance all the rich holiday food, we are going to keep posting our Lunch Therapy recipes on here. Although, we also have an epic Saffron Pull-Apart Recipe coming up within the next few days that you have to make over the holidays.

Lunch Therapy is a cookalong series that I (David) started on

my instagram

a few weeks ago for all of us who are working from home and need some lunch inspiration and a break from all things work and Covid related. The idea is that we can find a little bit of harmony in cooking an easy but impressive/sassy lunch together on Wednesdays. And then I'll post the recipes here on the blog too to make them more easily accessible. 

I made this Herby Yogurt Bowl with warm Harissa Chickpeas and a sweet and crunchy persimmon salad last Wednesday. You can see the

step-by-step cook along here

!  It's creamy and crunchy, warm and cold, spicy and fresh. Seriously, I can’t stress the deliciousness of this meal enough. I based it on

this old blog recipe

that some of you may recognize (but I think this new one is even better). I've also included a few reader photos from the cookalong so if you make this and tag me I'd love to include them in the slideshow beneath the recipe.