July 16th, 2011
Everyone has that one particular place where they feel most inspired. Where ideas rush into the mind, after which comes excitement and the urge to do and create. For me, this place has always been the kitchen. All the things I see and like in life somehow end up influencing our meals. During my day job, I often think about the foods I will prepare and the ways we will present and photograph them.
And like most inspired cooks, I am very influenced by the season and weather. We come home from the beach, Paloma covered in sand from head to toe, salt in our hair. This is when I can’t help but picture what should be on our table after a day in the water and sun.
One of our mandatory stops in Paris was Berthillon ice cream on the Île Saint-Louis. Never mind the long line, we returned to it twice. We knew ahead of time exactly what flavours to try, but jet lag made us silly, and we showed up not knowing their French names. After a short communication with a very efficient server, we got what we got, and it wasn’t what we planned for, but it was better. Among those unexpected treats was a heavenly grapefruit sorbet that I’ve been thinking about ever since.
At home, I attempted to make it the way I’ve done every other sorbet before. But grapefruit behaved differently once frozen, it turned into hard ice. After some investigation, I realized that this specific fruit requires a small amount of alcohol in order to retain a creamy sorbet texture. The alcohol does not freeze and prevents the sorbet from turning hard. (Do you know of any other ways?)
The idea to combine grapefruit with carrot came from one of our favourite juice combinations – carrot, grapefruit, and ginger. I didn’t add ginger to the sorbet, but served it with these crunchy ginger snap cookies instead. So good, especially if you don’t mind the bitter notes of grapefruit. And how can I not mention the brilliant orange colour? To me, that’s the hue that best represents summer, sun, and heat.
Talk about being influenced by the season.
Grapefruit Carrot Sorbet
4 grapefruits – pulp and juice (about 3 cups)
1 cup fresh carrot juice
1/4 cup raw honey or agave
1 cup purified water
3 tablespoons vodka
Blend all of the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Chill well and put into an ice cream maker for 25 minutes or however long your brand of ice cream machine suggests. Freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.
Gingersnap Cookies
2 cups ground raw almonds – preferably soaked and dehydrated
1/2 cup sprouted pecan butter or almond butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw honey or another sweetener
3 teaspoons ground ginger or more to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt – optional
In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients well to form the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or Teflex sheets, forming an even thickness. Cut out the cookies of desired shape, and carefully transfer them to screened dehydrator trays. Reform the dough that remains after cutting, then re-roll and re-cut again. Dehydrate the cookies at 115F for about 16 hours or until nice and crunchy.
Tags: dessert, paloma, raw food, recipe
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April 29th, 2011
Dear friends, we are so honoured and excited to be among the finalists of Saveur Magazine’s 2011 Best Food Blog Awards. Voting is now open and will continue until May 12th. We would so appreciate your support! You can vote here, Golubka is in the Special Interest category. You do have to register with your email. We know that is a bit of a bother, but it’s a quick process, we promise. For readers outside of the U.S. and Canada, Saveur is having some trouble with international voters, so just select the USA or Canada as your place of origin for now. Thank you!
We just returned from a couple of days in Palm Beach, where we had our first family vacation since Paloma was born. It was there that I disovered an email from Saveur in my inbox.
I sat there stunned for a good ten minutes, rereading the text to make sure I understood it correctly. It is, afterall, the Saveur Magazine!
We are in amazing, humbling company. The nominees include many creative and talented individuals, whose cooking, photography, and writing inspire us on a daily basis.
Our main thanks go to you. If it wasn’t for your readership and encouragement, we would still be dining alone! Special thanks to the lovely Lisa for nominating us.
Tags: life, paloma, raw food, travel
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April 10th, 2011
Last week, I decided to hop on the adventure that is the Master Cleanse and just recently completed the ten days. Fasting a couple of times a year works for me, it makes me feel lighter, more refreshed, and reminds me to be appreciative of food and its true purpose – to nourish the body and feed the soul. I like to do it during the warmer months of the year, and this time was a sort of Spring Cleaning.
I’ve been on other juice fasts and feasts before, but this was my first time on the Master Cleanse. I found this program to be much more manageable – it did not make me sleepy or drain all my energy like the aforementioned juice fasts often did. That’s likely due to the fact that the cleanse drink consists of two tablespoons of lemon juice, the same amount of grade B maple syrup, and a generous pinch of cayenne pepper, all for a glass of water. Six cups is the minimum for a day. Maple syrup has plenty of sugar and calories, and cayenne pumps up the blood flow, so there are lots of reasons for energy.
Ten days later, I feel great, just like new. Now I just need to do the same kind of deep cleaning to my kitchen!
While I did not get any hunger pains during this program, I did get plenty of cravings. Cooking is my thing, what I think about all the time, so that was only natural. I found myself in silly daydreams about the first thing I’ll eat after the cleanse, recollecting special culinary memories, composing new recipes, anything and everything food-related kept knocking on my mind’s door. In addition, I had to continue feeding my family, packing lunches for Paloma and keeping it all interesting.
Also, I could not pass by the beautiful local strawberries we’ve been having at our markets. Pretty, plump ones, with vines still attached. That is when I bit my maple syrup-ed lips and started working on this recipe. A strawberry shortcake of sorts.
I utilized my favourite oat dough, combining it with strawberry puree to get a moist and fruity crust. I then topped it, simply, with the same puree, raw preserve and sliced fresh berries. After some time in the dehydrator, the dough happily hardened on the outside and stayed nicely moist in the middle. All the while, the topping thickened, concentrated, and turned into a ruby jam.
At first, we treated this “shortcake” as dessert and ate it after dinner, appropriately. The surviving cakes, however, became snacks and regulars in Paloma’s lunchbox. Oh that lunchbox, I’m not exaggerating when I say that everything I cook ends up in there, our girl’s appetite is no joke!
And even though I am now “easing out” of my cleanse with fresh juices and light meals, I let myself have a slice, and really enjoyed it.
I believe there’s enough sweetness here to last us all a while. The next recipe will be a savoury, I promise.
Strawberry Shortcake
(Makes about two standard sized half-sheet pans)
Dough
Same as here
3 cups chunky fresh strawberry puree
To make the puree, pulse fresh strawberries in a food processor until you end up with a slightly chunky puree. Mix the oat dough with the puree. Divide it between two sheet pans covered with parchment paper (or you can use any smaller individual dishes if you’d like) and press into the pans to achieve a uniform layer.
Topping
For the top I used a combination of raw strawberry preserve and fresh chunky strawberry puree. The preserve makes the mixture a bit thicker, and less runny, but I believe that you can get away with using just the fresh puree. You can just dehydrate it by itself for a couple of hours to thicken it up more. You can sweeten the puree/preserve mix to your taste with your favourite sweetener, or just leave it as is. I didn’t measure the proportion, or the combined amount. The more berry puree you use, the sweeter and more moist your cakes will be.
Assembly
Divide the strawberry puree between the two pans, or other dishes, and spread evenly on top. Sprinkle with oat flour or ground nuts and decorate with sliced fresh berries.
Dehydrate at 115F for about 20 hours. Remove from pans, peel away the parchment paper, and dehydrate on the mesh screens for another 6 hours or until your cakes are firm enough for you to cut them into desired shapes. Cut or leave as individual cakes, depending on the dishes you are using. After this step, dehydrate for another 2-3 hours or more. The time of dehydration depends on the thickness of your strawberry puree layer. It should be dry to touch, but moist and chewy on the inside.
I noticed that these cakes become increasingly tastier after some time in the refrigerator. Usually, they are the best at the end of a batch, when the crust becomes moist and full of the topping flavour throughout.
Tags: dessert, food, paloma, raw food, recipe
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