2020 was a year never to forget. Not least because of all the surprising.recipes that were published. I collected my 15 personal favorites in this round-up "surprising.2020". For sure, everyone will find something interesting. From breakfast to dessert. And from flexitarian to vegan.
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Traditional whole wheat pancakes
These Traditional whole wheat pancakes are a beloved classic meal in any family. You can make them for breakfast or brunch. But they are also delicious as a fast lunch or evening meal. Here I finished them with bananas, date syrup and icing sugar.
Canary yellow lemon curd
Sorry supermarkets, but I won't buy any lemon curd anymore. This homemade 4 ingredient canary yellow lemon curd is way too tasty! You can have it as a spread for breakfast. But you can also use it in a cake or for dessert. Please also check out this fluffy lemon curd mousse I made a few years ago. It finally inspired me to make lemon curd myself.
Carrot jam with citrus
Another surprising.spread for your breakfast is this carrot jam with citrus. As I am working at home almost all year long in this pandemic year, I have some more time to invest in my breakfast. So I made not only lemon curd but also this Persian jam to bring some variation in my morning meal.
Paska - Slovak Easter bread
Easter was also different this year. We were just in the first lockdown and so procedures were different than other years. This year I made something special for breakfast and brunch at Easter. This Slovak Easter bread is an Eastern European specialty. Apart from the raisins I used also cranberries to give it a personal touch.
Cuban green plantain soup
We also have some surprising.soups for this unforgettable year 2020. With this Cuban green plantain soup you get the Caribbean in your kitchen. It is tasty, healthy and surprising! And something very special of course.
Creamy peach gazpacho
Everybody knows gazpacho as the famous Spanish cold soup for hot summer days. But this creamy peach gazpacho is very different, though still gazpacho. Topped with roasted almonds this is a delicious alternative for our traditional Spanish cold soup.
Green pea soup with mint
From a cold summer soup to a warm winter soup. This green pea soup with mint is vegetarian. But you can also add some bacon or sausages if you like. the mint gives a fresh summery taste to this typical winter soup.
Passionate asparagus
This is my absolute favorite for surprising.2020. A super easy and surprising combination of the "white gold of spring" and passion fruit. A very different way to make asparagus. Even my parents, who are not so adventurous in the kitchen, were really enthusiastic about this passionate asparagus!
White-orange mashed cauliflower gratin
My parents also love this white-orange mashed cauliflower gratin. You can have it as a side dish or as a light lunch. You can really add a lot of cheddar cheese to it to have this nice white-orange combination.
Eggplant con chili
Now it is time for some vegetarian variation on the famous chili con carne. Chili are the beans, carne is the meat. So this is an eggplant with chili beans but without meat. This all in a sauce of bell pepper and tomatoes. And some tortilla chips for the real Mexican touch of course!
Delicious cashew.chicken
In this delicious cashew.chicken the main role is reserved for golden brown baked cashew nuts. Super easy and with only a few ingredients. No surprise this dish is ready in less than 30 minutes! Of course, you can use the spices according to your personal taste: a bit more spicy or more European style.
Vegetarian banana peel curry
This is the most surprising.2020 recipe: a vegetarian banana peel curry. It is even suitable for a vegan diet. You are reading this well: this is a curry based on the peels of a banana. Something very special, but I made it a few times already for friends following a vegan diet. They all like it a lot!
Köttbullar with parsley potatoes
Back to Europe, Sweden more specifically. Without IKEA, we would probably not know about the existence of Köttbullar, Swedish meat balls. Many people go over there just to eat them, not to buy furniture. But of course they taste much better when you make them yourself! With parsley potatoes, mushrooms, cranberries and a cucumber you have a perfect Swedish dish.
Biscoff pumpkin pie
No surprising.2020 overview without a Belgian specialty. In this Biscoff pumpkin pie the famous Belgian cookies from Lotusbakeries are combined with pumpkins to create a delicious autumn pie. I love these cookies, and anything you make with them!
Highstreet strawberry cake
We finalize this roundup surprising.2020 with a hometown pie, made by my niece. Hoogstraten (Highstreet) is my hometown in Belgium and is famous for growing the best strawberries of the country (of course ;-)). As a child I used to work on strawberry farms in summer.
Of course, I published much more recipes this year. And I even started investing some energy in restyling older posts. Though I still have a real lot of work to do on that! But these are for several reasons my own favorites of pandemic 2020. That is why I collected them in this roundup surprising.2020. You will find much more inspiration on surprising.recipes. Or you can go through the archives, which contain meanwhile over 200 recipe ideas!
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
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