The cookbook author’s top green cuisine picks

Johanne Mosgaard is a cookbook author, recipe developer and content creator with thousands of followers. Her forthcoming fourth title translates as ‘Green Meals for Everyone’, and represents her approach to the recipes. And the same goes for kitchenware.

“Cooking great meals doesn’t require all kinds of kitchen appliances and cookware. Because there’s nice and need. And need is something like a great pan with a ceramic PFAS-free coating and an immersion blender.”

And then there are her personal favourites. Not need, strictly speaking. But still the equipment she’d be sorry to do without.

Food processor

“I chuck all the choppables in my food processor. For mincing, not blending. Because the great thing about a food processor is that it preserves the consistency of things like hummus or falafel dough. I also use it a lot for dates, as in date balls for snacking on and for my daughter’s packed lunch. And it’s a bit less hassle than using a manual grater. But your food processor is a multipurpose appliance. You can also use it for kneading dough.

If you don’t have the space for a food processor, you can go for a mini chopper.”

Power blender

“A power blender is pricey, but has that extra oomph so you avoid lumps and get that super creamy soup or smoothie. My blender has all these amazing settings. But for me, the main thing is the consistency, so a dressing made of nuts, say, can be made smooth and creamy as opposed to gritty.” 

Mini chopper

“My mini chopper is manual, and I use it for onions, mushrooms, and whatever needs chopping finely and easily without having to bring out a large appliance. Using the mini chopper is a bit like starting a string-pull lawn mower. I use it for things like veggie-bolo. For this, I chop the greens so finely that my daughter doesn’t twig just how many veggies are in the mix. She won’t eat mushrooms if I just pan-fry them, but by churning things in the mini chopper, I can sneak some extra vegetable fibre into the meal.”

Mandolin

“My mandolin slicer is totally simple with just a single function, and I use it to make those super thin slices of things like potato for pizza, or onion, courgette and carrot for a salad.”

Waffle iron

I use my waffle maker for savoury waffles like falafel waffles. For this, I add water to soften the falafel dough slightly. I serve the waffles with a tasty hummus topping and lots of green garnish. For sweet waffles, you can replace the sugar with a couple of (over)ripe bananas, if you happen to have a few languishing on the kitchen table.

Food mixer

I use my food mixer for kneading dough, for example. That extra love and attention just gets a yeast dough to bloom even more, for smooth bounce. I’m not as into baking, so I mostly use the food mixer for pizza bases or sour dough loaves, but I do actually bake a fair amount of them.