A simple, delicious and healthy spring dish with green asparagus and fresh homemade tomato almond pesto, which is perfect to serve with pasta, eggs, seafood, steak, and chicken and it’s ready to enjoy in 20 minutes or less if you have some quality store-bought pesto ready. It's naturally gluten-free, dairy-free and keto-friendly.

600 g Cherry tomatoes 30 g Almonds, roasted 1 Garlic clove, minced 4 tbsp Olive oil 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar 1 tsp Paprika A large pinch of cayenne pepper Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 750 g Green asparagus, trimmed

1. Preheat oven to 220C/425F. Roast tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, turning once, until blistered and lightly charred, 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Finely chop almonds in a food processor. Add garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, red wine vinegar, paprika, cayenne, and half of roasted tomatoes. Pulse to a coarse pesto consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Place the asparagus into a mixing bowl, and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to coat the spears, then sprinkle with garlic, salt, and pepper. Arrange the asparagus onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in the 220C/425F hot oven until just tender, 12-15 minutes depending on thickness.
3. Toss the roasted asparagus with the prepared pesto. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Add the remaining tomatoes and transfer to a platter. You can also arrange the roasted asparagus and remaining tomatoes on a platter and spoon the pesto over. Garnish with some fresh herbs of your choice.

bubbly active blueberry wild yeast

A simple artisan bread prepared with wild yeast water that's cultivated with 150 grams of fresh organic blueberries and 500 ml filtered tap water. Mix them in a plastic or glass container and let sit 5-6 days until bubbly and active before using. You don't have yeast water yet? Here you can find out how easy it is to grow and use the wild yeast. A preferment was then mixed and perfemented using a portion of active wild yeast water and flour 12-18 hours in advance of mixing the final dough. Using a preferment in bread is to delay the fermentation, so the yeast and natural enzymes present in flour have time to take action on the starches and proteins in the dough, resulting in a more complex, flavourful bread.
The preferment can be of a stiff texture, it can be quite loose in texture, or it can simply be a piece of mixed bread dough. Some preferments contain salt, others do not. In general, 1/4 to 1/2 of a bread recipe's total flour will be used to create a preferment. The amount of liquid depends entirely on what kind of preferment you are going to use. High hydration poolish (usually 100% hydration), low hydration biga (usually 60% hydration) and pâte fermentée, aka chef, or old dough (the same hydration level of its final dough) are the three “mother preferments”.

A fun bread recipe for a hearty, healthy and sensationally aromatic, crispy and rustic rye mixed bread made from wholemeal rye and wheat flour. A cultivated wild yeast starter is used as a leavening agent, which ensures a fine flavour, aroma, long freshness and at the same time a good oven spring. Barley malt extract not only contributes to the flavour but also encourages a browner crust and a glossy sheen. If you don't have barley malt extract, then a good substitute will be sugar beet syrup, honey or molasses. All in all, a very tasty, wholesome bread that goes well with hearty dishes or toppings. Or simply enjoy it with a generous smear of butter - you absolutely have to try it.

Rye Mixed Bread with Wild Yeast Starter

inspired and adapted from here and here

Wild Yeast Starter	Dough
50 g Dates from cultivating wild yeast water 200 g Wild yeast water 150 g Plain flour	Wild yeast starter 70 g Buttermilk 15 g Barley malt extract 220 g Plain flour 130 g Wholemeal rye flour 50 g Active wild yeast water 8 g Salt

1. Puree the fruit with the yeast water. Mix in the flour and leave to rise at room temperature for 12-14 hours.
2. Add the wild yeast starter, buttermilk and all the flour to the bowl of your mixer and knead on the lowest speed for 3 minutes. Add the yeast water a little at a time as the dough absorbs the liquid. Increase the speed to medium and knead for a further 8-10 minutes. After 5 minutes, knead in the salt.
3. Grease a large bowl with some olive oil and place in the dough. Stretch and fold once on all sides. Leave to ferment at room temperature for 5-6 hours, folding again after 1 and 2 hours if possible.
4. Shape the dough into a baton and place in an oblong floured proofing basket with the end facing upwards. Cover and leave to rise for another 3-4 hours at room temperature.

   how to shape a baton
5. Preheat the oven to 250C/480F. Place a baking stone in the lower half of the oven. If you don't have a baking stone, a baking tray works too. At the bottom of your oven, place a baking tray for water to create the steam.
6. Dust a parchment paper with flour. Turn the dough out onto the floured parchment paper. Transfer to the hot baking stone. Pour 1 cup of water into the baking tray at the bottom of your oven. Close the oven door immediately.
7. After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 200C/400F and open the oven briefly so that the steam can escape. Bake for another 30-35 minutes until bread is golden brown and crisp. Remove and cool the bread on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

This is a really simple salad that calls for just a few everyday ingredients: sweet beefsteak tomatoes, salty black olives, rich buttery pine nuts, chives and blossoms. They combines together to make a lovely summer salad with a healthy drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Plus, the recipe comes together in 5 minutes. Serve it as a side or add grilled fish, roasted chicken, or boiled chickpea to make it a meal.

If you are trying to avoid empty-calorie bread made with plain flour and looking for a healthy alternative that's easy to make and doesn't taste like cardboard, this bread will fit the bill perfectly. Enriched with the eathy, nutty taste of roasted hazelnuts, this easy, perfectly dense mixed loaf bread packs with nutrients and offers so much flavour well beyond what a basic wheat bread can achieve. The combination of spelt and rye gives the bread a pleasant tang with earthy flavour and hearty taste. The milk and butter add just the right amount of fat to make this wholesome, no-nonsense bread pairs exceptionally well with all sorts of cheeses, cured meats, and preserves.

Hazelnut Bread with Rye and Spelt

adapted from essen und trinken

220 ml Milk, at room-temperature 150 ml Water, at room-temperature 1 tbsp Coconut sugar 25 g Fresh yeast, crumbled 150 g Hazelnuts, roasted and roughly chopped 250 g Wholegrain rye flour 350 g White spelt flour (German #630) 10 g Kala namak (aka Himalayan black salt) 80 g Butter, softened 1 Large egg, at room-temperature

1. Combine the milk and water in the bowl of your mixer. Add in coconut sugar and crumble the fresh yeast into the mixture. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. Once the yeast is foamy and activated, stir it with a spoon until the yeast and sugar are completely dissolved.
2. Heat the oven to 180C/350F. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Wrap roasted hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and let steam for a minute. Rub nuts in towel to remove the brown skins. Roughly chop the hazelnuts.
3. Add the flours, hazelnuts, salt, butter and egg to the yeast milk mixture in the mixing bowl. Knead all the ingredients until you have a smooth dough.
4. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place for about 1 hour until double in size.
5. Line a 28-30 cm x 10 cm loaf pan with a parchment paper.
6. Gently flatten the dough and roll out to a 28x25 cm rectangle. Starting from the long side roll the dough into a log and place, with the seam side down, into the prepared loaf pan. Lightly dust the surface with flour and proof for 45-60 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Bake the bread in the middle of hot oven for 50-60 minutes. Remove the bread and turn out onto a wire rack to cool complately. Slice and serve.

Homemade Creme Fraîche

The silky creme fraîche, a richer, thicker and sweeter French version of sour cream, not only adds a right amount of delicate tang but the added moisture, richness, and acidity gives you an ultra-flavourful, moist and tender cake that’s just irresistible. We enjoy the cake simply dusted with powdered sugar and some extra berries, but it’s as equally as delicious topped with a yummy glaze.

Creme Fraîche made with Buttermilk	Cake Batter, adapted from here
250 g 30-32% Heavy cream 2 tbsp Buttermilch	360 g Plain flour A large pinch of fine sea salt 1/3 tsp Baking soda (or up to 1 tsp if you prefer the cake airier and softer) 225 g Unsalted butter, softened 300 g Sugar (or up to 600 g if you have a sweet tooth) 6 Large eggs, separated, at room temperature 2 tsp Vanilla extract 230 g Creme fraîche (homemade or store-bought), at room temperature 125 g Fresh blackberries 125 g Fresh raspberries

1. Mix the cream with the buttermilk in a bowl and cover with a cheesecloth or kitchen paper with a piece of string or rubber band. Leave at room temperature for approx. 12-24 hours until the mixture has reached a thick consistency. Then chill for 6 hours before using for the recipe.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Thoroughly butter and flour a 10-inch / 28cm bundt cake pan. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, whisk together and set aside. Use 1 tablespoon of flour mixture to coat the berries.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in the vanilla extract.
4. With the mixer set on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture. Beat in the crème fraîche, then the remaining flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
5. In another bowl and with a clean beater, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Fold in flour-coated berries.
6. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the cake is browned on top and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.