February 26th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
One of my favourite things to do when shopping at the market is to ask the vendors how they like to prepare and eat their own product. The stories and recipes that I get out of this are unfailingly fascinating and delicious.
One of my favourite stands at our greenmarket is one that specializes in microgreens. When buying, the sprouts are clipped from the soil right in front of you, as fresh as possible. This past Saturday the nice microgreens grower had a box of beautiful local grapefruits with him and was kind enough to share his seasonal breakfast recipe. He said that this refreshing smoothie keeps him full until lunch.
We’ve been enjoying mild Florida winter and haven’t missed one market day so far. Our local farms have been doing an amazing job in supplying us with an incredible variety of greens and other produce. I am so grateful and don’t want it to ever end.
Paloma started going to a Russian Saturday school. She proudly drinks her green smoothies and snacks on olives and goji berries during the breaks, generating curious looks and questions from other parents. But last week the teacher gave lollipops to the kids in the classroom as part of their learning activities. She said that they were “all natural,” but when it comes to lollipops, what does that really mean? Paloma never tasted candy like that before, and I wasn’t planning to introduce it to her any time soon. So far, she is the only one among friends her age who is cavity free.
We are also very excited to announce that some of the posts on Golubka will now be available in French. Geraldine Olivo of My Sweet Faery is our amazing translator. She has been working very hard on providing links to online stores and tutorials next to the ingredients that may not be familiar or readily available in Europe. We are thrilled to be bilingual and endlessly thankful to Geraldine for all her work. So far, we have all the 3D tango posts translated.
Grapefruit Smoothie
juice of 2 large grapefruits
1-2 ripe bananas
1 avocado (optional, this was my own addition to the vendor’s recipe)
fresh ginger – to taste
sunflower microgreens/sprouts – 2 handfuls or more to taste
In a blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth and enjoy.
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February 6th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
Today we continue our series of posts, describing the preparations for our Argentinean tango inspired 3D gathering, which will be held around Valentine’s Day for ten lovely couples. Learn more in posts I, II, III, and IV.
Since Valentine’s Day and sweets go hand in hand, we wanted to pay special attention to our dessert plate and finish the evening off right.
Providing the nature of the holiday, it seemed logical to explore the possibilities of using roses and their essential oil in our dessert. That turned out to be a very interesting and therapeutic experience, and we could hardly wait to share these treats with you.
One of our sponsors, Wholistic Inc., work exclusively with food grade ingredients in their wonderful skin care line. The essential oils they utilize are the purest out there. Wholistic gave us a generous donation of steam distilled rose oil and dried edible roses, which we used to make the most amazing rose ice cream.
Essential oils work by “waking up” certain receptors in the brain, and thus having a healing effect on the body, both emotionally and physically. Rose oil is capable of treating anxiety and is a wonderful mood elevator. When those benefits combine with the amazing taste and aroma, the whole experience becomes incredibly dimensional.
It is impossible to put the taste of that ice cream into words. It seems as if all the senses are engaged when taking a bite – every spoonful of that ice cream transports me onto a different planet. I used one tiny drop of the essential oil in a batch of rose ice cream, but the house smelled like an entire rose garden while the ice cream machine was on.
The rose ice cream will be served with a fresh, perfectly tart pomegranate sorbet and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
We will also be serving mille-feuille, for which we used fresh organic rose petals. They are gently crushed in a mortar and soaked in raw honey. Combined with a vanilla bean cream and layered between thin coconut sheets, they make for a unique dessert.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! Stay tuned, we will let you know how the event went in our next post.
Vanilla Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 1/2 cups water of fresh young Thai coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of raw agave syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil – liquified
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
Combine all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Let it chill completely and process in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
Rose Ice Cream
1 batch of vanilla ice cream (see above) – before processing through the ice-cream machine
4-5 teaspoons dried rose powder (I started with dried culinary roses, and then ground them into powder using a coffee grinder)
3-4 teaspoon beetroot powder (optional) – for additional colour
1-2 drops of good quality steam distilled, undiluted rose essential oil
Combine all but the last ingredient in a high speed blender until smooth. Let it chill completely and process in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the rose oil towards the end. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
Pomegranate Sorbet
2 cups freshly made pomegranate juice
1/2 cup purified water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw agave, or more to taste
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Combine all the ingredients in a high-speed blender. Let it chill completely and process in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
If served a dessert plate like ours, with all the components, you can optionally give it a drizzle of chocolate sauce. That what I decided to do at the event. It is Valentine’s Day, after all.
Rose Petal Mille-Feuille
Coconut Crust
2 cups meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup water of fresh young Thai coconut or more if needed
In a high-speed blender, blend the coconut meat and water until completely smooth, adding more coconut water if needed. The amount of coconut water and resulting coconut pasta can vary depending on the coconut meat quality. Thicker meat, from more mature coconuts, will require more water, and therefore will yield more crust.
Spread the mixture onto two Teflex-covered dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 115F for 2-4 hours, until pasta is dry enough and ready to be separated from the Teflex sheets. Flip over and carefully peel away the Teflex. Dehydrate for another 30 minutes or so, to make them completely dry. Take care, as they will be very thin and delicate, don’t over dry them before cutting. Cut each coconut sheet into 4 even squares, then cut each square in half lengthwise. You should end up with sixteen even coconut pieces. You can start layering the mille-feuille immediately or store the coconut sheets in the refrigerator, separated by parchment paper.
Honey-Rose Petals
3-4 organic roses – separated into petals and gently crushed in a mortar
raw honey to cover
Generously drizzle honey over rose petals. Let soak for 1-2 hours.
Vanilla Cream
1 cup meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup cashews – soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup raw light agave syrup
1/2 cup purified water
seeds of 1-2 vanilla beans or 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt (optional)
squeeze of fresh lemon (optional)
1/2 cup coconut oil – liquified
Combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender until very smooth, adding coconut oil at the end with the motor still running.
Assembly
Start with laying down the coconut sheets one on top of another, two pieces at a time. Top each layer with vanilla cream using a squeeze bottle, pipping bag, or a spoon. Continue with honey soaked rose petals, followed by another set of coconut sheets. Alternate your layers until all coconut sheets are used up. Finish with a coconut pasta layer. Optionally, garnish with more cream, toasted almonds, and rose-infused honey.
Let it sit in refrigerator for several hours or overnight before slicing. I cut a large rectangle in half, then cut each square into four small squares. Make it any shape you like.
The Mille Feuille holds very well in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Although it is very good if served right away, it becomes even better after some time in the fridge, when the flavours are fully integrated.
Tags: 3D, dessert, raw food, recipe, valentines
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January 22nd, 2012
This post is also available in: French
Today we continue our series of posts, describing the preparations for our Argentinian tango inspired 3D gathering, which will be held around Valentine’s Day for ten lovely couples. Learn more in post I.
Victoria and Federico, Natalie’s amazing tango instructors.
The word goes to Natalie once again:
“Last time, we mentioned that we were not only inspired by the beauty of the Argentinean tango, but by its mechanics. Tango is an almost purely improvisational dance, centered around several basic elements. The dance is like a puzzle, which is put together differently each time. Although it mostly showcases the beauty of the woman, the man does the leading, communicating with subtle body language. The idea is that the female dancer never quite knows how her partner will construct the dance and how he will interpret the music. Both partners have important things to contribute to the dance. It really does take two to tango.
When my husband and I took classes, the very first thing that we had to learn is how to walk the tango. The follower had to walk backwards, holding the shoulders of the leader, with eyes closed. The idea was to move by receiving sensual instruction from the leader. I thought that my “I don’t dance” type of guy and I would never be able to accomplish this. But in just a few steps, it was happening. We were amazed.
To me, those mechanics are clearly associated with any committed bond between two partners. Argentinean Tango is like a successful relationship – so hard to master, but once you do, you can Tango through life together.”
I, in turn, was inspired by Natalie’s idea to hand write our menus on actual music paper, when I worked on the styling of this salad. It’s not easy to work within a monochromatic palette (we are only using white, pink, and red this time), especially when making a salad. I chose roots like jicama, fennel, and daikon radish for the white color. Meanwhile, radishes and beautiful organic fuji apples provided some nice reds. The wonderful pink comes from jicama, pickled together with sour cherries and pomegranate. We’re also blessed with the growing season in the midst of the winter here in Florida, and I was happy to include some local strawberries, along with pickled cherries and cowberries.
There’s a nice balance of sweet, tart, and crispy here, complemented by a dollup of our almond cheese and pomegranate vinaigrette. Despite its striking monochromatic appearance, the salad works best on a bed of baby greens. We’ve had the most beautiful local greens at our market for the past couple of months. Their freshness and tenderness is incredible – our pay off for hot summer months when nothing grows in Florida.
Pickled Cherries, Jicama, and Daikon Radish
1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar or another sweetener of choice
1 cup or more fresh or thawed sour cherries – pitted (or substitute with fresh pomegranate juice)
1/2 medium sized jicama – sliced or cubed
a few slices or cubes of Daikon radish (optional)
In a small bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar with agave. Pour over the rest of the ingredients and let it sit for thirty minutes. Drain and keep refrigerated in a covered glass container until ready to serve.
Pomegranate Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons of fresh pomegranate juice or pomegranate reduction, for a more intense flavour
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon raw honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
1/4 cup olive or grapeseed oil
In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients, with the exception of oil. Add the oil while whisking, in a steady stream.
Fruit and Root Salad
(Serves 2-4)
One or two red crispy sweet apples (Fuji or Gala) – sliced or cubed
1 cup fresh radishes – sliced
salad greens
1 fennel bulb – thinly sliced
1 cup or more fresh strawberries – sliced
few slices or cubes of fresh jicama
pickled cherries, jicama, and Daikon radish
cowberries, or pomegranate kernels for garnish
Place apple and radish slices in a bowl with cold water and some freshly squeezed lemon juice, to prevent apple discoloration and reduce the bitterness of radishes.
Place salad greens in a bowl and top with the remaining ingredients. Include a few dollups of almond cheese and drizzle with pomegranate vinaigrette. Garnish with pickled cherries, cowberries, or pomegranate kernels.
Tags: 3D, raw food, recipe, salad, valentines
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