March 31st, 2011
Today, we have a hearty recipe for you. We’ve been enjoying these cakes all throughout the winter. They work equally well as dessert, breakfast, or sometimes even a whole meal. The warm, satisfying flavours have kept us feeling cozy throughout the winter and we continue coming back to these cakes all the way into spring.
Oh spring, we are so excited to welcome it. I know that it hasn’t exactly stepped in yet up North, but it’s coming! Here in Florida it’s warm, very much so. We’ve been frequenting the beach, and although the water is still a bit too chilly for my liking, Paloma runs right in. A brave soul.
Back to the food, my husband fell in love with the cakes and always asks about a new batch while still in the process of finishing a current one. In fact, the whole family loves these round treats, everyone except Paloma. I’m beginning to think that it’s the ginger that bothers her, although she likes all other spices. I’m sure one day she’ll come around.
Lately, we’ve been getting lots of questions regarding substitutes for sprouted oat flour. We use it in many recipes and it tastes heavenly, but the allergy to oats is a concern to many. I’ve been trying to come up with a tasty alternative and finally decided to try sprouted quinoa, the star of vegan and gluten free culinary worlds.
The dough with quinoa and buckwheat did taste a little stronger, a bit more sprouted. But when the flavours of fresh ginger, agave soaked pears, vanilla, and lemon combine and integrate into the crust, the result is just lovely.
And if you want to add a touch of decadence, top the cakes with a perfectly smooth and indulgent macadamia whipped cream and enjoy.
Pear Ginger Cakes
Multigrain Crust
1 cup each sprouted quinoa, buckwheat, and oat flours
2/3 cup maple syrup powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup cocoa butter – gently melted on a double boiler
1/2 cup date paste
2-3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
less than 1/4 cup purified water
We used the same technique to make the quinoa and buckwheat flours as we did for our oat flour here.
In a large bowl, sift together the flours, maple syrup powder, and nutmeg. Add the cocoa butter and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and combine well.
Place the dough on a Teflex sheet, cover with parchment paper, and using a rolling pin, roll evenly to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut out round-shaped cakes about 4 1/2″ in diameter, reform the remaining dough and cut out again until all is used. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 115F. Flip and continue to dehydrate on the mesh screen only for another 6 to 8 hours.
Sweet Pear Topping
3-4 Red Bartlet or any other type of pears – thinly sliced
raw agave syrup or other preferred sweetener – enough to cover the pear slices
seeds of 1 vanilla been
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
juice of 1/2 lemon, OR to taste
Combine your sweetener with the seeds of vanilla been, ginger and lemon juice. Pour over pear slices and let soak for an hour.
Assembly
Spread any raw preserve or fruit puree on the cakes. We used our prune-apricot puree. Arrange the pear slices in a spiral on top. Dehydrate for 8 hours or overnight. The cakes hold very well when refrigerated in an air tight container.
Macadamia Whipped Cream
(optional and adapted from The Raw 50)
1 cup macadamia nuts – soaked for 8-10 hours and dehydrated at 115F for 12 hours
1/2 cup water of fresh young Thai coconut
5 pitted dates – soaked for 2 hours and drained
1 tablespoon coconut butter
Blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
Tags: dessert, food, paloma, raw food, recipe
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March 2nd, 2011
Before falling in love with raw food, I went through a vegetarian phase, which lasted for several years. My kitchen shelves are still stocked with lots of inspiring cookbooks from that time. One of my favourites was New Vegetarian Food by Christine McFadden. It had a number of smart, tasty recipes that I kept coming back to, and this tart is a tribute to one of them. A sun dried tomato, basil and olive tart.
Let me just say that the recipes for both the original and raw variety of this tart are very close to my heart.
The former reminds me of the time when I just became interested in whole foods. It brings me back to those first few exciting years in the kitchen, when I discovered that nourishing food is also versatile and delicious.
The latter is a source of personal culinary achievement. I love it when a recipe that I’ve been daydreaming about comes together just the way I imagined. This raw tart tastes almost exactly like the original, or maybe even a bit better.
Of course, the original recipe calls for ricotta and parmesan cheeses, eggs and butter. After some brainstorming and careful estimations, I came up with this little tribute, and we loved it on the first try. It’s wonderfully creamy, with a subtly spiced crust, and bits of basil, sun-dried tomatoes and black Cerignola olives spread all throughout.
Luckily, it’s the season of fragrant, local & organic tomatoes here in Florida – just in time to garnish and bring some sweetness to the plate.
I made several tarts of different sizes, as I usually do with any kinds of tarts, pies, or quiches. There were individual, baby ones for Paloma and for bringing to lunch at work, and bigger ones for the whole family. I also discovered that the tart holds very well in the refrigerator for several days, unlike many other raw dishes. In fact, it becomes even better after it sits and all the flavours become integrated.
I enjoyed this recipe so much, that I decided to make it for a catering project for my friend’s birthday. I served our orange-cinammon crepes, falafel, and this tart. Feeding people is one of my favourite things in the whole world, and I waited anxiously for their reaction. It was exciting to hear that everything was received with plenty of “mmmm – ing.”
Paloma and her papa like to eat dinner on the beach, after their evening walk. My husband has mentioned that this dish tastes even better outside.
At home, though, as I witnessed, Paloma was crazy mostly about the crust. I watched her carefully bite around the whole diameter to get the crunchy bits. She’s a funny one.
Sun Dried Tomato, Basil and Olive Tart
(Makes approximately two circular 9″ tarts and three 4″ tarts)
Crust
2 1/2 cups almonds – soaked overnight
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup ground golden flax seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
2-3 tablespoons purified water
5 tablespoons za’atar spice
Mix all the crust ingredients in a food processor until smooth, adding more water if needed. Press the dough into your tart shells, preferably with removable bottoms. Distribute the dough evenly against the sides and bottom of the shell. Place the tart shell(s) in the dehydrator for 4-5 hours. Gently remove the shell from the mold, and put it back onto a screen-lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for another 8-10 hours until completely dry and crispy.
Filling
2 cups meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup water of fresh young Thai coconut
3/4 cup coconut oil – gently warmed in warm water or the dehydrator to soften
1/4 cup Irish moss – washed thoroughly and soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
1 cup each raw macadamia and raw cashew nuts – soaked for 2-4 hours
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1-2 teaspoons salt
about 6 tablespoons purified water
1 cup of chopped olives of your favourite kind (may I suggest Cerignola olives that come with pits and taste velvety)
1 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes (this time I made an exception and used tomatoes preserved in olive oil instead of the dry variety)
1 packed cup fresh basil leaves – or more to taste
fresh red and yellow tomatoes for garnishing – optionalIn a high speed blender, combine the coconut meat, water and oil with the Irish moss until very smooth.
In a food processor, mix together the nuts, lemon juice, yeast, salt and water until well combined and fluffy like ricotta cheese. Add the basil leaves and pulse briefly.
In a large mixing bowl, gently fold the coconut mixture into the nut “ricotta”, followed by the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and olives.
Pour the filling into the crusts. Dehydrate at 115F for 6 hours, then refrigerate overnight.
Optionally, slice fresh tomatoes thinly and dehydrate on Teflex-lined dehydrator trays just to dry the surface. Garnish the tarts, placing the tomatoes dry side down for the last 1-2 hours of tart dehydration.
Tags: food, paloma, raw food, recipe, savoury
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December 20th, 2010
First, apologies for being away for a little while. Between finals and some unexpected health problems, we’ve had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the blog.
Now, let me take you back to a warm October day in Tampa. Sasha’s first birthday.
Sasha is my friend N.’s son. N. is a great interior designer and has a deep love for modern design. She wanted to have something healthy and unique as Sasha’s birthday cake. A dessert that echoed the architecture of Glazer Children’s Museum (where we celebrated) with its basic shapes and flat colours.
We decided on individual cakes shaped as the sort of wooden building blocks we had as kids. There was no messy icing, so the children could just grab the cakes and eat them without any utensils and minimal staining.
For the presentation, N. had the idea of a black board and chalk. In Russian schools, it is a custom for the teachers to put down the day’s date on the board at the beginning of each class. We wrote October 9th, 2010.
For the base of the cakes, I used this recipe for chocolate truffles. For wrapping – this one from our Colour Wheel Wraps. I use them quite a lot – the wraps come out sturdy, pretty, and tasty.
Sasha and Paloma spend two days a week together. They are an ideal pair, as they both live to eat and are very fond of second helpings.
Sasha is Paloma’s only younger friend, and although she’s not always gentle with him, she has been learning about being older and acting accordingly.
The celebration was lots of fun. N. did a beautiful job organizing the venue. The birthday boy enjoyed the dessert and seemed prepared to eat most of the blocks.
Chocolate Truffle recipe here
Colour Wrapper recipe here (minus salt and pepper)
I made the different shapes by putting the chocolate mass into molds. The spheres were created by simply rolling between palms. I cut the exact sizes and shapes of the cakes out of the colour wraps and put them onto the blocks. The colour sheets stuck well without any glueing agent.
Tags: children, dessert, food, food for tots, natalie, paloma, raw food, recipe
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