Vegan MoFo #5: Antipasti Zucchini and Eggplant/Aubergine Rolls

Hi everyone!

The sun finally had some mercy on those of us who were shivering from cold winds and august-unlike temperatures the last weeks – it has come back to give us nice warm end-summer days and probably the last precious injections of Vitamin D.
Even more precious for us veganistas because this little but so freakin’ important fella – Mr. Vitamin D3 – occurs in a natural way only in small (unfortunately too small) portions in avocado and button mushrooms…while omnivores are able to consume it in larger amounts by eating fish – which is for us out of various reasons of cruelty against animals and nature, not an option!

So get out there and enjoy a large piece of this mood brightening star under the provitamines! – but be sure to protect your skin, too 😉 !

So unfortunately the season of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and all those other various sweet, light summer-berries is almost over in this region. Thus my daily smoothie had to give way to more rich vegetable and fruit juices, provided by this season – almost every evening I throw together some first apples and oranges, last apricots, peaches and nectarines combined with carrots, beetroots and other vegetables my juicer can handle and enjoy one of my daily portions of raw fresh fruit and vegetables in this delicous refreshing way 🙂 !

But for today’s recipe I have planned something different…I thought while it’s getting warmer once again, a little Antipasti-Recipe that can be enjoyed hot or cold would be a nice inspiration for you guys! And also I promised my beloved sister Judith that I’d share this – easy to prepare and variable – recipe this summer…so it’s my last chance to keep that promise 😉

Zucchini and Eggplant/Aubergine Antipasti Rolls Recipe

Ingredients (for one portion)

1/2 zucchini (cut lengthwise from the whole zucchini)
1/2 eggplant/aubergine (also cut lenghwise from the whole eggplant/aubergine)
sea-salt to dehydrate them

for the filling and gravy

(but it is really up to you what you use here – try different variations of nuts, seeds, herbs, vegetables ect.)

1 big tomatoe, minced (like coer du boef)
1 oyster mushroom, minced (but you can experiment and improvise on this, too!)
2-4 tbsp ground or minced cashew-nuts
6 olives, minced (I had some marinated with herbs and a garlic knob in the middle on hand)
(when your olives are without garlic, add an additional garlic knob to the filling and later on one to the gravy)
1 oninon, minced
a handfull fresh basil, minced
salt & pepper
agave syrup to taste (I used like 2 teaspoons)
3 tbsp red balsamico vinegar
6-8 tbsp good native olive oil (please check if yours is safe to be heated)
ca 1 + 2-3 tbsp/300ml tomatoe passata

Preparation

1. Cut the zucchini and the eggplant/aubergine lenghtwise into very thin slices. Place them on a paper towel and salt them generously with the sea-salt. While you let them dehydrate through the salt (for ca 10min) you have time to go on with the next step.

2. Combine half of the onion, (one minced knob garlic if you don’t have garlic olives) and all other minced ingredients like the tomatoe, oyster mushroom, nuts, olives and the basil with 5-6 tbsp of the olive oil. Add 2 tbs of the red balsamico vinegar and mix everything together. Salt and pepper to taste and add also a bit (like 1/2 teaspoon) of the agave syrup, mix again and set aside for 10minutes to allow the ingredients to soak in the dressing a little.

3. Prepare an oven-proof dish like a casserole: sprinkle in like 1 tbsp olive oil and 3-4 tbsp of the tomatoe passata, just to cover the bootom of it.
With another paper towel dab away the exposed water from the eggplant/aubergine and zucchini. Take them one by one, placing them lenghtwise in front of you and spoon a little of the filling on the bottom of a piece. Carefully roll it up from the bottom to the top, slowly rolling in the filling by gently pressing it forward inside of the roll. Place it – edge down – in the casserole. Do this with all of the zucchini and eggplant/aubergine pieces.

4. Add the remaining olive oil (1-2 tbsp), vinegar (1 tbsp), agave syrup (1,5 teaspoons), one knob garlic, the other half of the onion and the remaining tomatoe passata to the left-overs of the filling. Mix and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour everything over the prepared Antipasti-Rolls and shake the casserole a bit to allow the gravy to soak into the rolls.

5. Put the closed casserole in the oven at ca 175-180°C for about 35-40min. As I have a gas oven I never have to prehat it or something – if you have another oven type you might have to adjust the time accordingly.

6. Serve immeditealy (for example with some potatoes) if you want a nice piping hot dinner. Or let it cool and take it to a lunch, picnic or gardenparty. It’s also really great with some ciabatta and salad for a light meal.

 

Bon appètit!

 

At last I want to write shortly about something off-topic, that is really bothering me these past days here in Berlin: About the struggle of refugees here, which isn’t getting enough attention! Over the last years there have been many protests of refugees and people who are supporting and want to fight with them in their struggle for the basics of human rights – here in Berlin, and all over Germany. With it’s asylum laws and it’s past and current practices, Germany does not only deny refugees basic human rights, like free-movement – it has also established a racist and discriminating system and handling on basis of those laws. And those refugees who protest against the undeserving circumstances under which they have to live here, or against the other discriminations through the asylum laws and their executive forces, are treated with even more force of harassment and discrimination.

This is how a country – that wants to be a democratic, human rights observing state – treats the ones who are in need the most. It makes me very sad everyday. And also everyday I recognize that the ongoing fights and protests of the refugees don’t get the deserved medial attention – the opposite is the case: the offical media channels play it down!

So here it is: One of the various protest places here in Berlin is the Guertelstraße – where 5-6 refugees are squatting the rooftop of a former hostel, that has been used as a ‘lager’ (thats a kind of mass accommodation for refugees who have not yet been guaranted asylum – note: the housing in this ‘lagers’ is undignified, they are often overcrowded, there are too less sanitary facilities, the people are being isolated from a life in the community, they are not allowed to leave the district their assigned ‘lager’ is in – and also very often the other resitents of the area go on with discriminating and harrassing the resitents of the ‘lagers’). These people on the rooftop of Guertelstraße, fled up there from beeing deported – they were promised by the Berlin Senate to get a benevolent handling of their application for asylum, which was denied soon after that promise was given.
This was more than a week ago and when the deportation busses came these guys fled on the roof to protest against all this. Since then the police shut down the whole area around the hostel – neither allowing anyone to bring food or water or needed medicine to the protesting guys on the rooftop, nor allowing the other protesters and supporters to be in their sight or near enough to communicate with them. They protest against §23 of the German Asylum Laws and have some other demands respectively the Human Rights violating treatment they are undergoing. This situation is ongoing and while it is widely ignored by the responsible regional politicans – they won’t speak to the refugees, they won’t hear their demands…  – some of the refugees are so desperate that they want to jump off the rooftop if the police tried to get them down, without any changes on their and other refugees’ lifes situations. For up-to-date information check their twitter-account and wordpress-blog.

Please support the refugee fights in your community! If you are from Berlin or are otherwise interested in more information about the situation I described check out the links I embedded.

SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT CLEAR: REFUGEES ARE WELCOME HERE!

WE ARE HERE, AND WE WILL FIGHT: FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IS EVERYBODYS RIGHT!

 

(translation by me: NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL! — Support the fighting refugees on the rooftop of Guertelstr. 39!)

click on the picture to read some statements of the refugees (in English)

 

Thank you, if you lasted to the end, dear reader! Have a wonderful day!