Autumn Frekkeh – a mixture of sweet and salty

Hey there!

 

After a super busy weekend with no time for cooking whatsoever I was super motivated and eager to finally create a new recipe today on this sunny November day. The key ingredient, which happens to be frekkeh, had already been sitting in our pantry for a while and I finally wanted to have a go at preparing it. I still had to go on a small shopping tour at the supermarket since we didn’t quite have all the ingredients I had in mind for today’s dinner. Yet since doing food shopping has become one of my favourite things over the past months I didn’t really mind catching a train later to get some of the lovely ingredients for today’s yummy dinner. Well I am a foodie so who cares about thirty minutes more or less at home when you are getting a lovely dinner in return?

 

I have only recently been introduced to frekkeh, which is mainly used in the North African cuisine. Though I am a lover of anything African when it comes to food I was feeling like some typical Swiss autumn flavours. Therefor I decided to make an autumn inspired frekkeh vegetable dish. I think I have told you about the famous venison plates of the Swiss autumn cuisine before in my vegetarian autumn plate recipe. Though for all you new readers out there I might quickly retell the typical ingredients of a so-called venison plate. Usually there is some kind of venison, obviously, which is accompanied by Spätzle and lots of fresh autumn produce. Those are typically red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, chestnuts, baked apples or pears, cranberry sauce, grapes and sometimes also mushrooms. The ingredients actually vary from restaurant to restaurant. In my go-to traditional Swiss restaurant they even vary the ingredients within their own kitchen so you never know what accompaniments you’ll be eating that time.

 

The ingredients I chose for today’s dinner ended up being; Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, dried cranberries, apple, chestnuts and some grapes. In combination with the frekkeh and the red wine vinegar I added while cooking the vegetables this came out as being a truly delightful combination. You just can’t do any wrong with some lovely seasonal produce and together with the slightly nutty flavour of the frekkeh it just came together beautifully.

I am quite stunned about how well the frekkeh, which is known for African cuisine, incorporated in this rather Swiss dish. In addition to an amazing taste does this dish also have a rather quick and easy way of preparation, which made it even more enjoyable to eat.

You’ll see yourself, it won’t take long to prepare such delightful food, and here you’ve got the recipe.

 

 

 

 

• 200g frekkeh
• 200g frozen chestnuts
• 500g mushrooms
• 60g dried cranberries
• 200g grapes
• 1 big apple
• 1 big onion
• 400g Brussels sprouts
• 2tbs of red wine vinegar
• canola oil
• salt
• pepper
• water

 

1. Quarter your mushrooms and your Brussels sprouts.
2. Cook your frekkeh according to packaging direction this will probably take about thirty minutes
3. Meanwhile finely chop up the onion and cut your apple into small cubes .
4. Heat up some canola oil in a frying pan then add your mushroom quarters, apple cubes and the chopped onion. Fry on high heat until your mushrooms and onion have browned and your apple has softened.
5. When your mushrooms, apple and onion mixture is ready. Lower the heat and add 2 tbs of red wine vinegar, about 4 tbs of water and your frozen chestnuts. Salt and pepper to taste and cover it with a lid for about fifteen minutes, which will probably be over by the time your frekkeh is ready.
6. Now you can boil your Brussels sprouts, which will also take about 10 to fifteen minutes.
7. While the rest of the ingredients are getting ready by itself slice the grapes in half and put them aside for later.
8. When your frekkeh and Brussels sprouts are ready add both tot he vegetable mixture and cook uncovered for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
9. Now add your dried cranberries as well as your grape halves and serve.

Voila, done’s your dinner. We just ate this as is and didn’t add any further side dish you could however have a small salad accompanying this already amazing delight if you wish so. Though I think this will be plenty for a family of four and if you feel super hungry just use a little more frekkeh and you’ll be fine and well fed after having this mouth-watering food experience. If you are like me and love your autumn produce this is the absolute perfect dinner for you and you should most definitely try it out. Actually if you happen to be American and you are celebrating thanksgiving this week, this would even be a perfect addition to your thanksgiving dinner especially if you happen to serve a vegetarian crowd. Whether you’re an autumn produce lover, a celebrator of thanksgiving or eager to try something new, believe me this tastes amazing and if I were you I definitely didn’t want to miss out on the experience of enjoying such deliciousness.

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie