April 26th, 2010
I remember tasting this dish for the first time and wondering why I ever bothered to cook zucchini or marinara. It tasted so shockingly delicious that I wanted to drink all that sauce up by myself. The spaghetti is so tender, yet crunchy, and surprisingly easy to prepare on a spiral slicer. When combined together, you end up with a plate of alive and vibrant food, infused with the aroma of fresh herbs. The dish takes mere minutes to prepare, and works especially well during tomato season, which will start soon in the warmer months of the year. It’s also ideal for a first tasting of raw food, as everyone loves it.
My oregano plant. There are many different types of oregano. I have the Cuban variety, according to Google. It’s a beautiful plant, easily grown and managed. I love to have it handy for all kinds of dishes, especially those that include tomatoes.
There are dozens of recipes of fresh marinara on the net. This one is a combination that I like the most:
3 large heirloom tomatoes, or the equivalent of the same amount of cherry tomatoes – cut in chunks
2-3 halves sun-dried tomatoes
1-2 dates – pits removed
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup or more fresh basil leaves
1-2 leaves, or 1 tbsp of fresh oregano (optional)
Handful of flat leaf parsley (optional)
Celtic salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor. Serve over zucchini shaved on a spiral slicer on the spaghetti setting.
P.S. Please vote for Golubka, and much love to everyone who has.
Post by: A
Tags: a, food, raw food, recipe, savoury, staple
Tweet
April 23rd, 2010
Amongst the pear family, Boscs are my favourites. I love them for their elegant shape, manifesting itself in those elongated necks, for their warm honey colour and coarse, speckled skin, and for their slightly crunchy, piquant flesh. They pair perfectly with soft goat cheese, but we recently discovered the lovely combination of raw Gruyere cheese and Bosc pears. Gruyere is a bit too pungent to eat by itself, so the juicy pears do a fine job of flattering the cheese with their unforgettable freshness. Cutting the Gruyere into small cubes brings the salad to a new height. Due to their miniature size, the cubes are able to melt in your mouth, leaving a pleasant crystal-like crunch.
Fresh salad mix
One ripe (but not over ripe) Bosc pear per person – cut into wedges
Raw Gruyere cheese (Switzerland) – cut into small cubes
Walnuts or pecans – raw, untoasted
Some freshly ground black pepper – to taste
Olive oil for drizzling
A curiosity: Those purple flowers have been popping up all over the place recently – oh, spring. In Russia, we call them “the cuckoo’s tears.”
You can find this kind of Gruyere cheese in Whole Foods stores, like many other raw cheeses.
Apologies to vegan readers, more cheese-less recipes are coming up.
Lastly, we’d like to thank the dear reader Joanna for nominating us for Babble’s Best Mom Food Blogger. If you agree with her, we would greatly appreciate your vote. The best way of finding Golubka in the long list is sorting it alphabetically – then you’ll find us on page 2. You don’t have to register to “Like,” so it will only take a second. Merci Beaucoup!
Post by: A
Tags: a, food, raw food, recipe, salad
Tweet
April 19th, 2010
These avocado truffles were once again inspired by Luxirare. The challenge was to use raw ingredients and create some kid appeal. There are lots of ways to involve children in the kitchen. Even as a 20 month old, Paloma is always hanging around when I’m cooking – playing with pots and pans, studying the ingredients, and begging for samples. I can already tell she’ll be a good little chef.
When they are able to handle the mess, you can show your kids how to paint pictures with the ingredients, sort all of the components of a dish by colour, or make a game of determining a food blindfolded, just through taste and smell.
Making these avocado truffles could be a great way of getting your little ones to eat healthy and be adventurous. It is, afterall, a colourful and mysterious salad, with a hidden surprise inside.
Ingredients:
Cut an avocado in half, take out the pit. Scoop out some of the flesh, leaving a good amount intact, so that it holds its shape when you take off the skin.
Mash the scooped avocado flesh, adding some squeezed lime juice. Then put the mashed mass back into the two avocado halves – distribute evenly.
There are endless possibilities for the filling. We love the classic combination of mango and avocado, so I made a simple salad of chopped mango, cilantro, black sesame seeds, and lime juice.
Put the filling into the two halves. Assemble them back together and carefully peel off the skin.
Painting pictures with coating ingredients. Paloma enjoyed pointing out the eyes on the sun.
For the coat, I used dried mango, black sesame seeds, pistachio, and freeze dried corn, peas, and red bell pepper.
Grind these ingredients together with a mortar and pestle.
Bathe the avocado in the ground coating, carefully turning to pick up the crumbles.
Besides chocolate truffles and truffle mushrooms, the coated avocados reminded us of trimmed cypresses in a jardin à la française, so we went for a linear and symmetrical presentation, involving the main ingredients.
Although they look elaborate, avocado truffles are actually very easy and surprisingly quick to prepare. This dish would no doubt be a hit at a dinner party.
In addition to being pretty, the truffles are also very tasty, combining the subtlety of avocado, sweetness of mango, a touch of citrus, and finishing off with a pleasant crunchiness of the coat.
P.S. Golubka was nominated for Babble’s Best Mom Food Bloggers, we would greatly appreciate your vote!
Post by: A
Tags: a, children, food, paloma, raw food, recipe, salad, special food
Tweet
